Final Thoughts

Our SMU Community Chat attendees reacted to Wednesday’s webinar with Barry Zekelman of Zekelman Industries by flooding my office with emails. Readers of my editorial in Thursday’s issue of Steel Market Update also chose to provide their opinions on the subjects discussed. Emotions were running high as some thought I was being disrespectful to Mr. Zekelman in my editorial, while others thought some of the comments made by Mr. Zekelman during the webinar were out of bounds.

For the record, I have a tremendous amount of respect for Mr. Zekelman and what he has accomplished. His voice is respected within the steel industry, even if you don’t share some of the strong positions he has regarding trade, the opening of the economy and politics in general. He and I communicated on Friday and I gained valuable insights into some new things Zekelman Industries has been doing for their employees through the pandemic. I also learned about some of the charitable gving for which Mr. Zekelman is responsible. He gave me permission to share the following information as to what he has done for his employees: