Steelworkers solidify cross-border worker alliances amid CUSMA review

Tens of thousands of United Steelworkers (USW) members employed in steel, forestry, aluminum, auto parts and other industries in Canada continue to face great uncertainty due to Donald Trump’s ongoing tariff and trade wars.

Amid this unprecedented upheaval, Canadian Steelworkers joined allies from the U.S. and Mexico in February to strategize on how to secure stronger 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 arrived at a common position on how to improve labour rights under the CUSMA. This includes strengthening the 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.

While the Rapid Response Mechanism has helped workers negotiate strong collective agreements in dozens of cases and to form unions, stronger measures are needed to address an enormous wage gap that workers in Mexico continue to face.

Meaningful action is needed to reduce poverty and exploitation in Mexico and to stop the downward pressure on workers’ wages in the U.S. and Canada, the unions said.

This message was strongly conveyed by the labour delegation to Mexico, with members from all three countries meeting with Canadian and Mexican media, the Mexican government’s Secretaries of Labour and Economy, and the International Labour Organization of the United Nations.

“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.

“When workers in Canada, the United States and Mexico stand together to strengthen labour rights and raise standards, it benefits working people across North America,” Scibetta said.

For USW members, a highlight of the visit was meeting workers trying to organize unions in the industrial city of Aguascalientes. Delegation members also toured a factory of the auto parts manufacturer Mahle, where they observed that many of the production processes were indistinguishable from similar operations in Canadian plants. The Mexican workers have a strong union and a good collective agreement, both the product of many years of struggle. Yet this is a rarity.

Participants met workers at the Mexican operations of multinational auto parts and electrical equipment manufacturer Eaton, whose petition for a union election has been delayed for months. Through collective action and solidarity letters from USW Districts whose members work at Eaton facilities in Canada and the U.S., layoffs targeting union supporters at Eaton’s Mexican plant have been reversed. The FAT union also has been able to meet with workers in the factory.

Gurdeep Jhita, USW Local 9042 unit chair at the Eaton facility in Mississauga, Ont., brought a message of solidarity from his members to the Mexican workers, 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 between the three countries in the current context to avoid a modernization of CUSMA that could benefit one country to the detriment of the others,” said Jason Braconnier, president of USW Local 6869 at ArcelorMittal in Brossard, Que.

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