Tenaris Algoma Tubes is laying off another 230 employees, citing low market demand for the cuts.
The company made the announcement Jan. 28, indicating in a news release the “temporary” layoffs would come into effect starting Feb. 1.
Layoffs were previously announced in December 2014 and March 2015.
“Production levels for Tenaris Algoma Tubes are determined by the demand of the North American oil and gas industry,” the company said in a release.
“The persistent low price of oil and consequential reduction in drilling activity, along with unfairly traded imports of OCTG (oil country tubular goods) and line pipe, including corresponding high inventories of these products, have driven Tenaris to make this decision.”
The plant will be left with about eight electrical maintenance workers.
In an interview with SooToday.com, Cody Alexander, president of Steelworkers Local 9548, expressed optimism that the company, and the jobs, would recover.
“This shouldn’t be taken as an indication that the plant is shutting,” Alexander said. “They have definitely been continuing to invest in this plant over the last 14 months. Their goal is, once this thing is over, they’re going to dive into the Canadian market.”
Union and company officials have been meeting this week to jointly plan the downtime. They will meet again in early March to review the situation.
The Local 9548 executive will use the downtime to work on the Chinese steel-dumping issue, which Alexander says is a major concern at the tube mill.
Local 9548 representatives will be traveling to Hamilton this weekend for what’s expected to be a large Stand Up For Steel rally.
The original version of this story appears on SooToday.com.
