More than 100 workers in a steel plant in eastern Ontario are being dismissed temporarily or permanently, since a company with Quebec and Ontario facilities reduces its workforce due to the challenging market conditions, including the rates of the United States.
In a statement on Wednesday, United Steelworkers Union said that 30 workers have already received permanent dismissal at the Ivaco Rolling Mills plant in L’Orignal, Ontario, located about 90 kilometers northeast of Ottawa.
From next week, the other 120 workers in the facilities are being fired for a week, said the statement.
“There is a lot of concern on the floor of the store,” said Richard Leblanc, a coordinator of the Eastern Ontario area for the union.
“It is quite difficult to make plans around that type of hostility, if I can say.”
The company, Canada Metal Processing Group (MPG Canada), issued a press release on February 24 on the decision to reduce its workforce, before current tariffs came into force.
In the statement, the company said it is reducing its workforce by 140 workers due to the challenging market conditions, including threatened American tariffs that are now in force.
The mere threat of tariffs had already reduced the demand for MPG products at the time of that launch, according to the company, and the president of the United States, Donald Trump, since then has slapped a 25 percent tax on steel and aluminum that reaches the United States from Canada.
MPG also cited “commercial challenges in Canada” and the “greater challenge of unfair commercial imports in Canada” as a factor in its lower planned demand.
“Pasting for many people,” says the resident
The resident of L’Orignal, Louise Seguin, said that one of her children has worked at Ivaco Rolling Mills for 15 years. He called the news of the “horrible” layoffs.
“If there is no Ivaco, there is no more work here,” he said. “The city will be finished.”
Another place, Debi Woods, said it is a “shame” that all this is happening and said she is concerned about Trump’s unpredictability.
“No one knows what comes out of that man’s head from one morning to the next,” he said.
What happens in the installation has a “descending” effect on the local economy, said Miles Downing, a retired plant worker.
“It is not an easy place to work. And with all these things on top, it is quite depressing for many people,” he said.
The mayor of the municipality of Champlain Normand Riopel said that Ivaco is one of the largest employers in the area. L’Orignal himself is home to only about 1,400 people.
“There are many manufacturers, there are many subcontractors that deal with Ivaco. They will also feel the impact,” he said.
“Therefore, it is not just a steel plant. It is also a community.”
