Members of the United Steelworkers union rallied on the corner of the E.C. Row Expressway and Banwell Road Friday afternoon to bring public awareness to the crisis in the steel industry.
The union is looking for policy changes that would prioritize Canadian made steel in public infrastructure.
Zekleman Industries CEO Barry Zekelman joined the rally. He believes there's no reason for public infrastructure, like the new Banwell Road overpass, to be made with foreign steel when there is a Canadian alternative.
"We have a crisis on our hands in the steel industry and we want to support Canadian industry. Our politicians have said they're going to support the Canadian steel industry, they've touted using Canadian steel for infrastructure and build here and we're seeing evidence that they're not doing that," said Zekleman.
He said the steel industry would like to see buy Canadian policies for projects using tax dollars.
"It's gone on in the US for years. They write it into the spec if you're using tax dollars, state dollars and federal dollars, there has to be a certain amount of US content, and they write it in for steel. That's all they have to do, put it in that it has to be Canadian content, and if it isn't made here, if there is a substitutable product that's made in Canada, then use that," said Zekleman.
Windsor Counsellor Angelo Marignani and Windsor-Tecumseh MPP Andrew Dowie were on site at the rally to show support for workers.
"We've adopted new policies to ensure that we get priority for our local industries so let's work on getting this realized, get all the policies in place and adopted and put an end to having to procure from elsewhere," said Dowie.
The union would also like to see federal and provincial governments introduce a made-in-Canada tax credit to incentivise the private sector to use Canadian steel.
