USW members increasingly work for multinational employers with the capacity to shift production to regions where lower labour standards prevail or offset lost revenue due to a strike in Canada from other sites around the world. In this context, a strong union in a single workplace may not be enough to challenge a powerful employer.
Amid difficult strikes and lockouts, or opportunities to organize new workplaces or make gains in bargaining, the USW has formed strategic alliances with unions around the world. These relationships have helped connect workers in some of the world’s largest multinationals. These networks share information and write joint letters of solidarity, and in some cases, act as “world councils” of unions to pressure employers to raise working conditions and wages to a higher common standard. The logic is simple: even on opposite sides of the world, workers are stronger together.
The Steelworkers Humanity Fund (SHF) has often had a key role in bringing networks together. Worker-to-worker exchanges have allowed those employed in the same sector or with the same employer to compare their workplaces and national contexts. This experience can be eye opening for both Canadian USW members and participants from countries in the Global South. Not just a form of charity, these initiatives build relationships between equals. The creative and courageous tactics applied by our allies, often under conditions not only of deep poverty but also of government repression and employer impunity, have inspired USW members and helped revitalize our own union practices.
In late 2023, the SHF supported the launch of a network of unions at Newmont, which through its acquisition of mining companies employing hundreds of members in Districts 3 and 6, became the world’s largest gold miner. The USW has since joined unions in Mexico, Peru and Argentina to share information and support each other in their interactions with the employer. Through these initial dialogues, it has emerged that union-management relations and the treatment of workers and communities vary widely. The USW hopes to raise conditions up to a higher common standard. The SHF will continue to help build the necessary networks of solidarity to make this a reality.
If your local is interested in exploring ways to build international solidarity within your sector, please contact SHF Project Officer Paul Bocking: pbocking@usw.ca .
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