Hopkins Steel closes

Another Welland industry has closed its doors.

Workers at Hopkins Steel were notified Monday the struggling plant was shut down.

The local structural steel manufacturer was purchased by Edmonton-based Superior Group about five years ago, primarily to supply steel products to the oil industry in western Canada.

But as the work dried up on the oil sands in the past few years, so did demand for products manufactured at the nearly 60-yearold company at 2 Broadway in Welland.

At the time of the purchase, the relatively small industry employed 17 people.

On Monday, about a dozen workers still employed by the company received letters saying: “We regret to inform you that due to economic forces beyond our control, Hopkins Steel Works will no longer be operating as of today.”

United Steelworkers union staff representative Frank Arcuri said he was at the plant Monday, speaking to a senior vice-president from Superior Group after employees were notified of the closure.

Arcuri said the closure wasn’t an issue of a parent company “cutting and running and shafting workers to make a profit.”

The company, he said, has instead “been hanging on.”

“They were waiting for probably a year or two now, sending them whatever work they could to keep the facility open, waiting for the oil industry to recover,” Arcuri said.

“But they told us, they just can’t do it anymore. They can’t keep the facility open.”

Arcuri said union negotiators were told last year while bargaining for a new contract, “that the company has been losing money, but they were hopeful that it would turn around”

“I guess it hasn’t,” he said. “Unfortunately, they supported an industry that just hasn’t rebounded yet.”

Arcuri said the union represented about eight workers on the shop floor, while another four worked in the office.

Because the company is so small, the workers don’t qualify for severance payments of one week for every year of service as required by Employment Standards Act.

“The company has agreed to sit down with us and hopefully bargain an enhanced severance package,” Arcuri said. “They are going to try to do something over and above what they legally have to do, and that’s a good thing.”

Meanwhile, he said, the company will move some of the more valuable equipment out of the facility and try to sell off what remains.

Arcuri said the company representative he spoke with left him with the impression the company has “no plans to ever reopen it.”

Welland Mayor Frank Campion said the city would contact the company to determine if there is anything that can be done to assist.

“Certainly I’ll look into that,” he said.

Hope Centre executive director Mark Carl said the closure of a business, even a relatively small one, always has an impact on services the social service agency provides.

“Any job losses have an effect on us,” he said. “Usually it’s four or five months afterward, because they lose that extra revenue. Even if they’re on unemployment, they’re down 40 per cent.”

Carl said programs to help cover utility bills are often the first to be accessed by people after losing jobs.

Company representatives did not return phone calls from The Tribune Tuesday.

Unfortunately, they supported an industry that just hasn’t rebounded yet.” United Steelworkers union staff representative Frank Arcuri