Jerry Dias is president of one of Canada’s largest labour unions, involved primarily in the auto sector.
Photo Credit: Ryan Remiorz/Canadian Press

Unifor president: NAFTA, other free trade deals need renegotiating

“We’ve lost over a half million manufacturing jobs in Ontario alone” J Dias, Pres. Unifor

The president of one of Canada’s biggest trade unions says the North American Free Trade Agreement, NAFTA,  needs to be renegotiated.

Jerry Dias president of Unifor represents some 310,000 workers mostly in the auto industry

He points to the recent announcement that General Motors was to lay off over 600 jobs in Ontario and send the work to Mexico. This is just the latest in a long string of job losses.

He says NAFTA and other free trade deals including CETA have been badly negotiated by Canada, and have hurt the economy.

Listen

The job losses will affect the CAMI plant in Ingersoll Ontario.

Dias says initially GM told workers that it would move out production of one model of vehicle at the plant, the “Terrain” in order to make room for increased production of another model, the Equinox, and no jobs would be lost. Now GM says there will be no increased production of Equinox, but the Terrain will still be moved to Mexico.

 Production of GM’s small SUV, *Terrain* will be moved to Mexico, costing Canada over 600 jobs.
Production of GM’s small SUV, *Terrain* will be moved to Mexico, costing Canada over 600 jobs. © GM Canada

Dias says in Canada the auto industry and associated parts and related manufacturers involves some 120,000 direct jobs and about 500,000 related jobs adding that it represents Canada’s biggest industrial sector at  $88 billion per year.

He says prior to NAFTA Canada had a $12 billion manufacturing surplus, but now has a $120 billion deficit.

A decade after the U.S., Canada and Mexico signed the North American Free Trade Agreement, the three leaders who signed the deal met in 2002 in Washington to mark its anniversary. From left, former Mexican president Carlos Salinas de Gortari, former U.S. president George H.W. Bush and former Canadian prime minister Brian Mulroney. That deal is now being condemned by US President Trump, and by a Canadian union leader © J. Scott Applewhite/Associated Press

According to Dias, other free trade deals have also been bad for Canada, such as the bilateral trade deal with Korea. According to Mr Dias, since the deal was ratified in 2015, Korea’s  exports to Canada have gone up, while Canada’s exports to Korea have gone down.

The Navistar (International) heavy truck plant was closed in Chatham Ontario in 2011, At its height it employed about 2,000 people. Production was sent to the US and Mexico
The Navistar (International) heavy truck plant was closed in Chatham Ontario in 2011 and production sent to the US and Mexico. At its height it employed about 2,000 people. © CBC

He also says CETA will allow more European cars to come into Canada tariff  free noting that Europe sends some 159,000 vehicles to Canada at present compared to about 6,000 Canadian made vehicles shipped back.

Some of the 450 Electro-Motive workers in London Ontario picketing after Caterpillar closed the locomotive plant in 2012 and moving the jobs to the US after Canadian workers refused the company demands for a 50 % wage cut after Caterpillar posted a $5 billion profit
Some of the 450 Electro-Motive workers in London Ontario picketing after Caterpillar closed the locomotive plant in 2012 and moving the jobs to the US after Canadian workers refused the company demands for a 50 % wage cut after Caterpillar posted a $5 billion profit © Mark Spowa/Canadian Press)

Mr Dias also says a TPP deal would have worsened an already existing situation with Japan which he says sends also sends about 160,000 vehicles to Canada compared to a mere 300 shipped there adding that foreign built cars make up about 25 percent of the Canadian market, compared to Japan where less than five percent come from outside the country, or Korea where it’s about a mere 2 percent.

The CAMI plant in Ingersoll was not part of recent negotiations between the union and automaker. The job losses announced come before CAMI’s contract comes up for negotiation later this year. © via CBC

Dias says his advice to the Canadian government is to follow the lead of other countries and not to bargain from a perceived position of weakness but bargain hard. He says if the government cannot protect its number one export industry, it should then walk away from the deal.

An Angus Reid poll in 2016 showed that only one quarter of Canadians asked thought NAFTA was a good deal for the country.

Additional information- 

Categories: Economy, International, Politics
Tags: , , , , ,

Do you want to report an error or a typo? Click here!

For reasons beyond our control, and for an undetermined period of time, our comment section is now closed. However, our social networks remain open to your contributions.