Tens of thousands of USW members employed in steel, forestry, aluminum, auto parts and other industries in Canada continue to face great uncertainty due to U.S. President Donald Trump’s ongoing tariff and trade wars.
Amid this unprecedented upheaval, an exchange led by the Steelworkers Humanity Fund (SHF) brought together Canadian Steelworkers with allies from the U.S. and Mexico last February to discuss how to improve labour rights in advance of a planned review of the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA).
The labour delegation to Mexico was led by members and leaders from USW Districts 5 and 6 in Canada and District 7 in the U.S., as well as the International Association of Machinists (IAM).
Most of the delegation’s Canadian and American members represented local unions directly affected by the tariffs.
The trinational union meetings in Mexico occurred at the same time as an official Canadian government delegation of hundreds of businesspeople was pursuing investment opportunities in Mexico, without any labour representation. Mexican unions welcoming the Canada-U.S. labour delegation included the Mineros, the Authentic Labour Front (Frente Autentico del Trabajo, or FAT), the Telecommunications workers (Telefonistas) and the Mexican Union League (La Liga). The Mexican unions have members sharing common employers with the USW, including ArcelorMittal, Newmont, Orla Mining, Eaton, Goodyear Tire and 3M.
Participants from the three countries agreed that CUSMA’s Rapid Response Mechanism, whereby workers in Mexico can file complaints of violations of their rights to unionize or to collectively bargain, against employers that export to the U.S. or Canada, must be strengthened.
While the Rapid Response Mechanism has helped workers negotiate strong collective agreements and form unions in dozens of cases, stronger measures are needed to address an enormous gap between wages in Mexico, Canada and the U.S.
“Meeting with workers and union leaders in Mexico reinforced how important cross-border solidarity is for the labour movement,” said Charlie Scibetta, Assistant to the USW District 6 Director, who led the Steelworkers’ contingent in Mexico.
For USW members, a highlight of the visit was meeting workers who benefited from a SHF-funded project on labour rights training in the industrial city of Aguascalientes.
Participants also met workers at the multinational auto
parts and electrical equipment manufacturer Eaton, whose petition for a union election has been delayed for months. Through their collective action and solidarity letters from USW districts representing workers at Eaton facilities in Canada and the U.S., layoffs targeting union supporters in Mexico have been reversed.
Gurdeep Jhita, USW Local 9042 Unit Chair at the Eaton facility in Mississauga, Ont., brought a message of solidarity from his members, as did presidents of Steelworkers’ local unions from Quebec.
“Understanding the realities on both sides of our borders made us realize the importance of the right of association. It also helped us understand the courage and difficulties faced
by those who came before us in obtaining these rights and the strength needed to preserve them,” said Pierre Piedalue, President of USW Local 6839 at Infasco in Marieville, Que.
“By seeing the realities faced by activists in Mexico, this trip made me realize the importance of mobilizing to raise the bar amongst the three countries,” said Jason Braconnier, President of USW Local 6869 at ArcelorMittal in Brossard, Que.
This article appears in the Summer 2026 issue of USW@Work magazine.
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