Tag: Cleveland-Cliffs

It’s the scariest time of year in Washington, D.C. … election season. The city is a veritable haunted house of prognostication and speculation as everyone tries to discern which way the howling wind will blow. We’ll let the fortune tellers and prediction markets guess the outcomes of the midterms. What we do know is this: the steel industry has experienced its share of tricks and treats over the past few months. Below are a few notable steel tricks and treats this Halloween season.

In-person labor contract negotiations resumed this week between the United Steelworkers (USW) union, U.S. Steel, and Cleveland-Cliffs, the union said. The USW said it presented its latest counterproposal to U.S. Steel on Wednesday. “All of our big issues remain on the table, including wages, health care, retirement, safety, capital investments, successorship, and greater transparency around profit sharing,” the USW said in a text to members on Wednesday.

Cleveland-Cliffs Chairman and CEO Lourenco Goncalves said Stelco is not for sale, but he might sell it after operating the company for a period. He said he had come to understand that he was unwelcome in Canada. Separately, in a statement to SMU on Wednesday, Goncalves said he would consider a sale only after Stelco records one year of higher production and brings back all laid-off workers. He clarified it was 175 workers, not 500. He also said he would speak with no potential buyers “real or imaginary” now or during the next calendar year.

Canada’s Minister of Industry Melanie Joly has said she won’t meet with Cleveland-Cliffs until it presents a plan and a timeline to restore jobs at its Stelco operations in Hamilton, Ontario. This follows the Cleveland-based steelmaker saying on Monday it was in full compliance with undertakings related to its buy of Stelco in 2024. Stelco announced layoffs affecting up to 500 workers last month. The company cited the impact of US Section 232 tariffs. Subsequently, the Canadian government alleged that the layoffs violated commitments Cliffs made when it purchased Stelco in 2024.

"Now, the problem is no longer the price. The problem is having access to steel." That would have made a good lead. But I can’t take credit for it. Those (very quotable) words are from Cleveland-Cliffs Chairman and CEO Lourenco Goncalves during the steelmaker’s quarterly earnings conference call on Monday. For a while, I thought the shortages we'd been hearing about might be mostly a problem for small- and mid-sized buyers. But we’re seeing even some of the biggest steel buyers talking openly about supply problems.

The United Steelworkers (USW) union will resume in-person bargaining with U.S. Steel on Monday. The move comes after the USW said it received an updated contract proposal from the Pittsburgh-based steelmaker on Tuesday. “While we had meaningful discussion with the company, there is still much work to be done,” the USW said in a text to members on Wednesday. “The rest of this week, we will be working on a counter and looking to get answers about some of the proposals USS made,” the union added.

Cleveland-Cliffs recorded its first profitable quarter since 2024 on higher steel prices, increased sales volumes, and trade policies supportive of US mills. The Cleveland-based steelmaker swung to a profit of $152 million in Q3’2026 compared to a loss of $251 million in the same quarter last year on revenue that rose 18.5% to $5.6 billion over the same period. Prior to Q3’2026, Cliffs had not posted a profit since Q2’24, when it recorded a profit of $2 million.

Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. expects to earn more from the repricing of contract tonnage than it previously projected. The Cleveland-based steelmaker raised its estimate for the earnings benefit of the repricing to about $850 million from about $500 million. The company also said negotiations for 2027 contracts are progressing better than expected. More than half of the 2027 renewal process was complete as of Cliffs' third-quarter earnings call on Monday morning.

Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. has rescheduled the planned reline of the C blast furnace at its Burns Harbor steel mill in northwest Indiana from mid-2027 to April 2028, company executives said. The delay allows the Cleveland-based steelmaker to keep the furnace, which has annual capacity of ~2.2 million short tons, operating while steel prices and demand remain favorable for mills, they said during the company’s third-quarter earnings call on Monday.

Stelco is proceeding with layoffs at its Hamilton, Ontario, mill despite the Canadian government’s threat of legal action. Last week, Canadian Industry Minister Mélanie Joly had given Cleveland-Cliffs Inc., the owner of Stelco, five days to respond to its call to maintain employment levels at the Canadian mill. Just days earlier, Cliffs announced it would indefinitely idle Stelco's finishing operations and lay off 500 workers. But the government says Cliffs agreed to maintain employment levels as a condition of its 2024 purchase of Stelco.

The United Steelworkers (USW) union has not yet reached a labor agreement with either U.S. Steel or Cleveland-Cliffs.

The Canadian government has reportedly given Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. five days to respond to a letter from Canadian Industry Minister Mélanie Joly about the Stelco layoffs or face legal action.

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has threatened legal action against Cleveland-Cliffs over the layoffs announced earlier this week at its Stelco mill in Hamilton, Ontario.

Stelco Holdings Inc. is indefinitely idling its finishing operations in Hamilton, Ontario. The Canadian steelmaker, a subsidiary of Cleveland-Cliffs, will concentrate steel production at its Lake Erie Works in Nanticoke, Ontario, a Cliffs spokesperson told SMU.

Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. has confirmed a fatal accident occurred at its Monessen coke facility on Sunday, but said production has not been impacted.

A one-month extension of the terms of the current four-year contracts between the USW and the two steelmakers (which was initially set to lapse on Sept. 1) expires on Oct. 1.

The United Steelworkers (USW) union plans to extend its current labor contract with U.S. Steel and Cleveland-Cliffs by 48-hours on a rolling basis, the union told SMU on Monday.

If you’re looking for a deal on steel, this last week wasn’t the one to find one. (Nor was the week before that. Or the week before that.) Meanwhile, contract negotiations are heating up in one of the tightest markets since at least 2021. I've heard discounts will be lower, min-max ranges will be tighter, and there will be less freight equalization and waiving extras.

The United Steelworkers (USW) union, U.S. Steel, and Cleveland-Cliffs on Monday agreed to extend the terms of their current labor contracts by 30 days. The current basic labor agreements between the USW and the two steelmakers had been scheduled to expire at 12:01 a.m. ET on Sept. 1. The extension allows the USW and the companies to continue negotiations. It also averts the immediate threat of a strike or lockout in a steel market already characterized by historically tight supplies.

The United Steelworkers (USW) union and Cleveland-Cliffs remain at an impasse on key issues, the union said in an update to members on Friday.

The United Steelworker (USW) said on Friday that work continues with Cleveland-Cliffs at both the local and master bargaining tables.

Cleveland-Cliffs said the US Department of Energy has established a framework for Cliffs to finalize negotiations and implementation plans for its Middletown Works investment. The framework rescopes the previously awarded $500 million DOE grant.

S232 tariffs of 50% provide a signal to domestic producers. Domestic prices have risen by approximately 50%. Similarly, the tariffs have simply moved the competitive threshold for imports 50% higher.

Labor contract talks between the United Steelworkers (USW) union and U.S. Steel have made some headway. But the Pittsburgh-based steelmaker and the USW have somewhat different views about how much progress has been made to date.

Some key matters haven't been brought up yet. “We have not begun bargaining over economic issues, including wages,” the USW said in an update to members.

The United Steelworkers’ (USW) president released a video on Monday touting the union’s commitment to getting a good contract for its workers in the current negotiations.

Cleveland-Cliffs (Cliffs) and the United Steelworkers (USW) labor union plan to discuss capital expenditures (capex) as part of their ongoing master contract negotiations.

The United Steelworkers (USW) informed members it continues bargaining with Cleveland-Cliffs about both the union's Training Committee and the Contracting Out Committee.

Cleveland-Cliffs’ top executive said any restart of the blast furnace at its Dearborn Works in Michigan hinges on automakers reshoring more production to the US.

Cleveland-Cliffs President and CFO Celso Goncalves said no deal was imminent between the company and South Korean steelmaker POSCO because of disagreements over valuation.