Evraz to lay off around 500 steel workers at the Regina plant

Multinational steelmaker and mining company Evraz PLC will lay off approximately 500 employees at the Regina plant at the end of the month as lower demand for steel products weighs on the company’s Canadian operations.

A layoff notice was posted Tuesday on the United Steelworkers Local 5890 website listing job cuts at the Regina plant, which is western Canada’s largest steel company, where it produces tubular products as pipelines for industry. oil and gas.

The Canadian steel industry is facing the pressure of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has led to a sharp reduction in demand for steel, a surplus of finished product in China and a collapse in global crude steel capacity utilization.

Earlier this month, Evraz said its total crude steel production fell 4.4% in the third quarter from the previous quarter, while total steel sales fell 9.5%.

“These staff adjustments, which began in November and continue in December, match the size of our workforce with the production demand for certain tubular products,” Patrick Waldron, Director of Communications and Public Affairs, said in an email. by Evraz North America.

“In the spiral pipe divisions this means that when big projects get completed and work runs out, layoffs occur. This perspective and the difficult decisions it forced have been shared with union leadership and team members.”

Waldron said earlier this year layoffs also occurred in some of Evraz’s operations in Alberta for similar reasons. The company’s Regina plant will continue to produce steel for the Red Deer, Alta company. structure, he added. About 1,000 people work in the Regina facility in Evraz.

Mike Day, president of the steel workers union, said the union has filed a number of complaints related to the layoffs and expects “many more to come.”

“The company is determined to do things the way it wants, regardless of what it is [collective bargaining agreement] States. We told the company that this venue will not stand by or forget this company’s attack on the seniority of our members, “wrote Day.