Steelworker job centre filling need for workers ‘devastated’ by the loss of job
Centre seeking new agreement with province after being busy for 15 years
Jim Huff has seen it 10,000 times over the past 15 years.
That look of utter devastation in the eyes of once-proud manufacturing workers facing unemployment as another local factory shuts its doors forever. It’s a sight he can’t forget. “You look in their faces and you can see it, they’re absolutely devastated,” he said. “I’ve had men senior to me sobbing in my arms because they don’t know what they’re going to do.”
Huff sees that devastation in his role as co-ordinator of the Hamilton Area Steelworkers Adjustment Committee, the 15-year-old effort to help the people displaced from factory jobs find a new place in the world.
He knows what they’re feeling because he has been there himself — he worked for 28 years at Graham Packaging in Burlington until, on 15 minutes’ notice, he was told the factory was closing.
Formed in 2001, the centre provides a range of services including job boards, classes in resumé writing and job interview skills, referrals to training and upgrading programs — anything needed to help get a life back on track.
Concern for the future of the centre has been piqued recently because its operating agreement with the provincial Ministry of Colleges, Universities and Training expires at the end of March. A proposal for a new agreement has been submitted and is being passed up the bureaucratic chain of command for approval.
“The sad thing is that there’s a continuing need for what we do,” Huff said. “We offer these services, and we also just talk to the guys to help keep their morale up. We always keep the coffee on.”
The centre sees an average of 500 workers a year, sometimes more when National Steel Car has another round of layoffs after a major order has been filled, or when Stelco has gone through its wrenching rounds of layoffs before and after the takeover by U.S. Steel.
The traditional model of an industrial action centre is a shortterm program, usually negotiated with a union as part of a plant closing agreement. The steelworkers centre, by contrast, is a long-term effort aimed at any company represented by the United Steelworkers.
For union leaders such as Gary Howe, president of Local 1005 at U.S. Steel Canada’s Hamilton Works, uncertainty over the future of U.S. Steel Canada, which is currently under creditor protection, means demand for such services isn’t going to fade any time soon.
“The steel industry is very cyclical so it’s important to have something like this up and running,” Howe said. “For our people, being able to talk to someone with experience in this industry is just invaluable.”
The average worker coming through the centre, Huff said, is a man over age 55 who has been working at a manufacturing plant for up to 35 years. In many cases, their formal education ended at high school, or sooner, and many struggle with computer literacy. Some are retired and looking for work to supplement a pension, while others need more.
For Howe, the centre is especially important for the 9,000 Stelco pensioners living in Hamilton — 2,000 of them are under age 65, and they retired before they were ready to do so because of uncertainty about the company’s future. Now, with their retirement health benefits taken away and fearing for the future of their pension plan, many are crowding the centre’s job boards looking for work.
“A lot of people retired before they wanted to and the loss of their benefits just made things worse,” Howe said. “They weren’t living in the lap of luxury to begin with, but now they’re coming over here looking for work.”
Steve Weller, president of the USW local representing National Steel Car workers, says the centre is a critical service for members who face regular layoffs between orders at the rail car plant.
“People don’t know what to do or where to go,” he said. “This action centre is a very important part of the system because without it, the people would just be scrambling.”
Ralph Borsellino is one such worker. He retired from Stelco in 2006 after 36 years, just after the first restructuring under creditor protection, afraid that if he didn’t grab his pension, he might lose it entirely. Since then, he has drifted through a series of jobs, but at age 63, with a Grade 10 education, he’s still looking for something with a decent wage and some benefits.
“When I started at Stelco, there was plenty of work around so you didn’t need an education,” he said. “I come in here to see if there’s anything full-time on the boards ... If this wasn’t available, I’d have to get my wife to go on the computer to help me look.”
If this wasn’t available, I’d have to get my wife to go on the computer to help me look.
RALPH BORSELLINO
RETIRED STEELWORKER