Latest / THE DAILY BRIEF / 'Am I going to be on the layoff list_' Union leader on anxiety facing Algoma Steel workers

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'Am I going to be on the layoff list_' Union leader on anxiety facing Algoma Steel workers · THE DAILY BRIEF

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Well.
• 0:00
  Speaker 2: The steel Workers' Union says job losses at Algoma Steel
• 0:03
  Speaker 2: tied to the trade war with the US, are likely
• 0:06
  Speaker 2: gone for good. The company is laying off about one
• 0:08
  Speaker 2: thousand workers in Sue Saint Marie, Ontario, next year. The
• 0:12
  Speaker 2: steel mill blames the fifty percent tariff that has walled
• 0:16
  Speaker 2: it off from the US market. The steel Workers' union
• 0:18
  Speaker 2: local president tell CBC News that even if the tariffs
• 0:22
  Speaker 2: were lifted, the jobs won't return and just into our newsroom.
• 0:26
  Speaker 2: Algoma Steel has recently put out a statement on those layoffs.
• 0:30
  Speaker 3: Here is part of the statement.
• 0:32
  Speaker 2: It says, this sudden loss of access forced a fundamental
• 0:35
  Speaker 2: shift in our competitive reality. Algoma's response is not simply
• 0:40
  Speaker 2: to pivot, but to accelerate a strategy that has been
• 0:43
  Speaker 2: years in the making, transforming Algoma into a lower cost,
• 0:48
  Speaker 2: more flexible, and more resilient steel maker built for the
• 0:52
  Speaker 2: future of the Canadian market. As a consequence of the
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: tariff shock and this required acceleration, Algoma has had to
• 0:59
  Speaker 2: make the very difficult decision to conclude its long history
• 1:03
  Speaker 2: as an integrated steel maker and to close our blast,
• 1:06
  Speaker 2: furnace and coke making operations. In early twenty twenty six,
• 1:10
  Speaker 2: one year earlier than we had anticipated or planned. So
• 1:15
  Speaker 2: what have union leaders been able to tell their members
• 1:18
  Speaker 2: and how have members been reacting to this news.
• 1:21
  Speaker 3: For that, we've reached Bill Slater.
• 1:22
  Speaker 2: He is the president of United steel Workers Local two
• 1:26
  Speaker 2: seven to four, union that represents salaried workers at Algoma Steel.
• 1:31
  Speaker 2: One hundred and fifty of their members will be impacted
• 1:34
  Speaker 2: by these layoffs. Bill, thank you for making time for
• 1:36
  Speaker 2: us today.
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: Thank you for having me on.
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: First, I wanted to ask you how your feeling and
• 1:43
  Speaker 2: how your members are feeling.
• 1:44
  Speaker 3: What have those conversations been like.
• 1:49
  Speaker 4: I mean, it's all anxiety, trying to figure out what
• 1:52
  Speaker 4: the future looks like, how things will change going forward.
• 1:58
  Speaker 4: We know in the short what things are going to happen,
• 2:02
  Speaker 4: but we're trying to figure out how we can plan
• 2:04
  Speaker 4: to change the outcome of the long term issues.
• 2:10
  Speaker 3: How frustrated are members?
• 2:12
  Speaker 2: So with the fact that this is happening earlier than
• 2:16
  Speaker 2: was anticipated, well.
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: There's a lot of frustration. People were planning.
• 2:25
  Speaker 4: I mean, there was people that would be eligible for
• 2:28
  Speaker 4: unreduced pension if we had gone the full term, and
• 2:34
  Speaker 4: now all of a sudden, the work is being cut
• 2:36
  Speaker 4: short and they're not able to get their pension like
• 2:40
  Speaker 4: they were planning on. There's other people that were just
• 2:43
  Speaker 4: starting out and we're trying to get themselves situated and
• 2:47
  Speaker 4: now that has gone. So it's frustrating. Mean, anytime anybody
• 2:52
  Speaker 4: loses a job, it's frustrating, and I think it's more
• 2:56
  Speaker 4: frustrating living in a community where there's not abundance of
• 3:00
  Speaker 4: other jobs or places to go to.
• 3:03
  Speaker 2: You know, when we look at the timeline of what
• 3:06
  Speaker 2: has taken place here, we know that some layoffs were
• 3:08
  Speaker 2: already expected as this steel mill, as we heard in
• 3:11
  Speaker 2: that statement, to shuts its blast furnace and coke making
• 3:14
  Speaker 2: operations and transitions to an electric arc furnace, and that
• 3:17
  Speaker 2: would be an early twenty twenty six. But there's a
• 3:21
  Speaker 2: feeling that this was accelerated, and that's according to the statement,
• 3:24
  Speaker 2: because of this trade war. Do you think enough has
• 3:27
  Speaker 2: been done to sort of mitigate the damage done by that.
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: I think that has yet to be seen.
• 3:40
  Speaker 4: I think the damage has been caused by the you know,
• 3:44
  Speaker 4: has been definitely moved forward and at a quicker pace
• 3:47
  Speaker 4: because of the trade war. I don't know how much
• 3:52
  Speaker 4: anybody here can control that, but I think how we
• 3:57
  Speaker 4: react to it is what's going to show if the
• 4:01
  Speaker 4: government stands up to their comments that they've made so far,
• 4:04
  Speaker 4: and how they're going to support and help workers find
• 4:09
  Speaker 4: other employment, how they're going to support the steel industry
• 4:13
  Speaker 4: to transition into steel that is needed in Canada, and
• 4:18
  Speaker 4: how they're going to protect our Canadian.
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: Companies from other.
• 4:24
  Speaker 4: World steel makers dumping their product into our country.
• 4:29
  Speaker 2: You know, if we look at what you've just mentioned
• 4:31
  Speaker 2: there in terms of the response and the reaction from
• 4:33
  Speaker 2: the federal government, we know that Algoma's deal is Sue
• 4:36
  Speaker 2: Saint Marie's largest employer, but we also know in fact
• 4:40
  Speaker 2: that it was just months ago that it was announced
• 4:44
  Speaker 2: that Algoma Steal would receive half a million dollars in
• 4:47
  Speaker 2: fact in federal and provincial loan assistance to help it
• 4:51
  Speaker 2: cope with the impacts of this trade war. And now
• 4:55
  Speaker 2: we're seeing these layoff notices be issued to hundreds of employees.
• 5:00
  Speaker 2: So how do you feel that those two reconcile each other?
• 5:04
  Speaker 2: That there was a loan that was issued in order
• 5:07
  Speaker 2: to not have this happen.
• 5:11
  Speaker 4: So when those loan discussions were happening, I was requesting
• 5:16
  Speaker 4: that those loans be tied to certain employment levels that
• 5:20
  Speaker 4: be maintained. The government chose not to have that as
• 5:24
  Speaker 4: one of the you know, the requirements for the company
• 5:29
  Speaker 4: to get this loan, and honestly, the company has no
• 5:37
  Speaker 4: ability to sell the product that we should be making
• 5:43
  Speaker 4: if it wasn't for the trade wars. So they've had
• 5:47
  Speaker 4: to make their decision on what they can sell in Canada.
• 5:51
  Speaker 4: And I'm just hoping that that money is being put
• 5:54
  Speaker 4: into transitioning into other products that we can sell in
• 5:58
  Speaker 4: Canada and hopefully in the future we can you know,
• 6:02
  Speaker 4: have a better employee, bring back some of these employees,
• 6:06
  Speaker 4: and have a company that is operating out a profit
• 6:10
  Speaker 4: instead of a loss.
• 6:11
  Speaker 2: So that's what you're hoping for in the long term,
• 6:13
  Speaker 2: that there will be an ability for many of these
• 6:16
  Speaker 2: people to continue to find work, perhaps in this industry.
• 6:19
  Speaker 2: What to do now, you know, a few weeks away
• 6:22
  Speaker 2: from the holidays, so many people have these notices issued
• 6:25
  Speaker 2: to them as they plan for the immediate future.
• 6:28
  Speaker 3: What have you heard from your members?
• 6:33
  Speaker 4: Well, I think so it's not we know how many
• 6:37
  Speaker 4: members we're going to lose. The information on exactly who
• 6:41
  Speaker 4: is being laid off hasn't come out yet, so probably
• 6:45
  Speaker 4: the biggest question I get is people calling saying, do
• 6:47
  Speaker 4: I need to look for another job?
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: Am I going to be on the layoff list?
• 6:51
  Speaker 4: So there's anxiety throughout the whole membership trying to figure
• 6:56
  Speaker 4: out what position they're going to be in come March
• 6:59
  Speaker 4: twenty third. So we're hoping to get those answers from
• 7:01
  Speaker 4: the company in the near future and then we can
• 7:04
  Speaker 4: start planning on trying to help members transition into other
• 7:10
  Speaker 4: forms of employment that will be conditional on the governments
• 7:15
  Speaker 4: providing us funding to run an action center here in
• 7:19
  Speaker 4: Sious Saint Marie to help those affected employees.
• 7:23
  Speaker 2: No doubt, Bill, this is a heavy weight that you
• 7:26
  Speaker 2: hold as you head into the holidays and wondering, you know,
• 7:29
  Speaker 2: what sort of message do you have for provincial governments,
• 7:33
  Speaker 2: for the company, for the federal government.
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: I think it's pretty easy and clear.
• 7:39
  Speaker 4: The messages they've all, you know, made all the statements
• 7:43
  Speaker 4: how they're going to support the steel industry, how they're
• 7:45
  Speaker 4: going to support our government steel employees. Now it's time
• 7:49
  Speaker 4: for them to put their money where their mouth was
• 7:51
  Speaker 4: and see it. I think it's very important for these
• 7:54
  Speaker 4: governments to realize that if they expect to be re
• 7:57
  Speaker 4: elected in the future. They need to show that they
• 8:00
  Speaker 4: can live up to some of the promises they've made.
• 8:04
  Speaker 2: Bill, I want to thank you for taking some time
• 8:06
  Speaker 2: out and joining us today.
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: You're welcome. Thank you for having me out.
• 8:10
  Speaker 2: Bill Slater is the president of United steel Workers Local
• 8:13
  Speaker 2: two seven two four. He joined us from Susaint Marie, Ontario.
• 8:16
  Speaker 3: Thanks Bill,