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DETROIT FREE PRESS: UAW's Fain leads rally over Dearborn layoffs; manufacturer says it's done nothing wrong

UAW President Shawn Fain, with politicians in tow, led a crowd of several hundred UAW members Thursday afternoon, Aug. 14, from Local 600 in Dearborn along Miller Road to the site of Cleveland Cliffs, a steel producer that recently laid off more than 500 UAW-represented employees.

Fain stood directly outside the company's Dearborn facility and said the company is failing to uphold its end of a previously agreed-upon contract.

Cleveland Cliffs, among America's largest steel producers, laid off more than 500 workers at its Dearborn Works facility in July. The company idled operations on the blast furnace, the basic oxygen furnace steel shop and continuous casting, blaming a weak auto market for the decision to idle.

While the Cleveland Cliffs facility is no longer owned by Ford Motor Co. as it used to be, the company is one of the largest steel distributors in the U.S. and still provides materials for the Detroit Three automakers and many of its suppliers.

Some operations continue at the Cleveland Cliffs plant. Finishing operations, like the pickling line tandem cold mill and the hot dip galvanizing line are still ongoing.

Nonetheless, the UAW voiced concern through loud loudspeaker that Cleveland Cliffs was failing to uphold its end of a contract that was agreed upon in 2024.

The issue at hand, union leaders said, was that Cleveland Cliffs agreed to invest $300 million into operations at the plant. With the layoffs, Fain accused the company of going back on its promise.

"In 2024, Cleveland Cliffs agreed to invest $300 million in the Rouge," Fain said at the event. "Today, we're seeing them go back on that word. Instead of making these investments, they've laid off over 500 members of our union family."

UAW Vice President Laura Dickerson, who oversees the Ford department of the union, said through a microphone that she "thinks we've got the company's attention."

And she was correct. Across the street from the rally, Cleveland Cliffs employees sat behind a fenced-in doorway attached to the building, listening to the union's speeches. Six of the employees declined Free Press requests for comment on scene.

Cleveland Cliffs CEO Lourenco Goncalves, however, said in an emailed statement that he is unsure why the UAW is accusing them of failing to maintain the contract.

"With just one year into the 4-year Agreement, Cleveland-Cliffs has already spent $125 million at the Dearborn Works facility," Goncalves said. "Therefore, we are in full compliance with the Agreement (we are actually ahead of the committed pace). Additionally, Cleveland-Cliffs will definitely spend the remaining $175 million during the next three years."

Mark DePaoli, Local 600's vice president, said he expects the company to make good on its $300 million promise, "but right now, that's not helping our 500 people that are without a job," he said.

Goncalves, the CEO, said that tariffs on steel imposed by the Trump administration — currently at 50% — are "working as designed, and we are starting to see a positive trend taking shape."

However, it won't be until automotive production ramps back up in the U.S. before Cleveland Cliffs can reinstate the jobs in the furnaces that are idle now, he said.

"We need to have production of vehicles back in the United States in order to bring back the Dearborn hot-end," Goncalves said.

The event was well attended by an estimated 400 people — a mix of active employees, retirees, union leaders and political leaders.

U.S. Rep. Debbie Dingell, D-Ann Arbor, U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Detroit, and the Rev. Solomon Kinloch, Detroit mayoral hopeful, all marched in support of the union's cause.

Tlaib told the Free Press that she doesn't buy Goncalves' reasoning.

"Now you're going to turn your backs on (the employees) and then make up excuses that it has something to do with tariffs?" Tlaib said. "I don't believe excuses. It doesn't add up. Shame on them for doing this to over 500 workers."

To Dingell, if steel tariffs are in place, they should be spurring job growth in the metals sector of the U.S. economy, not reducing it.

"We've got tariff policies right now that are creating havoc," Dingell said. "We're getting the demand back for auto(motive) steel, and these workers are the best steelworkers. These workers are the best steelworkers and make the best steel for cars. We want to make sure that work comes back to this plant."