Local U.S. Steel workers are claiming the steel giant is skirting around its Nanticoke mill by rerouting its operations through an intricate processing procedure. In response, workers erected a secondary picket line outside of the former Nelson Steel pickling facility on Tuesday.

While transport trucks back into loading bays, a handful of locked out workers have rallied around the now U.S. Steel pickling division to draw attention to the ongoing business. Workers claim steel slabs made at Hamilton’s U.S. Steel facility are being rolled into coils in the United States. The coils are then shipped back to Hamilton, where they are eventually pickled at the former Nelson facility -just a stone’s throw away from the locked out Nanticoke steel mill. The finished products are supposedly destined for Honda Canada.

From first a slab in Hamilton to coil in Nanticoke, this 1,500-kilo-metre trip is clearly politically motivated, said Paul Mason, political action chair of the United Steelworkers Local 8782.

“They’re willing to drive 1,500 kilometres to make a point,” he said, explaining it is clearly not a cost efficient process.

The local union also takes issue with the steel being labelled Canadian when, in fact, the steel is also being handled on United States soil.

“We object to that very, very strongly,” he added.

Local 8782 workers are employed and continue to work at the Nanticoke pickling facility. They have not been affected by the upheaval at the neighbouring U.S. Steel plant because they are under a different contract, Mason explained.

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