This is good news.
Naomi Powell
The Hamilton Spectator
(Jan 9, 2010)
National Steel Car will recall a total of 1,100 workers, ending a temporary shutdown that began last summer, union officials say.
The rail-car maker landed a contract to build 750 iron ore cars, enough to put about 600 employees back on the job.
That's in addition to the 500 workers the firm already said it would recall to fill an order from the Canadian National Railway, said Ron Wyatt, an official with the United Steelworkers union.
"If they don't get any more orders this will be short-lived, but it puts people back to work for a while," Wyatt said. "We're hoping more orders will come along to keep our people working."
The two contracts will likely keep the Kenilworth Avenue North plant running until May, he added.
About 800 employees will be recalled by February. All 1,100 workers -- nearly every worker at the plant -- are expected to be back by March.
National Steel Car was not available for comment.
The economic downturn has hammered the rail car industry, causing orders to vanish with declining freight loads. After ending a three-month strike last summer, Steel Car employees were laid off due to slumping demand.
The market has been slow to recover since then, Steel Car's Hal Bruckner said after winning the CN order in November.
"The competition drives the price down, so anything that's out there, it's hard to make a profit on it," said Bruckner, vice-president of human resources at the plant.
With production on hold, Steel Car had been running on a skeleton crew of about 100 salaried staff and a handful of hourly workers. It has already recalled about 75 hourly workers as it prepares to resume production in mid-January, said Steve Weller, president of the United Steelworkers union at the plant.
"There's a lot of happy families out there right now."
npowell@thespec.com
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