More than 100 layoffs coming at Evraz pipe mill in Regina
CBC
Evraz North America will be laying off more than 100 workers at its pipe mill in Regina.
The company expects to issue notices sometime this week, with the layoffs happening in mid-February, according to Michael Yeats, a senior vice president with Evraz North America.
Yeats blames cheap imports for the layoffs.
"There has been a really rapid increase in the number of imports in the Canadian market recently and those imports are being sold oftentimes below our cost, which is costing us market share and pulls away from our order book," Yeats said in a phone call from Calgary.
"Right now we just don't have enough orders to justify our current production levels."
Yeats said the layoffs are temporary and employees have recall rights.
"We follow the collective bargaining agreement and do everything we can to make this as smooth a transition as we can for our employees," Yeats said.
"These [layoffs] weren't expected. The imports coming into the market have had a pretty significant impact on our market and that impact has really come to materialize and come to fruition in the past few weeks."
Evraz North America laid off 170 steelworkers in Regina from May 1 to June 17, 2022 due to idling its large diameter pipe fabrication work.
"It's a very cyclical business and it is very project-based. In fact, all of 2021 that operation was idle and we weren't doing anything there," Yeats told CBC in an interview about those layoffs last June.
"We're doing very well as a business. It's just that particular product line."
Ryan McKenzie, president of the United Steelworkers Union Local 5890, said layoffs of this size are always worrying, but can be part of the industry.
"Pipelines have had a good stretch but you never want to see people out of work, especially in today's economy," McKenzie said.
McKenzie said the Regina pipe mill would be down to 25 to 30 workers after this new round of layoffs.
