Steel Product Producers

Lockout ends, production restarts at Welded Tube of Canada

Written by Laura Miller

February 7, 2025

Welded Tube of Canada’s production facilities in Concord, Ontario, are back up and running after a month offline.

The company’s plants had been shut since just before Christmas when the company locked out union workers during negotiations for a new collective bargaining agreement.

On Jan. 26, 340 members of United Steelworkers Local 8328 ratified a new contract and returned to work.

The union said the labor agreement secured meaningful gains in wages, benefits and working conditions, including a 10% wage increase over three years and a $2,000 signing bonus.

USW Local 8328 President John Manfre praised the resilience of the union members during the cold and challenging lockout.

“We did not back down, and we fought for a contract recognizing our work’s value,” he stated. “Overall, we are happy with the outcome as we came together as a collective to bargain for fairness and respect.”

Welded Tube of Canada said it returned to full operational capacity immediately after the contract’s ratification.

“A work stoppage is always regrettable, but we are happy to have our employees back at work doing what we do best: making great steel tube for our customers,” the company said in a statement to SMU.

The company’s three facilities in Concord, just north of Toronto, have more than 600,000 feet of manufacturing space combined, multiple tube mills, a slitter for coil processing, a warehouse and distribution facility, and other equipment.

In total, Welded Tube of Canada operates five manufacturing and finishing facilities in Canada and the US. They have a combined annual production capacity of 700,000 tons of hollow structural sections (HSS), mechanical ERW tubing, and oil country tubular goods (OCTG).

Laura Miller

Laura Miller is a reporter and editor for Steel Market Update. She has held a variety of positions within the steel industry since 2007, including reporting and editing for Steel Business Briefing/Platts, the Association for Iron and Steel Technology, and Kallanish Commodities, as well as marketing for what was then known as ThyssenKrupp Steel USA (now AM/NS Calvert). After a five-year hiatus working across other industries, she returned to steel in 2021 and has covered the flat rolled, tubular, and trade areas of the industry. She is a member of the Association of Women in the Metal Industries and a past-president of the AWMI Pittsburgh Chapter. She holds a BA in Latin American Studies from Edinboro University of Pennsylvania. She can be reached at laura@steelmarketupdate.com or 724-759-7869.

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