U.S. Steel Canada is in court on Tuesday, making the case to put its Hamilton and Nanticoke mills up for sale.
Not everyone involved thinks it's a good idea right now. The union representing active and retired workers filed arguments opposing the sale on Monday night. The opponents are accusing the former parent company, the American U.S. Steel (USS), from meddling in the sale process of the Canadian operations (USSC) in order to run the Canadian operation into the ground.
"USS wants to liquidate USSC, sooner than later," the steelworkers' motion said. The American company has shown it isn't interested in efforts to "revitalize" the steel-making operations at Hamilton and Nanticoke, the workers argue. Meanwhile, they say they're in early talks with several potential buyers and a sale with the terms proposed could scare them off.
The company is set to make a motion Tuesday to enter the sale and investment solicitation process. That would give it until Oct. 31 to sell to off all or parts of the production Hamilton and Nanticoke. And according to United Steelworkers union reps, there are at least four companies interested in buying.
Tuesday's sale motion is a second attempt at finding a willing buyer, a move agreed on in October, when U.S. Steel Canada company severed from its American parent company. That deal halted the first and ultimately unsuccessful attempt to find a buyer. If the court approves, the new process USSC would get non-binding letters of interest from companies by Feb. 29.
The province joins the steelworkers in opposing USSC's motion to put the mills up for sale.
The province wants to see a "fair and reasonable" sales process that "properly and robustly canvasses the market," according to a document filed in court on Friday. The proposed sale process "does not consider that the [sale] in the form being sought will do so."
The steelworkers say they've been working with two former Stelco vice presidents on a restructuring plan to keep the company going, and putting the plants up for sale before such a plan could take root is premature.
U.S. Steel, the American company, recently said it wants liquidation put on the table as an option alongside the sale.
USSC will also start a six-day claims trail on Thursday, when the court will determine whether U.S. Steel is owed $2.2 billion. That decision will determine the impact the debt has on the restructuring process.
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