Hundreds of jobs expected to be lost at Evraz steel mill

With the Christmas holidays on the horizon, workers in the tubular division at the Evraz steel mill in Regina are facing layoffs.

Currently, around 500 people work in that division, but hundreds are expected to lose their jobs over the next two months.

Mike Day, president of United Steelworkers Local 5890, says the situation is extremely stressful for everyone who is impacted.

“It’s not easy to focus on your task when there is a lot going on behind the scenes, but you need to make sure your work remains safe,” Day said Tuesday. “With COVID going on and Christmas coming up, there is a lot of uncertainty.

“There is a lot of stress for a lot of people.”

There are 50 people on a layoff notice that is in effect for Nov. 28, with more layoff’s expected every two weeks up until the middle of January.

“We have around 500 people in tubular,” Day said. “I think we’ll probably have less than 100 people left working in this division (after the layoffs).”

Day added COVID-19 has had an impact on the jobs being lost but that it isn’t the main reason why it’s happening.

“It’s frustrating when you’ve got projects that are in Canada but not being made by Canadian product or by Canadian employees,” he said. “The oil and gas sectors have taken a huge hit in the last few years here.

“A bounce-back recovery is going to take a long period of time and we are feeling the brunt of it right now.”

Patrick Waldron, director of communications and industry affairs with Evraz, says the current economic climate has made it very difficult on the oil and gas industry.

“Evraz North America produces engineered steel tubular products such as large diameter pipe in our tubular product mills. That is a substantial part of our Evraz Regina business,” he said in an email to 980 CJME.

“Overall it has been a challenging market in 2020 given the current economic conditions, but particularly difficult in the energy industry which is our primary customer.”

Waldron says staffing has been impacted by the lack of demand for production.

“These staffing adjustments are matching the size of our workforce with current demand for production of our tubular products,” Waldron wrote. “Information about these difficult decisions has been communicated to our union leaders and team members.”

Waldron said there have been many layoffs within the company in other locations, adding that Evraz will continue to pursue new business for the company.

“We are proud that Evraz Regina steelworkers this year, and for decades, have been safely producing the highest-quality line pipe for Canadian energy projects,” he wrote. “Our steelworkers will continue to do so.”

At this time last year, there were roughly 700 people working in the tubular division at Evraz. In terms of numbers returning to what they once were, Day doesn’t see it as likely.

“I don’t see our numbers going back to the same capacity. A lot of these people that won’t come back and will just find a position somewhere else,” he said. “And if these employees are going to be off for six or eight months, it’s going to be really tough.”

The tubular division has done over half of the work for the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion, with Day describing the division as being the “bread and butter” for the plant for over a decade.

“If this plant struggles, there are going to be a lot of struggles for the province,” Day says. “This just adds more pressure on the economy.”