Unifor Holds First Townhall on Trade

       Close to one hundred people attended the first of a series of People’s Trade Agenda Town Halls sponsored by Unifor.  The event was held in Hamilton, Ontario on April 20, 2018.  The Council of Canadians co-sponsored the townhall.  The event featured speeches by Maude Barlow of the Council of Canadians and Angelo DiCaro of Unifor’s Research Department.

       Maude Barlow was the main attraction.  This was reflected in the composition of the participants.  About three quarters of those in attendance appeared to be members and supporters of the Council of Canadians who had shown up in large measure to see Maude Barlow speak.  The turnout by Unifor members was small. 

      The most notable thing with respect to the participation in the townhall was who was not present.  Representatives of other unions were nowhere to be seen.  Both the Hamilton and District Labour Council and the Canadian Labour Congress were conspicuous in their absence.  So were representatives of the United Steelworkers.  This brutally demonstrated the consequences of Unifor’s departure from the Canadian Labour Congress.

        Unifor deserves credit for taking up the trade issue and seeking to engage as many people as possible about it particularly at this critical juncture when a revived Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) is about to be implemented, the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) is being renegotiated and Trump is erecting trade barriers.  Nonetheless, the impact of Unifor’s effort to address trade agreements is doomed to be negligible if the rest of the labour movement is going to deliberately stay away it did in Hamilton.  This, in turn, highlights the compelling need to end the split between Unifor and the rest of the labour movement in Canada. 

       This split must end.  It must end if for no other reason than to make it possible to build a movement capable of blocking trade agreements like the TPP and NAFTA insofar as these trade agreements are consciously designed to meet the needs of Capital via provisions synonymous with their being corporate bills of rights. 

      What is more, a powerful movement against these trade agreements must not only be built in this country.  It must be built together and simultaneously with efforts to build movements that resist these trade agreements in the U. S. and Mexico.  In short, there is a compelling need to forge what amounts to a powerful, multinational movement to stop these trade agreements and the agenda they are designed to facilitate.

        Discussion of the need for such a multinational movement and how to build it was lacking at the townhall in Hamilton.  It is imperative that the need for such a movement be seriously discussed at future Unifor townhalls and that the rest of the labour movement both participate in those events and support such movement building efforts regardless of Unifor’s relationship with the CLC.  The glaring need for such unity in action both within Canada and across North America demands nothing less.  In this context rank and file labour activists, local union leaders and community-based activists must boldly take the initiative by being at the forefront of efforts to forge this unity in action whenever possible and on the largest scale possible.