USW is part of a coordinated industry effort to preserve good Canadian jobs in the steel sector, calling on the federal government to keep current steel industry safeguards in place.
“We need decisive action by this government to preserve 22,000 direct steel jobs and the 100,000 indirect jobs that come from the steel sector,” said USW National Director Ken Neumann. “The importance of these safeguards cannot be overstated – Canadian workers and their jobs must not be fodder in an international trade dispute.”
USW has been working alongside the Canadian Steel Producers Association to press the government to impose safeguards, similar to those introduced by the European Union, in response to the heavy U.S. tariffs.
The Canadian government imposed provisional safeguards back in October for a period of 200 days, after significant pressure from the union and industry. USW recently testified at the Canadian International Trade Tribunal (CITT) that Canadian workers and producers are facing job losses and considerable uncertainty as a result of foreign steel imported into the Canadian market and the imposition of 25% U.S. tariffs on Canadian steel.
The CITT will make a ruling on the safeguards on April 3 and a final government decision on whether to keep them in place is expected for early May.
USW has actively been calling on the government to maintain the safeguards for three years in order to stabilize the sector.
Do you work in the steel sector? Share your story on Twitter or Facebook and join our social media campaign by using the hashtag #safeguardCDNjobs.
Take action now – send a letter to federal Minister of Finance Bill Morneau and urge him to make the steel safeguards final: www.usw.ca/act/campaigns/safeguard-steel-jobs
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