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Steelworkers Must Have Say in Decisions that Affect Them "Green" Pay-the-Rich Federal Handout to ArcelorMittalAt the same time the Trudeau government gave Essar Algoma Steel in Sault Ste. Marie money to modernize its process of production, it also gave ArcelorMittal Dofasco (AMD) in Hamilton some $400 million of public money to be used to convert its Hamilton steel mill from basic oxygen steelmaking to an electric arc furnace (EAF). The announcement on July 30 was made just two weeks before the Trudeau government called its pandemic federal election. It was not only a thinly disguised attempt to influence Hamilton voters with public money but also illustrates how the federal government plans on being in the forefront of meeting its climate crisis commitments with pay-the-rich schemes which benefit foreign interests. The foreign owned and controlled ArcelorMittal is the largest steel monopoly in Canada and accounts for half of all steel production in the country. ArcelorMittal is headquartered in Europe with multiple facilities and operations worldwide. The payout from the federal treasury is but one of a series of pay-the-rich schemes to large companies using advances in green technology as an excuse to enhance the private wealth, power and class privilege of certain well-positioned and connected oligarchs. This second pay-the-rich project in the steel sector follows the earlier announcement of $420 million of federal money for the U.S.-owned and controlled Essar Algoma Steel in Sault Ste. Marie. That handout is likewise to fund the steel company's transition to EAF steelmaking. The Trudeau government pay-the-rich schemes to transition to EAF at both mills have been carried out behind the backs of the steelworkers directly concerned. At Algoma, the funding was organized without any consultation or planning with United Steelworkers Local 2251, its President Mike Da Prat and the collective membership. The announcement of money for the transition to EAF at AMD in Hamilton likewise took place behind the backs of steelworkers who are not organized into a collective defence organization.
He insists that the government should have contacted the workers to hear their concerns. Steelworkers need "some guarantees on work assignments and how movement of workers within the changed operation will take place," he said, adding that Algoma steelworkers have worries about job reductions. "This process is not like an on and off switch, that we are an integrated steel mill today, then that is switched off and the EAF is switched on. That is not how it works. There is going to be a transition period. They will need to run both processes simultaneously for a period. New people are going to come in to get trained in the new process. The older workers who are trained in the current process cannot be left out in the cold to be gotten rid of when the EAF is running at full speed. They will need a job. We are talking about a large number of workers," he added. A big problem for steelworkers at ArcelorMittal Dofasco is that they have no collective defence union in which they can organize discussions among themselves and take actions based on an analysis of what will defend their rights and interests during this transition to EAF and to deal with other problems they face. For President Da Prat's complete talk with Workers' Forum see What the Workers Have to Say.
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The consequences
for steelworkers during the transition could be
serious as EAF is a different process requiring
skills that many current steelworkers do not
possess. Talking with Workers' Forum,
Local 2251 President Da Prat said the
arrangement for federal money to fund the EAF
transition at Algoma was reached without any
consultation with the workers. President Da Prat
questioned, "Why is the government jumping in
without any thought about requiring the company
to, at a minimum, protect jobs?"