CBC

Sat Jan 20, 6:16 am

Save our jobs

Steel workers in Nova Scotia are asking the provincial government for one last chance to save their jobs. The angry workers confronted Premier John Hamm to demand the opportunity to save the Sydney Steel Mill after a deal with a Swiss company went south earlier in the week. The government says it now has no choice but to sell off the mill piece by piece. Over the past 40 years, the money-sucking plant has cost the province $3-billion to keep open.

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CBC

Fri Jan 19, 10:03 pm

No more steel from Cape Breton as Sysco closes

Despite efforts to prolong its life, the steel industry in Cape Breton is officially dead. The Nova Scotia government said on Friday there will be no more attempts to keep the steel mill operating.

The provincial economic development minister met with about 300 steelworkers in a union hall in Sydney.

Gordon Balser told them, "You should all be proud of your 100-year history but there comes a time when very difficult decisions have to be made."

Those difficult decisions mean that about 800 people no longer have jobs.

When Premier John Hamm showed up in town for a business luncheon, steelworkers booed and jeered him.

The furnaces – and everything else – are up for sale.

The United Steelworkers union called the closure "devastating." There have been several attempts to sell Sysco in the past 10 years. The latest deal, with a Swiss-based company, fell apart on Thursday.

A year ago, an American consortium pulled out of its plans to buy the operation. Groups from China and the Netherlands also backed away.

-- Rachel Gibson (rgibson@hotmail.com), January 20, 2001