Chelsey Masteij had heard layoffs might be coming at Stelco, so she decided to use up some of her vacation days.
uncertain
she → hear → days
She was making the most of the time off with her new dog when she got a call telling her not to come back to work.
asserted
she → make → work
The 34-year-old had spent years trying to break into the male-dominated steel industry before finally landing a job at the company’s Hamilton plant about three years ago.
asserted
old → spend → plant
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She started as a general labourer in the cold-rolling department, later training to operate cranes and taking on shifts in the coke ovens.
The work was gruelling and physically demanding, but Masteij grew to love the routine and the close-knit community of coworkers she came to consider family.
asserted
she → raise → coworkers
When she shared photos of herself with Al Jazeera, all in protective gear at the plant, she joked that she hardly had any pictures outside of work.
asserted
she → share → work
Masteij thought she might stay at Stelco until retirement.
uncertain
she → think → retirement
Instead, she was laid off on October 9.
asserted
she → lay → October
The news hit hard, and she spent much of the next two weeks sleeping.
asserted
she → hit → weeks
“I was in a complete mess,” she told Al Jazeera, her voice cracking as she recalled the experience.
asserted
she → tell → experience
Now, instead of working 12-hour shifts, Masteij spends much of her time at home, cutting back on expenses while she collects employment insurance.
asserted
she → work → insurance
Masteij is among hundreds of Canadian steelworkers facing layoffs after Stelco’s American owner, Cleveland-Cliffs, announced in late September that it would temporarily shut down parts of its operations in Hamilton and Nanticoke, Ontario.
asserted
it → face → Hamilton
Stelco blames the move on United States President Donald Trump’s tariffs, which it says have made it harder to sell Canadian steel to US customers, and on competition from cheaper foreign steel entering Canada.
asserted
it → blame → Canada
But government officials and plant workers, including Masteij, are not convinced that is the whole story.
asserted
that → include → Masteij
“Right now, there are a lot of lies going on with what’s happened,” Masteij said.
asserted
Masteij → be → lies
While US tariffs have hurt the Canadian steel industry, the union representing Stelco workers questions whether Cleveland-Cliffs is using difficult market conditions to serve its own business interests, with Canadian workers paying the price.
asserted
workers → hurt → price
“Everyone knows we’re being used as pawns, that these layoffs weren’t necessary,” said Ron Wells, president of United Steelworkers Local 1005, speaking to Al Jazeera at his Hamilton office.
asserted
Wells → know → office
The pressures facing Stelco
In June 2025, Trump doubled tariffs on steel and aluminium imports, including from Canada, to 50 percent, making them more expensive for US buyers.
asserted
them → face → buyers
According to Stelco, Canada’s exports of cold-rolled and coated steel to the US – used to make everything from cars to building materials – fell by 58 percent in the second quarter of 2026 compared with the quarterly average before the trade war.
uncertain
exports → accord → war
But demand has also fallen in Canada, where the auto industry, a major buyer of the cold-rolled steel produced at the Hamilton plant, has also been hit hard by Trump’s tariffs, said Colin Mang, an assistant professor of economics at McMaster University in Hamilton.
asserted
Mang → fall → Hamilton
“When they say that there is less demand for the product coming out of the Hamilton mill, that is correct,” Mang told Al Jazeera.
asserted
Mang → say → Jazeera
But it is not just Trump’s tariffs that Cleveland-Cliffs blames for Stelco’s problems.
asserted
Cliffs → blame → problems
During a July earnings call, CEO Lourenco Goncalves warned that the company might scale back production in Canada unless Ottawa did more to protect its steel industry from imports.
uncertain
Ottawa → warn → imports
“And that will have consequences for employment in Canada, but will have a positive financial impact on Stelco and on Cleveland-Cliffs,” he said.
asserted
he → have → Cliffs
That was the first time Wells had heard jobs might be at risk.
uncertain
jobs → hear → risk
The union later offered to help Cleveland-Cliffs lobby Ottawa for stronger protections against foreign steel imports, believing Canadian workers might have more sway with the government.
uncertain
workers → offer → government
“They never took us up on our offer,” Wells said.
asserted
Wells → take → offer
Instead, the next call brought news of the layoffs.
asserted
call → bring → layoffs
As of Saturday, 175 workers at Stelco’s Hamilton plant had received layoff notices, with the announced cuts expected to affect up to 500 workers there and in Nanticoke.
asserted
cuts → receive → Nanticoke
Late last month, about 30 attended an information session the union organised in Hamilton, where they could learn about employment insurance and retraining opportunities.
uncertain
they → attend → insurance
Many were frustrated by the lack of clarity about how long the shutdown would last.
asserted
shutdown → frustrate → clarity
Some asked how their benefits would compare to their wages, while others wondered whether they would qualify for the full amount.
asserted
they → ask → amount
For workers who had spent decades at Stelco, another daunting prospect loomed: having to look for work for the first time in the digital era, competing for jobs with younger applicants as they neared retirement.
asserted
they → spend → retirement
Some are already considering heading out west to find work.
asserted
Some → consider → work
“It’s hard for them to make those decisions,” Wells said, describing what he had been hearing from members.
asserted
he → ’ → members
“Do I leave my family, go out west, make some money?
asserted
I → leave → money
Because they don’t know how long this is going to be.”
asserted
this → know → ?
Masteij worries about what that could mean for Hamilton, a city where generations of families have worked in steelmaking, an industry that has shaped its identity for more than a century.
uncertain
that → worry → century
“I’m a steel city girl, and I can’t imagine the city without steel manufacturing,” she said.
asserted
she → ’m → manufacturing
“We are losing tradesmen.
asserted
We → lose → tradesmen
But as workers grapple with what the layoffs mean for their families and their city, the union has been asking another question: whether these layoffs needed to happen at all – and it is not alone.
asserted
it → grapple → question
…and 47 more, not listed.
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