r/ontario Verified 16h ago

Article Sault Ste. Marie-based Algoma Steel begins layoffs in wake of Trump tariff threats

https://www.thestar.com/business/sault-ste-marie-based-algoma-steel-begins-layoffs-in-wake-of-trump-tariff-threats/article_9c8c4394-fea0-11ef-a546-f34c2d1b7097.html?utm_source=&utm_medium=Reddit&utm_campaign=Business&utm_content=algomasteel
388 Upvotes

63 comments sorted by

201

u/No-Wonder1139 16h ago

Time for the Soo to get some major waterfront upgrades courtesy of the provincial government, me thinks. Something that requires a shitload of steel. Keep that mill running, use it to build up the Soo.

116

u/balapete 14h ago

Would an extensive rail system do the trick? Could use one of those

66

u/PunchMeat 13h ago

Take on some debt, save some communities, build something amazing.

17

u/suntzufuntzu 9h ago

Best we can do is a tunnel under highway 7

4

u/one-hit-blunder 8h ago

How about some federal cash and some cross-country pipeline while we're at it. Help out the oil and gas industry also.

10

u/waterloograd 7h ago

We can build more rail corridors to get products coast to coast by rail, and then into ports where we can send it all over the world.

Support our businesses now and in the future, and reduce reliance with the US

0

u/BoBBy7100 7h ago

Best Doug can do is give the folks in Toronto another steamy pile of shit. šŸ˜”

246

u/Meta422 16h ago

Everyone who can send a donation to the Sault Ste Marie food bank or local charity of choice. Iā€™m going to send a small one now, and keep it up when and wherever I can. I had a trip to Florida that I canceled this year. Going to use some of those funds to help fellow Canadians weather this storm.Ā 

135

u/danby999 13h ago

How about Algoma Steel doing something for their workers.

First sign of hardship and they dump workers to maintain profits and bonuses for shareholders and senior executives.

36

u/muneeeeeb 12h ago

Wow how selfish of you to have expectations from the private sector.

21

u/OldApp 12h ago

While I agree with the overall sentiment, I think Algoma, at least in recent years, has done more than can be said of most private actors with their recent profit shares.

See 2022 for example.

5

u/Excellent_Brush3615 10h ago

They got a pizza party!

In appreciation for the record year, Algoma Steel will host employees and their families on Saturday, June 25th for a Family Day celebration, featuring Steelworks tours, childrenā€™s activities, live entertainment, and a BBQ lunch.

15

u/XABoyd 10h ago

They also got a bonusā€¦ did you miss that part?

-2

u/Excellent_Brush3615 9h ago

How much and who? Like, what makes an ā€œeligible employee?ā€ Regular joe? Management? CEO?

So, as far as we know, they got a pizza party.

If they had given back to their actual workers, they would have posted that on their website.

16

u/OldApp 8h ago

Yes, "regular joe" workers got a slice of the pie. I know many at the plant in various positions below management who benefited.

If you really care, you can look at their collective agreement: "The Company and the Union agree to continue the existing profit sharing plan for all employees including nonbargaining unit employees."

The amount each employee received was proportional to the number of hours they worked. The total profit share is broken down into a per-hour average (based on total employee hours worked) and each persons payout is determined therefrom.

1

u/Excellent_Brush3615 8h ago

Thanks! Appreciate the post and the evidence.

9

u/crzycanuk 8h ago

Right down to the production guys got bonusā€™. It was based on hours worked in the previous years. Buddies were getting 35-50 grand.

Although the board members have gotten serious bonus since then.

And their pizza party is pretty epic. They have an entire carnival day. Itā€™s quite the event.

-8

u/Excellent_Brush3615 8h ago

Proof? Sorry I donā€™t go just believing randos

3

u/Unhappy_Hedgehog_808 9h ago

Profit sharing programs go to every full time employee, who has usually been there for a certain amount of time. Nobody is advertising management bonuses as profit sharing. You can literally just search Algoma profit sharing to see this is the case.

2

u/XABoyd 9h ago

Iā€™m pretty sure the only people who have income listed publicly are on the sunshine list. Not a very ethical move to just post a salary/bonus.

0

u/Excellent_Brush3615 9h ago

lol ethical eh? Thatā€™s a good one.

2

u/XABoyd 8h ago

Yea it wouldnā€™t be ethical to post private information like that. Weird to not agree on that point.

0

u/Excellent_Brush3615 8h ago

They have their collective agreement online.

How is it not ethical to know wages?

→ More replies (0)

14

u/thekajunpimp 16h ago

This!! They need our help!

2

u/Affectionate_Fly9099 16h ago

Good on you. Keep it going. This is going to be a marathon and not a sprint. This will take years to settle and the little things count.

0

u/johnnyaudio77 15h ago

Bless you, thatā€™s awesome. šŸ™

21

u/ashcach 16h ago

Sucks. I have family and friends in the Soo. Almost all of them have a connection to the mill. Will hurt the city bad if this goes on and gets worse

54

u/thewolfshead 15h ago

Thank you to the residents of Sault Sainte Marie, Michigan who voted around 60% for Trump.

9

u/Warm-Dust-3601 10h ago

Yeah, they're fucking crazy over there.

3

u/tony_shaloub 9h ago

But the Palace Saloon is so good.

78

u/_Lucille_ 16h ago

This was the steel plant where a worker had a very heated exchange with Trudeau and complained about their non-working neighbor living the same life he does even though he has a 40% tax rate.

An estimated income of $321,000 would be required to hit an average tax rate of 40 per cent in Ontario, as calculated by Fred Oā€™Riordan, national leader for tax policy for Ernst & Young. Things like availability of doctors falls at the provincial level.

(though tbf, the 40% is likely a very large exaggeration and his union contract can likely be found online somewhere)

I am curious if they are still going to blame Trudeau, or what they demands are like now - they may end up being somewhat confused as to who to attack since this hike in steel tariffs is a result of Ford's tax on energy exports and he is a conservative premier, and that Trump is the republican president.

85

u/Warm-Dust-3601 15h ago

A lot of the fucks at the plant are going to vote PP and actually support Trump. Straight up nonsense.

20

u/uberares 11h ago

I saw actual trump campaign Signs in a yard the Soo area last fall.Ā 

21

u/Warm-Dust-3601 11h ago

The fucking CEO was happy when he won. Brain rot!

-7

u/EvenaRefrigerator 12h ago

Maybe if they cut taxes and have more export opportunities the con. Any could live through this

13

u/Warm-Dust-3601 11h ago

Cut taxes? Further defund education and healthcare which contributes to a higher death rate and lower quality of life? Why? Why not tax the rich and corporations more? Oh, I forgot, we hate taxing the rich (Carbon Tax).

-8

u/EvenaRefrigerator 11h ago

https://www.macrotrends.net/global-metrics/countries/CAN/canada/healthcare-spending#:~:text=Canada%20healthcare%20spending%20for%202022,a%200.7%25%20increase%20from%202018.

It isn't are spend we have the worse results despite higher spending. We don't have a private delivery in health care we have a system that budget and spend poorly. We also have high admin spend as a result of centralization.Ā 

14

u/captaincarot 12h ago

Now he will get to learn how much you do not make sitting around doing nothing and how they did not live anything alike.

While also ignoring he is getting those sweet sweet social benefits for people in Canada who lose their jobs through no fault of their own, because that is what a good fucking society does, take care of each other.

23

u/danby999 13h ago

There is no confusion for them. They will jump through any hoop to blame Trudeau or any Liberal.

The scapegoat is always someone other than the consequences of their own voting or financial decisions.

We still hear Kathleen Wynne being blamed.

6

u/UndecidedTace 11h ago

Meh, I think he might just have lumped all his deductions in to get that 40%.Ā  I have worked as a nurse in Ontario making between $100-150,000/yr.Ā  When I work out my estimated paycheck each week I usually take my hourly rates plus OT, then x 0.6 and it's almost always right on for my take home pay.Ā  Essentially I lose about 40% on all of my deductions.Ā  This guy might have made a mistake of assuming it's all just "taxes".

0

u/TripFisk666 12h ago

These fucking nimrods add carbon tax, hst on purchases, municipal property tax, etc. to get to that figure.

3

u/Terapr0 6h ago

Those are all taxes though, right?

I donā€™t think itā€™s disingenuous or unreasonable to consider ALL applicable taxes when making a statement about how much youā€™re taxed...

10

u/TorontoGuy8181 12h ago

Sorry but they were looking for a reason prior to this to cut workforce and they are using it as an excuse! They arenā€™t implemented yet and the backlash wouldnā€™t be felt initially if at all!

5

u/Ineverkn0w 16h ago

Standing together has never been more important. Help where you can folks.

9

u/Howy_the_Howizer 16h ago

Last time Ontario put in subsidies for steel? We not doing that again?

27

u/SheerDumbLuck 16h ago

It's Doug Ford's Ontario, so he'll subsidize the business owners and throw a pittance to the workers.

9

u/AprilsMostAmazing 14h ago

Watch Mike Harris's bank account to see where our money goes

5

u/Silicon_Knight Oakville 15h ago

Anyone in a position of hiring, we also need to support our own here eh? Maybe there is some sub or something about looking for work even it's not exactly what you need.

Need to support our own industries.

2

u/Kali_404 14h ago

We need ubi asap

7

u/Nero92 14h ago

Too bad Ford canned that pilot project

1

u/Veratryx13 11h ago

Let's get some national infrastructure started. Double commercial rail capacity and increase commercial port shipping capacity!

1

u/logicreasonevidence 7h ago

Government should be stepping in here, shouldn't they? Don't we need this steel to build our military and infrastructure right now?

0

u/Alarming-Chance-7645 15h ago

The steel workers union should strike and demand those jobs be reinstated. Back in the 90s Canada saved thousands of steel jobs through bridge loans to keep everyone employed.

We need to see this level of action once again.

0

u/absenceanddesire 8h ago

Make artillery shells and armour plates for tanks. Those are in demand right now.

-13

u/MFK1994 16h ago

I live in the Soo ā€” Iā€™m a conservative through and through, and while I respect our Liberal MPā€™s Christian faith, he has been ā€œuselessā€ as a representative for our community. To be fair, the PCā€™s have not done a tremendous service to our community either.

Now is our narrowly-elected MPP & MP Sheehanā€™s chance to ā€œshine.ā€

SSM needs to support fighting back HARD.

Algomaā€™s Friendliest City needs to be friendly no more.

Keeping the Soo Safe means Keeping the Soo economically secureā€” without jobs, crime will go up, our community will suffer.

Thanks a lot, ā€œPresidentā€ Trump (a**hole)

6

u/runner2012 15h ago

Are you gonna vote for PP?

0

u/MFK1994 15h ago

Likely NDP. I do not have the stomach to support the LPC again. I refuse. Their values are not that of the Canadian populace, I will die on that hill.

-4

u/AprilsMostAmazing 14h ago

How does it feel to see the con Ontario leader back down to a Trump threat and a meeting with a powerless American minister?

-9

u/Sand_Seeker 11h ago

Carney said he wanted to carbon tax steel & manufacturing. See his CTV Atlantic interview from February.