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Delegates to Unifor’s Skilled Trades Collective Bargaining and New Technologies Conference have passed several resolutions that take the effort to stand up for workers’ rights beyond the bargaining table, addressing such issues as austerity and trade.
“Despite what we have been told, free trade deals have not created jobs,” Unifor Economist Jordan Brennan told the conference.
Among the resolutions passed today was one opposing unfair trade deals such as the Trans Pacific Partnership and the CETA deal with Europe, which expose the Canadian market to imports, but do little to help exports.
Brennan pointed out that exports have actually dropped in Canada, despite a decade of signing trade deals by the former Harper government.
Conference delegates also passed resolutions opposing austerity measures of employers and the undermining of benefits and working conditions, and another opposing efforts to downgrade working conditions in the guise of green or sustainability programs.
The delegates also voted to push for harmonized apprenticeship programs across Canada, to make it easier for young people to move from province to province while working toward their trades papers.
