More Layoffs at Nat'l Steelcar

[the dude]

Naomi Powell
The Hamilton Spectator
(May 1, 2008)

National Steel Car workers will face another round of layoffs as the railcar maker struggles against sluggish demand from customers.

Though no final decisions have yet been made, union leader Gary Pedron said about 90 layoffs are expected.

"It could be less or more, we're not sure until the final count comes in," he said.

National Steel Car, which designs and manufactures rail freight cars, has faced a "widespread soft market" for nearly two years now, said company spokesperson Peter Earle.

"When economies across the U.S. and Canada slow down, our business slows down," he said.

The company is still reviewing the timing of the layoffs and the number of workers affected, he added.

National Steel Car cut about 600 hourly jobs in 2007 but later rehired about 400 of those workers. It now employs about 1,300 workers.

Last summer, the firm announced plans to expand, building a $350-million plant in Alabama.

At the time, company officials said the move south was expected to provide a natural hedge against the high Canadian dollar, while bringing the firm closer to its U.S. customer base.

But Pedron says he's concerned lower costs at the new plant, called National Alabama, could eventually result in a downsizing or shutdown of Steel Car's Hamilton operations.

"There's no two ways about it, I'm definitely concerned about how that plant opening will affect our workplace," he said.

Though "costs are always a concern," Earle said the company had no plans to downsize or lay off Hamilton workers once the Alabama plant is up and running later this year.

"The vision is to serve the North American marketplace with both facilities," he said. "What we're going to try to do is utilize the strength of both facilities to do their best work. That doesn't mean the diminishing of Hamilton."

perhaps with a slight trend towards rail transport, a few of these jobs can be saved...or perhaps not.

[coalminecanary]

Here's to hamilton being the canadian centre for manufacture of light rail vehicles

this could be our future!

[HAMRetrofit]

The slight trend that they are referring to is that new steel mill owners are shipping using trucks and rail. This is to avoid high tariffs and docking fees for using the port. As a result, more freight cars will be needed.

If Hamilton is going to be a manufacturer of light rail systems, it will need to attract a company like Bombardier, Skoda, or Seimens. I think this is unlikely given the scale of the Hamilton LRT project. Perhaps if there is enough appeal to manufacture for the GTA an Hamilton then the possibility could grow.

I think that tracks, posts, and overhead lines could easily be manufactured somewhere in Hamilton.

[coalminecanary]

I'm not really talking about just the hamilton system. I think we will see more and more LRT systems going in across the country. And these gov't funds will be better "spent" keeping the money in the country whenever possible :-)

[Jon Dalton]

I don't think Steel Car is the answer. The future of LRV's and all vehicles is in composite materials - light weight, high strength. LRT would be even more efficient if the vehicles were half the weight. I met a guy who was designing entire LRV modules out of carbon fiber composites, this may be a long way off, but it is in the future. Aviation is leading the way because they are under the most pressure to reduce weight, and the technologies will spill over into rail and lastly automotive. There will always be a place for steel, however.