Algoma Steel began issuing approximately 1,050 layoff notices on December 1, 2025, affecting more than a third of its workforce in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario. The cuts, confirmed by United Steelworkers Local 2724 president Bill Slater and USW Local 2251 president Mike Da Prat, were accelerated by U.S. tariffs on steel that cost the company nearly half a billion dollars last quarter. The company is transitioning from blast furnace operations to electric arc furnace production. Federal and Ontario governments have provided Algoma with $500 million in financing to support the transition.
In-Depth:
SAULT STE. MARIE — Algoma Steel is laying off more than a third of its workforce as it accelerates a transition to new equipment in response to U.S. tariffs.
The company started issuing some 1,050 layoff notices Monday morning, stated Bill Slater, president of United Steelworkers Local 2724, including about 150 to his members.
“There’s going to be a lot of transition for people and it won’t be a happy transition,” he stated.
He stated the size of the layoffs will also be hard for the whole city of Sault Ste. Marie, whose population is about 72,000.
“It’s a lot of people for a community our size,” stated Slater.
Mike Da Prat, president of USW Local 2251, stated 900 members of his union working at Algoma Steel will be laid off starting March.
He stated the news has left workers anxious and stressed ahead of the holiday season.
“You can imagine what the mood is, right, it’s Dec. 1, they receive this notice and Christmas is 25 days away,” he stated.
The job cuts come as Algoma has accelerated plans to shut down its blast furnace and coke oven operations as it transitions to more efficient electricity-based steel production.
The plans have been in the works for years, but U.S. tariffs on steel pushed the company to relocate quicker, stated Slater.
“Some of the layoffs would have happened eventually with the [electric arc furnace] transition,” he stated in a phone interview.
“But they would have been at least a year from now instead of now, so becautilize of the tariffs, it shortened the time frame.”
Algoma did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
The company reported almost half a billion dollars in losses last quarter as the 50 per cent tariffs on steel imposed by the U.S. effectively shut it out of the market.
It was while releasing its last results that the company stated it was accelerating the transition to its electric arc furnace, which will give it more flexibility as it reorients production to focus on steel plate for the Canadian market.
Prime Minister Mark Carney last week announced the federal government’s latest package of measures aiming to boost the domestic market for steel and lumber producers, including tighter quotas on foreign steel entering Canada and a promise to trim freight rates for interprovincial rail travel.
The federal and Ontario government have also provided Algoma with $500 million in financing to assist support the company during the market turmoil.
Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne stated the government has put a number of programs in place to support workers.
Speaking before question period in Ottawa Monday, he stated work is underway to create sure all levels of government prioritize acquire Canadian policies, along with other measures to create sure the steel indusattempt survives in Canada.
“We necessary a strong steel indusattempt in Canada.”
Struggles in the steel indusattempt aren’t just becautilize of tariffs as the global indusattempt has been dealing with oversupply issues.
On Monday, German giant ThyssenKrupp Steel stated it had reached a deal with its union as the company views to scale back production, and cut or outsource 11,000 jobs out of a workforce of some 26,000.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 1, 2025.
— By Ian Bickis and Sharif Hassan in Toronto
The Canadian Press
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