Welland Forge closes doors with 56 jobs lost
Company lost a major customer that accounted for 65% of its business
Forty-four unionized and 12 salaried workers at Welland Forge are without jobs after they found the company shuttered Monday morning through a notice posted on its front door.
“It hasn’t been a good morning,” said Greg Brady, president of Unifor Local 199, which represents union workers at the 11,439-square-metre forge on Centre Street.
“The notice said the business has been permanently closed.”
Welland Forge — it employed a total of 44 unionized and 18 salaried employees — was established in 1965 and is part of IMT Forge, which also owns Port Colborne Forge. It is unknown what is to become of the six remaining salaried workers.
On IMT’s website, the page for Welland Forge has a notice that reads: “This morning we closed Welland Forge. Regrettably, a major customer has turned to a supplier overseas. This customer accounted for 65 per cent of Welland Forge’s business. It is a devastating loss that is beyond our control.
“This blow is too large to withstand in an already difficult economy and the middle of a global pandemic.”
Though the customer is not named on the website, the notice to employees said it was Dana Ltd., and that IMT Forge was notified on June 5
that a purchase agreement between the two companies was being terminated.
It said Dana was taking a majority of its business overseas. Welland Forge, at 139 Centre St., made auto parts for the company.
Ken Hunter, IMT’s vice-president of forge operations, said the union was made aware of the termination in June.
“We met with the union reps and the general manager and informed them of the situation,” Hunter said.
He said the company was doing everything it could to keep the 55-year-old forge open.
“Considering the way the economy is and the global pandemic, with the loss of that business, we had no choice but to come to this decision.”
Hunter said IMT looked but could not find a buyer for the forge.
Despite being notified in June of the loss of the Dana Ltd. contract, Brady was not happy with how things played out over the past five months.
“I’m upset as to how the company could be so unprofessional to not give us a heads up that they were getting ready to close the facility,” said Brady, adding it was unfair to members and the union.
Brady said there was a conference call Monday between himself, Hunter and Unifor national representative Doug Orr about severance packages and wages.
“In our collective bargaining agreement, there is language around closures. Members get 1.5 weeks for every year of service and benefits up to a year. The vice-president said everything will be taken care of, so that’s good.”
Brady said there is no timeline on when workers would see severance packages.
Mayor Frank Campion said Welland Forge’s closure is unfortunate news for the city but more so for the workers who now find themselves unemployed.
“I feel bad for the people losing their jobs, some of them worked there for a long time. We’re doing everything we can to help them,” said Campion Monday afternoon.
The mayor spoke with the city’s economic development office and asked that it scan businesses in the Rose City and those opening soon to see if a list of potential employers could be generated for forge workers.