The Hamilton Spectator
Sun Apr 10 2011
Dirty days in the neighbourhood?
Residents of Hamilton’s North End and Beach Strip not so happy with new owners of ArcelorMittal Dofasco
In the past few years Hamilton has seen its Canadian-owned steel mills — Stelco and Dofasco — sold to foreign interests. The sales triggered angst and hope. Foreign owners could bring capital for stability and development — or simply buy them out, gut the company and run them into the ground.
We would be naïve not to know that foreign investment can be a barely legal means to eliminate your competition and control more of the market for the parent company — who may not care too deeply for its surrogate children in other lands.
In Stelco’s case, the angst has been present for more than a decade, with any hope so dim and short-lived it has been deferred to the future. Stelco was busy for years dodging everything from environmental issues (Randle Reef) to obligations with its union (Local 1005). Land sales, mothballing, selling of equipment to Asian steel producers, and then the entire company sold to American giant, US Steel.
A few shoots of hope appeared at this point, but were mowed down by a shutdown, layoffs, corporate favouritism to U.S. mills, and a lockout of workers over a pension dispute that has galvanized Local 1005 into a Stalingrad-like battle for survival, with prime-of-life workers and pensioners serving on the front lines side by side.
The lockout is not about strategy or tactics for them — it is almost a death-before-dishonour battle of principle. It can only grow more bitter with the news of US Steel’s CEO John Surma’s $8 million pay raise, while he locks out workers in Hamilton.
Hamilton’s other steel company — Dofasco — was comparatively invisible. Stelco’s union would win a raise at the table or picket line, and Dofasco employees would often receive the same package a few months later. Some Stelco workers would wryly say that Dofasco employees should pay 1005 some union dues for the battles they won for Dofasco workers.
Dofasco would also give bonuses and relatively generous buyouts. Never a strike — never a union. Profit sharing. No public financial struggles, and product always available — Dofasco was ripe for purchase when the price of steel began to rise in the middle of the last decade, and it happened. Billionaire Lakshmi Mittal, the sixth-richest man in the world, and worth a staggering $31.1 billion, purchased it outright, and flew in a CEO to run what would be known as ArcelorMittal Dofasco (AMD). Angst and hope again! Would CEO Jeurgen Schacler bring more than a new coat of paint and a locked gate as US Steel had?
So far, AMD steel has steadily rolled out the gates. Lockouts and large layoffs have been nonexistent, and a large amount of money is being spent on repairs and improvements — regrettably some of the money is from the taxpayers’ purse — but AMD is shelling out its own as well. Everything looks fine—until you talk with the neighbours.
AMD’s relations with citizens, and citizen groups, are incredibly poor. This is due to many factors — but all of them point more to the new AMD than the old Dofasco.
The proof is plentiful. AMD had to struggle to get enough citizens to serve on its Community Liason Committee, and has placed many advertisements for it. It is also soliciting agencies such as the Hamilton Harbour Remedial Action Plan, Bay Area Restoration Council and Hamilton Conservation Authority to dress the windows. But behind the scenes it has been slim pickings months, with agencies not seeing immediate benefit to meetings.
A primary issue is black particulate. The North End and the Beach Strip have been plagued with it — and whenever the evidence points to AMD, the company engages in a behind-the-scenes effort to muddy the waters, divert blame and frustrate the victims. AMD refused to meet with citizen plaintiffs about the company’s intent to avoid Ministry of the Environment (MOE) efforts to reduce AMDs emission of the deadly carcinogen Benzo A pyrene, saying they did not have the money to tackle the job. This while AMD owner Lakshmi Mittal spent $60 million on his daughter’s wedding. Montgomery Burns couldn’t have done it better.
AMD refused to work out issues with Environment Hamilton for so long that someone had to dress up as Santa to get AMD to receive a “Christmas present” of hundreds of postcards from its neighbours, who were urging the company to come into compliance with emissions of dangerous pollutants.
AMD privately played stupid with residents who were complaining about its aging No. 2 blast furnace belching out giant clouds of smoke. Then when confronted with video evidence, played legalist over the exact pitch of colour and density — suggesting it was only steam. This left residents to play a legal version of “Pin the Tail on the Donkey,” until front-page pictures forced AMD to admit the obvious truth — there was a giant hole in the fume recovery hood at No. 2 and repairs were scheduled. The initial denial, followed by evasion and ending in an admission that said “yes we know it is broken and it will get fixed,” is just a plain insult to the folks who have to work with AMD as neighbours.
On Feb. 11, there was a high wind event that resulted in sections of the Beach Strip being covered in “Black Snow.” Several houses changed colour overnight. AMD had to know it was at least partly responsible for the coal, coke and soot that escaped its facility, but chose to deny it repeatedly to beach residents. One representative of AMD’s environment department said to me: ‘What do you want me to do, Mr. Howlett? These winds were all over Ontario that day!”
I told him I wasn’t concerned about the rest of Ontario, just the 700-metre strip between AMD’s coal pile and my neighbourhood. He said he would talk to his boss about it and maybe get back to me. No response yet.
There are only two industries that have large coal piles in our city — US Steel and AMD. Both of them are directly in the prevailing wind path of the Beach Strip. It would be a simple matter for the two companies and the MOE to install cameras monitoring these piles, and pay special attention to them during these accurately-forecast high-wind events. And that could prove whether the source was US Steel and or AMD. But it seems more desirable to AMD (the closest to our area) to play stupid about fugitive coal dust, and leave the residents stuck with the burden of proof along with the shame of the dirt.
So if AMD (and its president/CEO Juergen Schachler) are going to bring positive change to Hamilton, it will have to reverse the direction it has taken since assuming ownership. Many of these incidents could have been much better handled with openness and the necessary repairs — rather than a cat-and-mouse media game.
Jim Howlett is President of the Hamilton Beach Community Council and founding member of Hamilton Industrial Environmental Association.
Editor … … …. The MOE just confirmed that at least %50 of the black material was coal, coke, and steelmaking soot. If you want the lab results I can send them to you.
Sun Apr 10 2011
Dirty days in the neighbourhood?
Residents of Hamilton’s North End and Beach Strip not so happy with new owners of ArcelorMittal Dofasco
In the past few years Hamilton has seen its Canadian-owned steel mills — Stelco and Dofasco — sold to foreign interests. The sales triggered angst and hope. Foreign owners could bring capital for stability and development — or simply buy them out, gut the company and run them into the ground.
We would be naïve not to know that foreign investment can be a barely legal means to eliminate your competition and control more of the market for the parent company — who may not care too deeply for its surrogate children in other lands.
In Stelco’s case, the angst has been present for more than a decade, with any hope so dim and short-lived it has been deferred to the future. Stelco was busy for years dodging everything from environmental issues (Randle Reef) to obligations with its union (Local 1005). Land sales, mothballing, selling of equipment to Asian steel producers, and then the entire company sold to American giant, US Steel.
A few shoots of hope appeared at this point, but were mowed down by a shutdown, layoffs, corporate favouritism to U.S. mills, and a lockout of workers over a pension dispute that has galvanized Local 1005 into a Stalingrad-like battle for survival, with prime-of-life workers and pensioners serving on the front lines side by side.
The lockout is not about strategy or tactics for them — it is almost a death-before-dishonour battle of principle. It can only grow more bitter with the news of US Steel’s CEO John Surma’s $8 million pay raise, while he locks out workers in Hamilton.
Hamilton’s other steel company — Dofasco — was comparatively invisible. Stelco’s union would win a raise at the table or picket line, and Dofasco employees would often receive the same package a few months later. Some Stelco workers would wryly say that Dofasco employees should pay 1005 some union dues for the battles they won for Dofasco workers.
Dofasco would also give bonuses and relatively generous buyouts. Never a strike — never a union. Profit sharing. No public financial struggles, and product always available — Dofasco was ripe for purchase when the price of steel began to rise in the middle of the last decade, and it happened. Billionaire Lakshmi Mittal, the sixth-richest man in the world, and worth a staggering $31.1 billion, purchased it outright, and flew in a CEO to run what would be known as ArcelorMittal Dofasco (AMD). Angst and hope again! Would CEO Jeurgen Schacler bring more than a new coat of paint and a locked gate as US Steel had?
So far, AMD steel has steadily rolled out the gates. Lockouts and large layoffs have been nonexistent, and a large amount of money is being spent on repairs and improvements — regrettably some of the money is from the taxpayers’ purse — but AMD is shelling out its own as well. Everything looks fine—until you talk with the neighbours.
AMD’s relations with citizens, and citizen groups, are incredibly poor. This is due to many factors — but all of them point more to the new AMD than the old Dofasco.
The proof is plentiful. AMD had to struggle to get enough citizens to serve on its Community Liason Committee, and has placed many advertisements for it. It is also soliciting agencies such as the Hamilton Harbour Remedial Action Plan, Bay Area Restoration Council and Hamilton Conservation Authority to dress the windows. But behind the scenes it has been slim pickings months, with agencies not seeing immediate benefit to meetings.
A primary issue is black particulate. The North End and the Beach Strip have been plagued with it — and whenever the evidence points to AMD, the company engages in a behind-the-scenes effort to muddy the waters, divert blame and frustrate the victims. AMD refused to meet with citizen plaintiffs about the company’s intent to avoid Ministry of the Environment (MOE) efforts to reduce AMDs emission of the deadly carcinogen Benzo A pyrene, saying they did not have the money to tackle the job. This while AMD owner Lakshmi Mittal spent $60 million on his daughter’s wedding. Montgomery Burns couldn’t have done it better.
AMD refused to work out issues with Environment Hamilton for so long that someone had to dress up as Santa to get AMD to receive a “Christmas present” of hundreds of postcards from its neighbours, who were urging the company to come into compliance with emissions of dangerous pollutants.
AMD privately played stupid with residents who were complaining about its aging No. 2 blast furnace belching out giant clouds of smoke. Then when confronted with video evidence, played legalist over the exact pitch of colour and density — suggesting it was only steam. This left residents to play a legal version of “Pin the Tail on the Donkey,” until front-page pictures forced AMD to admit the obvious truth — there was a giant hole in the fume recovery hood at No. 2 and repairs were scheduled. The initial denial, followed by evasion and ending in an admission that said “yes we know it is broken and it will get fixed,” is just a plain insult to the folks who have to work with AMD as neighbours.
On Feb. 11, there was a high wind event that resulted in sections of the Beach Strip being covered in “Black Snow.” Several houses changed colour overnight. AMD had to know it was at least partly responsible for the coal, coke and soot that escaped its facility, but chose to deny it repeatedly to beach residents. One representative of AMD’s environment department said to me: ‘What do you want me to do, Mr. Howlett? These winds were all over Ontario that day!”
I told him I wasn’t concerned about the rest of Ontario, just the 700-metre strip between AMD’s coal pile and my neighbourhood. He said he would talk to his boss about it and maybe get back to me. No response yet.
There are only two industries that have large coal piles in our city — US Steel and AMD. Both of them are directly in the prevailing wind path of the Beach Strip. It would be a simple matter for the two companies and the MOE to install cameras monitoring these piles, and pay special attention to them during these accurately-forecast high-wind events. And that could prove whether the source was US Steel and or AMD. But it seems more desirable to AMD (the closest to our area) to play stupid about fugitive coal dust, and leave the residents stuck with the burden of proof along with the shame of the dirt.
So if AMD (and its president/CEO Juergen Schachler) are going to bring positive change to Hamilton, it will have to reverse the direction it has taken since assuming ownership. Many of these incidents could have been much better handled with openness and the necessary repairs — rather than a cat-and-mouse media game.
Jim Howlett is President of the Hamilton Beach Community Council and founding member of Hamilton Industrial Environmental Association.
Editor … … …. The MOE just confirmed that at least %50 of the black material was coal, coke, and steelmaking soot. If you want the lab results I can send them to you.