One of the largest manufacturers in the region has laid off two dozen people.
Decast Limited handed out pink slips to 24 manufacturing employees this week, citing growing troubles in the U.S. as contributing factor.
Jim Tully, executive vice president of Decast, says the playing field isn’t fair between Canada and the United States.
Tully says many projects in the U.S. have adopted a "by American" approach. He says steel or iron products made outside of the U.S. aren’t being used and many bids on projects by Canadian companies are not being received.
Tully adds that Decast has lost the equivalent of 41 jobs due to projects in the GTA tendered to American companies.
“The company is saddened by the fact we’ve had to take these steps, and we hope that the government will help us prevent this from happening again and promote and protect Canadian manufacturing and Canadian jobs,” says Tully.
The company employs about 500 people at their Utopia plant. The manufacturer makes precast products for bridges, transmission and engineering work.
