Unifor Remarks to House of Commons Standing Committee on International Trade
Testimony of Lana Payne, National President
September 18, 2024
Good afternoon, Madame Chair, and members of the Committee.
I’m Lana Payne and I am the National President of Unifor, Canada’s largest labour union in the private sector representing 320,000 working people across the country. Joining me is Unifor Director of Research Angelo DiCaro.
When we last spoke in May, we urged this Committee to take the threat of unfair Chinese EV imports to Canada very seriously.
And in the recent months, the Government has taken steps to do just that.
For the past decade, China has deployed every possible resource it has to become the world’s number one EV assembler, battery maker and critical mineral processer. And it doesn’t stop there. China has built up its capacity across many many industries.
Their subsidies are unparalleled. The industrial capacity China has amassed is also unparalleled.
Their ability to avoid international trade and investment rules is blatant.
Their unapologetic denial of fundamental labour rights is totally and completely unacceptable.
It is illegal for workers in China to form an independent trade union.
It is illegal to engage in free collective bargaining.
And Chinese workers, who attempt to strike or protest, face severe sanctions by their government.
It’s important for everyone in Parliament to understand our position on these matters: the rights of Canadian workers to bargain and strike in this country and to have access to good jobs built through collective bargaining.
It is more than time that Canada and its Western allies are fully woke to the reality of China’s economic prowess and impact on good Canadians jobs.
Past governments have been so enamoured with globalization and free trade, they gave themselves permission to ignore the damage being done to working families and the economic hole they dug for Canadian industry.
The pandemic brought into clear focus how short-sighted this approach was.
Our job in a post pandemic world is to understand THIS new global economy with nations competing for investments and developing robust industrial strategies that get us to net zero. For example, no one can view the U.S. inflation reduction act as anything other than a massive blueprint for industrial renewal. And the U.S. decisions with respect to tariffs and China are about protecting that renewal and the millions of jobs tied to it.
Canada must also be bold. We must strengthen key industries and create new ones.
We must invest in workers and our workplaces.
We must build the things we need and employ the skills of every worker in this country to do it.
That includes building up our auto, truck, bus, steel and aluminum industries – but also other critical transport sectors, like rail and subway cars, aerospace, and shipbuilding.
Section 53 of the Customs Tariff is one of those levers hardly ever used by governments.
It is a bold move.
And it’s the right move – to guard against a surge in Chinese EV imports while our domestic industry retools.
It also provides workers a buffer against carbon-intensive Chinese steel and aluminum that’s been dumped in our market for decades. We are please to see the government action on this front.
We’ve also identified other concerns.
For instance, China is currently overproducing lithium-ion batteries.
They are also dominating global production of battery parts and PRE-cursor materials.
While China continues to pump out cells, cathodes and anodes, other global battery investments – including some in Canada – are facing delays, as EV demand slows.
Canada must ensure these lucrative, job-creating battery factories get up and running.
Unifor wants to see similar section 53 actions targeting Chinese batteries, critical minerals and other components that are key to Canada’s EV transition.
Canada has also legislated powers to stop illicit goods from entering the country – specifically goods made with forced labour.
We know that China is implicated in some of the worst forced labour violations in the world, including in the Xinjiang (pr: Shin-Shang) region – a major global aluminum producer.
Canada must act. We are calling on this Committee to add your voice to this critical matter.
We either take responsibility, to fight human rights abuses across supply chains, or we accept it – and live with our complicity in it.
We can do better, for both Canadian workers and workers everywhere. So let’s do it.
I appreciate the opportunity to speak with you today, and we look forward to answering any questions.
