Steel Company of Canada forms
JUNE 8, 1910
THE STEEL COMPANY of Canada (or Stelco) was formed on June 8, 1910, by the incorporation of the Canada Screw Co., Limited (est. 1866); The Montreal Rolling Mills Co. (1868); The Dominion Wire Manufacturing Co., Ltd. (1883); The Hamilton Steel and Iron Co., Limited (1900); Canada Bolt and Nut Co., Ltd. (1910).
Significance
STELCO WENT ON to become one of Hamilton’s biggest employers. Through its peak years of the 1970s, the company had more than 25,000 workers.
Glory days
First World War: Steel production is redirected to make shells for the war effort. Profits soar and the output of steel ingots (unfinished steel moulds) doubles. More than 3,000 new employees are hired.
The Great Depression: The company, because of recent expansions and the strength of its finishing works, does better than other manufacturers. Through the 1930s, the company continues to prosper when the Canadian government increases duties on steel imports from the U.S. The company does so well it spends almost $8 million replacing open hearths and blooming mills.
Second World War: The company goes back to making shells and also supplies steel for ships and army transports. Stelco hires and trains women to fill the gaps left by workers who have joined to war effort.
The strike: On July 15, 1946, more than 2,000 Stelco workers walk off the job to begin a bitter, 81-day strike that divides the community and splits families. At issue is higher wages, a 40-hour work week and recognition of their union as a bargaining unit. The strike is seen as a major victory for Canada’s union movement.
1950s: The postwar consumer boom means plenty of demand for Stelco steel for automobiles and other consumer products. Stelco’s steel capacity triples to three million tons. In 1958, the workers at Hamilton Works go on an 86-day strike, claiming the company is not passing on the benefits of its success to its employees.
1960s: Stelco sets records for steelmaking but again finds itself in another strike in 1969.
Historical perspective
“THE STEEL INDUSTRY in the latter part of the 19th century and early part of the 20th century had an incredibly huge impact on Hamilton’s evolution from mid-level city to a major economic player in the country ... Steel was key at that time for Hamilton growing so quickly. The city became a major example of really good urban development, and the money provided by the jobs at the steel companies and from municipal taxes had a major, positive impact on the city’s growth.
“That impact continued all through the First World War and the Second World War. In other communities the war had a negative economic effect but here it tended to be positive, at least for the steel companies and their related firms ...
“Up to the 1950s and 1960s the steel city image continued. It was definitely a part of the city’s character, but in the post-industrial era we are in now, steelmaking is a smaller part of a bigger picture. The local economy is far more diversified now.”