TORONTO – United Steelworkers union (USW) National Director Marty Warren issued the following statement in response to the federal government’s announcement of new financing for tariff-impacted businesses:
“Today’s announcement is a positive step for companies facing serious pressure from the ongoing U.S. trade war. It matters to workers because these businesses support good jobs across Canada’s industrial supply chain.
The new BDC program can provide crucial emergency liquidity to help viable businesses keep operating, while the additional Regional Tariff Response Initiative funding can support retooling, productivity and market diversification. These measures are important and can help stabilize Canada’s industrial footprint.
But preferential financing alone will not be enough. Loans can help companies survive immediate pressure, but they also increase debt loads at a time when many businesses are facing lost sales, reduced revenues and uncertainty about future demand. To protect jobs and maintain production, companies need customers, orders and a domestic market to sell into.
That is why the federal government must move quickly to expand its steel and aluminum derivative tariff list to provide market space for domestic producers impacted by U.S. steel and aluminum derivative tariffs, as well as continue to tighten and enforce tariff-rate quotas and continue to take action against unfair imports, dumped products and diverted or transshipped goods.
We also need direct supports for workers, including stronger EI, improved Work-Sharing and income support for those facing layoffs or reduced hours. And public support to employers must be tied to maintaining jobs, production and investment in Canada.
Canadian steelworkers can compete with anyone when the rules are fair. Canada needs a comprehensive steel industrial strategy that protects jobs, defends our domestic market and builds the industrial capacity we need for the 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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