Category: Uncategorized

The American Institute of Steel Construction, LLC (petitioner), on February 4, 2019, filed antidumping (AD) and countervailing duty (CVD) petitions on imports of certain fabricated structural steel from Canada, China and Mexico.

The U.S. AD law imposes special tariffs to counteract imports that are sold in the United States at less than “normal value.” The U.S. CVD law imposes special tariffs to counteract imports that are sold in the United States with the benefit of foreign government subsidies. For AD/CVD duties to be imposed, the U.S. government must determine not only that dumping and/or subsidies are occurring, but also that there is “material injury” (or threat thereof) by reason of the dumped and/or subsidized imports. Importers are liable for any potential AD/CVD duties imposed. In addition, these investigations could impact purchasers by increasing prices and/or decreasing supply of certain fabricated structural steel.

Scope

The merchandise covered by this investigation includes carbon and alloy (including stainless) steel products such as angles, columns, beams, girders, plates, flange shapes (including manufactured structural shapes utilizing welded plates as a substitute for rolled wide flange sections), channels, hollow structural section (HSS) shapes, base plates, plate-work components, and other steel products that have been fabricated for assembly or installation into a structure (fabricated structural steel). Fabrication includes, but is not limited to, cutting, drilling, welding, joining, bolting, bending, punching, pressure fitting, molding, adhesion, and other processes.

Fabricated structural steel products included in the scope of this investigation are products in which: (1) iron predominates, by weight, over each of the other contained elements; and (2) the carbon content is two percent or less by weight.

Fabricated structural steel is covered by the scope of the investigation regardless of whether it is painted, varnished, or coated with plastics or other metallic or non-metallic substances. Fabricated structural steel may be either assembled; disassembled, but containing characteristics or items, such as holes, fasteners, nuts, bolts, rivets, screws, tongue and grooves, hinges, or joints, so that the product(s) may be joined, attached, or assembled to one or more additional product(s); or partially assembled, such as into modules, modularized construction units, or sub-assemblies of fabricated structural steel.

Products under investigation include carbon and alloy steel products that have been fabricated for erection or assembly into structures, including but not limited to, buildings (commercial, office, institutional, and multi-family residential); industrial and utility projects; parking decks; arenas and convention centers; medical facilities; and ports, transportation and infrastructure facilities.

Subject merchandise includes fabricated structural steel that has been assembled or further processed in the subject country or a third country, including but not limited to painting, varnishing, trimming, cutting, drilling, welding, joining, bolting, punching, bending, beveling, riveting, galvanizing, coating, and/or slitting or any other processing that would not otherwise remove the merchandise from the scope of the Investigation if performed in the country of manufacture of the fabricated structural steel.

Fabricated structural steel may be attached, joined, or assembled with non-steel components at the time of importation. The inclusion, attachment, joining, or assembly of non-steel components with fabricated structural steel does not remove the fabricated structural steel from the scope.

All products that meet the written physical description are within the scope of this investigation unless specifically excluded. Specifically excluded from the scope of this investigation is certain fabricated steel concrete reinforcing bar (“rebar”). Fabricated rebar is excluded from the scope only if (i) it is a unitary piece of fabricated rebar, not joined, welded, or otherwise connected with any other steel product or part; or (ii) it is joined, welded, or otherwise connected only to other rebar.

Also excluded from this scope is fabricated structural steel used for bridges and bridge sections. For the purpose of this scope, fabricated structural steel used for bridges and bridge sections is defined as fabricated structural steel that is used in bridges and bridge sections and that conforms to American Association of State and Highway and Transportation Officials (“AASHTO”) bridge construction requirements or any state or local derivatives of the AASHTO bridge construction requirements.

Also excluded from this scope are pre-engineered metal building systems. For the purposes of this scope, pre-engineered metal building systems are defined as complete metal buildings that integrate steel framing, roofing and walls to form one, pre-engineered building system and are designed and manufactured to Metal Building Manufacturers Association guide specifications. Pre-engineered metal building systems are typically limited in height to no more than 60 feet or two stories.

Also excluded from this scope are steel roof and floor decking systems designed and manufactured to Steel Deck Institute standards.

Also excluded from the scope are open web steel bar joists and joist girders that are designed and manufactured to Steel Joist Institute specifications.

The products subject to the investigation are currently classified in the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS) under subheadings: 7308.90.9590, 7308.90.3000, and 7308.90.6000.

The products subject to the investigation may also enter under the following HTSUS subheadings: 7216.91.0010, 7216.91.0090, 7216.99.0010, 7216.99.0090, 7228.70.6000, 7301.10.0000, 7301.20.1000, 7301.20.5000, 7308.40.0000, 7308.90.9530, and 9406.90.0030.

The HTSUS subheadings above are provided for convenience and customs purposes only. The written description of the scope of the investigation is dispositive.

Alleged Dumping Margins

The petitioner alleges the following dumping margins:

• Canada: 31.46 percent
• Mexico: 41.39 percent
• China: 218.85 percent

The petitioner identified numerous possible subsidy programs, but did not allege specific subsidy rates.

Estimated Schedule of Investigations

• February 4, 2019 – Petition is filed
• February 25, 2019 – DOC initiates investigation
• February 26, 2019 – ITC staff conference
• March 21, 2019 – Deadline for ITC preliminary injury determinations
• May 1, 2019 – Deadline for DOC preliminary CVD determination, if not postponed
• July 5, 2019 – Deadline for DOC preliminary CVD determination, if fully postponed
• July 15, 2019 – Deadline for DOC preliminary AD determination, if not postponed
• September 3, 2019 – Deadline for DOC preliminary AD determination, if fully postponed

Ottawa dismissed a call from Ontario’s economic development minister Monday to drop retaliatory tariffs against the United States, saying doing so would mean “unilateral surrender” to the Americans.

The federal government applied tariffs on $16.6-billion worth of American imports of steel, aluminum and other products after the U.S. imposed steel and aluminum levies last year.

Ontario’s Economic Development Minister Todd Smith had said earlier on Monday that the tariffs are hurting industries and workers in both countries, and if Canada dropped its countermeasure tariffs the U.S. could drop theirs.

Federal Economic Development Minister Navdeep Bains rejected the suggestion, saying in a statement that his government has been hard at work pressuring the Americans to end the trade dispute.

“The Ford government’s call for Canada to unilaterally and unconditionally remove its counter-tariffs would equal unilateral surrender to the Americans,” Bains wrote. “The reciprocal tariffs are critical to pressuring the Americans to end this dispute once and for all.”

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has discussed the tariffs over the phone with U.S. President Donald Trump and Finance Minister Bill Morneau has met with U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin. Bains said the last time any Ontario official visited Washington was five months ago.

“While we’re standing up against illegal U.S. tariffs and supporting steel and aluminum workers in Ontario, Doug Ford’s government is nowhere to be seen,” Bains wrote. “We’re not aware of any efforts by the Ontario government to persuade any American leaders to drop the tariffs — no meetings, no phone calls.”

Smith noted that Premier Doug Ford met at the auto show in Detroit with car makers, who are concerned about the tariffs.

Doug Ford, Ontario’s premier, speaks during an event at the Economic Club of Canada in Toronto, Ontario, Canada on Monday, Jan. 21, 2019. Cole Burston/Bloomberg

“We continue to burn up the phone lines in the U.S. to remind them that these tariffs are hurting them just as much as they’re hurting us,” he said. “Ontario is doing its part, now it’s time for the federal government to do theirs.”

Ford has suggested to the federal government that Canada’s tariffs should be dropped first, Smith said, though he admitted there is no indication doing so would lead the U.S. to in turn remove its tariffs.

“But clearly something has to be done,” Smith said. “These tariffs have been in place since June of last year and there’s been no movement on this.”

Smith and Quebec Economy and Innovation Minister Pierre Fitzgibbon sent a letter Monday to Morneau, calling on Ottawa to secure the permanent removal of all tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum.

Both Algoma Steel (TSX:AGA) and the Canadian Steel Producers Association tweeted that the retaliatory measures are necessary.

The tariffs were imposed last year by the U.S., and the American commerce secretary has said they were designed to address the world’s overproduction and overcapacity of steel. The federal Liberals were criticized last fall for signing a new North American trade pact, which includes the U.S., without securing any guarantees from Washington that it would lift the levies.

Ottawa has announced a financial aid package for industries caught in the crossfire, including up to $2 billion in new funding and support for workers in steel, aluminum and manufacturing sectors.

Canada has rejected the premise of the American duties — that its metals exports pose a national-security threat to the U.S. — and has been fighting for the removal of the tariffs.

The United States is also coming under pressure from American automakers, aluminum producers, manufacturers and farmers to put an end to the tariff standoff.

Industry emissaries are warning that Trump’s tariffs on Mexican and Canadian steel and aluminum, as well as their reciprocal countermeasures, are rapidly undermining whatever benefits the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement will produce once it takes effect.

Katie Simpson · CBC News · Posted: Jan 10, 2019

“Canada has engaged in a number of charm offensives … and so far, those efforts have yielded next to nothing” .

                                                                                                                                      -Marc Rowlinson

The prime minister’s inner circle is ramping up another lobbying push in Washington to terminate American tariffs on steel and aluminum.

Two senior government sources say that ministers with connections to American national security portfolios will be tasked with reaching out to specific U.S. officials to push Canada’s anti-tariff message.

The campaign is based on Canada’s long-standing position that the tariffs are both illegal and absurd.

Last June, the Trump administration invoked a rarely used national security provision — Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962 — to impose 25 per cent tariffs on imported steel and 10 per cent tariffs on imported aluminum.

The tariffs are based on the argument that, in the event of a national emergency, the U.S. needs robust domestic steel and aluminum industries. Canada has openly attacked the tariffs, pointing out that Canada is not a threat to U.S. national security.

One source said the new lobbying campaign actually began when Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland met with U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo during a visit to Washington in December.

Early in the new year, Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan delivered a similar anti-tariff message over the phone to the new U.S. acting Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan​.

And Finance Minister Bill Morneau also made Canada’s case during a face-to-face meeting with U.S. Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin in Washington yesterday.

Now, the lobbying push is seeking new targets. Officials at the Canadian embassy in Washington are drafting a list of influential Americans who may be open to Canada’s message.

Once that list is complete, individual ministers will be tasked with reaching out to those officials, by phone or in person, to press Canada’s case.

Both Freeland and Morneau will use the upcoming World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland as a forum to meet with their American counterparts and push them to nix the tariffs.

They won’t see U.S. President Donald Trump there. Trump announced on Twitter today that he would be skipping the forum to focus on the current federal government shutdown and a swelling dispute with House Democrats over his demand for a border wall.

Paul Moen, a principal at Earnscliffe Strategy Group and an international trade lawyer, said Canada’s strategy makes sense — but it should also reach out to business and labour leaders and the new faces in Congress who took office in the November midterm elections.

“With the new Congress in place, that’s a new opportunity to build some new relationships, build on some old ones, but also to broaden the engagement with the business community, with the labour community,” he told CBC News.

But Mark Rowlinson, a spokesman for United Steelworkers Canada, said the window for charm offensives has long since closed and it’s time for Canada to draw “a line in the sand” by refusing to ratify the revamped North American trade deal until the tariffs are dropped.

“I’m skeptical​,” he said. “It’s clearly the case that Canada has never posed a threat to U.S. national security, and I don’t think anyone on either side of the border has ever really taken that seriously. Canada has engaged in a number of charm offensives … and so far, those efforts have yielded next to nothing.

“What they should be doing is saying, ‘We will not sign, we will not ratify the new Canada-U.S.-Mexico trade agreement, unless and until these tariffs are dropped.”

In fact, neither of the two senior government sources who spoke to CBC News is optimistic that Trump will abandon his enthusiasm for tariffs any time soon.

On Tuesday, Trump tweeted a defence of his tariff policy by quoting an interview on Fox News with Mark Glyptis, a local president of the United Steelworkers union from West Virginia.

One of the sources said that Canada will be stepping away from any arguments that connect the tariffs to the updated North American free trade agreement.

Some American lawmakers and business leaders who oppose the tariffs have said publicly they should be dropped, since they were meant only to serve as leverage in the trade negotiations.

One of the sources told CBC that Canada doesn’t want to touch that argument because it’s too similar to the line Mexican officials are taking in their own push to end the American tariffs.

Canada does not want to be lumped in with Mexico, the source said, because Mexico might end up agreeing with American demands for export quotas on steel.

CBC News has reported that American trade officials want both Canada and Mexico to accept caps on how much steel they can import into the United States, based on a portion of what was imported in 2017.

“That’s crazy,” said the source, adding Canada will not entertain the idea of accepting quotas.

In the mail-out you received from the local regarding the C.A.T team and texting program, we just wanted to inform everyone that this is a NEW texting program. If you were signed up before on the old program you will need to sign up to this one. All the info is on the card in the mail-out.

Wednesday, August 1, 2018 at 11:00 am at St. Peter’s Roman Catholic Church, 100 Argyle St., Regina

Interment in Riverside Memorial Park

canada232release-US IEB

Mike Day has be re-elected as President for his second term.

Rob Desnomie has been elected as Recording Secretary

Thanks for voting.

The United Steelworkers Southern Saskatchewan Benefit Society is have a general meeting on Tuesday April 24 at 7:30 PM
The meeting will be held at the Union Office at #26 395 Park Street.
The agenda is as follows:
Update on Society Business
Financial Report
Report from Auditor
Nominations for President, Vice President, Treasurer and 5 directors
General Q&A

THE MEETING IS OPEN TO “ACTIVE” USW BENEFIT SOCIETY MEMBERS ONLY.

DATE: SUNDAY, DECEMBER 17, 2017

TIME: 12:00 NOON – 5:00 PM

LOCATION: Italian Club, 2148 Connaught St., Regina

FACE PAINTING (1:00-4:00 pm), DINO BOUNCER, SANTA, INFORMATION BOOTHS, FOOD FOR ALL (HOTDOGS, HALAL, VEGETARIAN & FILIPINO), TREATS AND DRINKS.

IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS CALL THE UNION OFFICE AT (306) 569-9663.

COLA
The CPI figure for October was released on November 17, 2017. As per the Collective Agreement the following calculation will apply.
October 2017 135.4
July 2017 133.9
Difference (1.50)
(Divide difference by .063) = ($0.23)
Effective with the first pay period after the release, COLA will be $0.41 per straight time hour worked as it was previously $0.18.

The results of the ratification vote is 68% in favour.

Locals 5890 and 6673 have reached a tentative agreement with Evraz. The bargaining committee would like to thank all its members for their support and patience over the past 16 months. The Bargaining Committee fully supports this contract. Please attend your regularly scheduled shifts. The strike has been averted.

There will be a ratification meeting next Wednesday Sept. 13 at the Italian Club .  Meeting times will be at 3:00 and 7:30.

It was with heavy hearts we bid our brother Kris Kups farewell today, as a celebration of his life was held at the Turvey center at 2pm. We would like to thank all brothers and Sisters who provided a donation for Kris’s son Lundyn. It is because of you we were able to present the Kups family with a gift of $1180 at the celebration. There is still a card available to sign if anyone would like to make a donation but hasn’t had the chance to. Those brothers and Sisters can contact the steel side Chem or Physical labs. Thanks once again.

The Union has served strike notice to the Company for 6:00 AM Friday September 8. The last shift worked for 5890 members will be the Thursday night shift September 7.

We are saddened by the passing of our brother Kris Kups. Our thoughts and condolences are with his family right now. Donations will be graciously collected for his son Lundyn by Scott Trenaman, physical lab or chem lab. Our hopes is the company will match our donations.

RIP Brother

After 3 days the mediation process of negotiations with Evraz has broken down.
Mediation started off this week with the Union wanting the concessions to be removed from Evraz’s monetary package.
Not once throughout the 3 days of bargaining did the Union sit down face to face with Evraz.
On the 2^nd day of this process the Union even invited the Employer back to the bargaining table and Evraz declined.
All of the discussions held between the Union and Evraz went through the Mediator.  The Mediator would meet with one side than relay that message to the other side.
It took 2 trips from the Mediator into Evraz’s room to convey the message that their concessions need to be removed from their monetary package.
Evraz sent a monetary package back down with 1 concession remaining, transition wages for new employees, and 1 new concession tied to all members… A hybrid pension plan.
Evraz has decided to offer no real money and has taken the step to attack all of our pension plans by adding very little money to future pension years and nothing to pension years all ready accumulated.
Evraz’s monetary package contained next to nothing in real $$$.
Evraz has decided to play with each and every one of our lives, both now and in retirement.

Through the mediator we received a wage proposal.
Wage Increases;
2016 0%
2017 0%
2018 1%
2019 1%
Because of all of this, we said “NO” and this is what the Union walked away from!

Under the Labour Relations Code of the Province there is a 14 day cooling off period that follows Mediation, the fourteen days start, the first day following the date on the letter from the Mediator excusing himself from the bargaining process, we hope to have that letter on Aug. 11^th 2017.

Today the bargaining committee met with  Evraz and delivered the message that our members won’t accept concessions. Both parties agreed to meet tomorrow.

Results are in, 99.3% voted in favor of strike action if necessary. Members have chosen to support their bargaining committee. Great solidarity!!!

Below is some information regarding the 75th Anniversary Celebration being put on by the South Sask Area Council. Anyone wishing to attend or give feedback please email m.day@usw5890.com or call 306-569-9663

USW 75^th ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION

FAMILY EDUCATION DAY

Sponsored by South Sask Area Council

SEPTEMBER 9, 2017

BENGOUGH REGIONAL CAMPGROUND

 (1.15 mins. SW from Regina)

BAR-B-QUE LUNCH PROVIDED

We are looking for input and interest from our members for this event:

1. Name and number attending

2. Do you prefer golf or baseball or neither?

(if you wish to camp overnight – sites have been reserved –

you will be responsible for the cost)

Please complete below with your feedback/suggestions:

1. Name                                            2