Obviously, we'd need a legislative change giving us that status. I'm sure you can attest to the fact we work hand in hand with the companies, the Canadian Steel Producers Association—which I understand will be testifying later. We recognize the importance of these particular jobs. Mark, my assistant, spends a lot of his time in Ottawa before the CIIT. We've had people from Tenaris and Saskatchewan and Manitoba to come here to give testimony to protect us from unfair dumping, so that we can continue. Just recently we're getting favourable decisions.
Our union counterpart in the United States has access. We have access to file trade cases on rubber, tire. We have filed in excess of 80 cases, I think it's close to 90, and the fact is that we work hand in hand with the employers to protect those jobs and those communities.
Currently we had a step in the right direction when Minister Morneau made an amendment that we have the right to participate. That doesn't give us the right to file a complaint when we can see pipe coming by our facility in Calgary or Regina, whatever the case may be. We should have that right. That's something we're going to work towards and expedite, and we're going to be working with the CSPA because we've got that trust. We're with them hand in hand when we're here in Ottawa defending our interests to make sure that we're not getting pushed over by China or some of these other countries who are just basically looking for some place to dump their product.
To us it's very important. The fact is we've lost capacity in the steel industry. You know it from the area you come from. I'm sick and tired of bankruptcies and our companies going under and the devastation for our members who work in those communities and have spent their entire lives there. It means a lot to us and we have an opportunity. It can only be done by the government seeing the need of the trade unions to have the right to file complaints on behalf of their workers.