TORONTO – United Steelworkers union (USW) National Director Marty Warren issued the following statement on the federal Budget 2025:
“This budget recognizes something workers have been saying for years. Canada needs to build more at home and expand its industrial capacity. The commitments on Buy-Canadian procurement, industrial strategy and trade enforcement are important steps forward and reflect priorities Steelworkers have been advocating for across the country.
There are meaningful investments in steel, forestry, critical minerals and manufacturing – sectors that support thousands of good union jobs and anchor regional economies and communities. We welcome tools that can help stabilize supply chains and strengthen domestic production.
But workers deserve long-term security and permanent solutions. Temporary EI and Work-Sharing measures will help in the short term, but workers still need permanent EI reform and a job-retention and wage-protection program to ensure workers aren’t left waiting for emergency fixes every time there’s a disruption.
We are deeply concerned about plans to cut public-service jobs and capacity – it’s the wrong call. When the economy is uncertain and industries are transitioning, workers need fast access to EI, training and enforcement – not slower services and fewer staff. Cutting capacity at this critical time risks leaving people behind.
This budget gives us a foundation, but the real test is execution. Buy-Canadian rules must be enforced, industrial dollars must translate into real jobs and production on the ground, and forestry and industrial communities need long-term certainty, not temporary relief. We see steps in the right direction. Now it’s about follow-through.
Steelworkers will continue to push to make sure every commitment in this budget delivers for workers, families and communities, and to secure the long-term policies needed to protect jobs and strengthen Canada’s industrial future.”
About the United Steelworkers union
The USW represents 225,000 members in nearly every economic sector across Canada and is the largest private-sector union in North America, with 850,000 members in Canada, the United States and the Caribbean.
Each year, thousands of workers choose to join the USW because of the union’s strong track record in creating healthier, safer and more respectful workplaces and negotiating better working conditions and fairer compensation – including good wages, benefits and pensions.
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First published on globeandmail.com on October 22, 2026 By Marty Warren, Special to the Globe and Mail Marty Warren, the Canadian national director of the United Steelworkers union. As I write, more workers at Hamilton’s Stelco steel mill are being laid off. In all, the plant’s U.S. owner, Cleveland-Cliffs Inc., will cut up to 500 jobs. This, […]
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