Specialty Bar workers await word of a buyer

Union has heard there are about 10 bids, but their intentions remain unclear

Workers at Hamilton Specialty Bar (HSB) are still on edge and awaiting word on whether they’ll still have a job after Feb. 16.

The Sherman Avenue North plant went into receivership on Jan. 8.

Hamilton Specialty Bar — formerly Slater Steel — produces carbon and alloy steels for the automotive, heavy truck, offroad, mining, forging, cold finish and service centre sectors. The current 168 workers have about two weeks of work left, says Mickey Mercanti, president of United Steelworkers Local 4752.

“The drop-dead date to sell or liquidate the company was Feb. 20, although that might change,” he said.

The union has been meeting with its lawyers to find out what is happening in the receivership process. Court-appointed receiver Ernst & Young has been accepting bids from other businesses to buy the company.

Mercanti said the union has heard there are about 10 bids, but it is unclear if any of the bidders want to keep HSB operating, or to liquidate it. “We’re in the dark as much as everyone else.”

He blames the company’s financial troubles on mismanagement, saying “It’s amazing how badly people at the top mismanaged. It should be a profitable company. We make a really good product.”

Court documents show HSB owes Wells Fargo Capital Finance Corporation Canada more than $27.5 million. Hamilton Specialty Bar has received loans from Wells Fargo since April 2008. Since then, it has experienced “poor financial results at various times” and has a history of defaulting, court documents show.

As a result of going into receivership, the company’s roughly 400 retirees and survivors had their benefits cut off Jan. 12, Mercanti said.