It is reported that the long dispute between Ottawa and US Steel over the company’s takeover of Stelco ended with a promise to keep two Ontario steel mills operating for at least several more years.

But unions representing steelworkers said the secret deal with the American manufacturer is a betrayal of Canadian employees.

Mr Ken Neumann, Canadian director of the United Steelworkers, said that "This is an outrage. Instead of upholding a legally binding agreement, the Conservatives have become party to a foreign corporation breaking commitments to Canadian families and communities."

The unions said Ottawa allowed US Steel to buy Stelco based on binding commitments to maintain 3,105 workers but the US firm has cut jobs and production in Canada.

Ms Chris Charlton MP of NDP said that "The court case was specifically about production levels and employment levels and the minister mentioned neither of those in his statement."

She said her party will want to see details on those parts of the agreement. She added that "We now have a deal that, from what it sounded like, will expire in 2015. That's not very far down the road without any guarantees of jobs, without any guarantees of production levels. Yes, there’s going to be capital investments from what it sounded like, but capital investment to do what? To make the plant more attractive for sale? That's hardly what the workers were looking for. Until we know more information, there's certainly no reason to think that we should be celebrating."

The federal government broke new ground when it took the Pittsburgh based corporation to court in 2009, charging that US Steel had failed to live up to production and employment commitments it made when the company bought Stelco for more than USD 1 billion in 2007.

The deal came shortly after the Supreme Court of Canada turned down an appeal by the company, which was fighting Ottawa’s attempt to hit it with millions of dollars in fines.

(Sourced from www.thestar.com)