Thank you very much.
My name is Robert Kucheran. I'm the chairman of the executive board of Canada's Building Trades Unions. We're the voice of over 500,000 skilled Canadian construction workers, members of 15 international unions who work in more than 60 different trades and occupations. Construction is one of the largest sectors in the Canadian economy, representing about 14% of Canada's GDP.
Although the Canada-United States-Mexico agreement, CUSMA, does not have a direct impact on the CBTU or the construction we represent, its efforts to improve labour standards among the three countries have a direct, positive impact on our sector. Therefore, the impending ratification of the updated CUSMA offers us an important opportunity to voice support for this vital trade deal.
As mentioned, CUSMA includes a comprehensive labour chapter fully subject to the dispute settlement provisions of the agreement, which aims to raise and improve labour standards and working conditions in all three countries by building on international labour principles and rights. Labour standards and working conditions have always been a priority of the CBTU as well as our affiliates. We realize that these improvements are targeted to our trading partners, but that's a testament to the level of labour standards and working conditions we have in Canada and continue to advocate for and strengthen in this country. Specifically, the chapter on labour includes an annex on worker representation in collective bargaining in Mexico under which Mexico commits to specific legislative actions that would provide for the effective recognition of the right to collective bargaining. We applaud and support the Government of Canada in its goal of levelling the playing field on labour standards and working conditions to ensure that parties do not lower their levels of protection to attract trade or investment, but rather raise them to the higher standard.
Canada's Building Trades Unions are pleased about the added provisions that provide commitments to ensure greater protection for fundamental principles and rights at work, including prohibition of the importation of goods produced through forced labour; enforcement of obligations related to discrimination, such as discrimination based on sex, sexual orientation and gender identity; addressing violence against workers for exercising their labour rights, such as single instances of violence or threats thereof; and ensuring that migrant workers are protected under these labour laws.
Canada's Building Trades Unions supports these commitments, believing that stronger labour rights will lead to stronger health and safety laws not only for construction workers, but also for all workers. Along with stronger labour provisions, we believe that increased trade leads to stronger economies. This new agreement will reinforce the strong economic ties between the three countries and support the well-paying middle-class jobs that will strengthen the economies of all three countries.
We also support the significant gains that have been achieved for Canadian workers in general, as described earlier in the day by the Canadian Labour Congress in their submission.
Some of the highlights are the elimination of chapter 12, the investor-state dispute settlement provisions under the old NAFTA, which prioritized the rights of foreign investors and corporations over the rights of sovereign governments; the increased North American content requirement for vehicles from 62.5% to 75%; and the new labour value content requirement that stipulates that 40% of material and manufacturing costs in automobiles and 45% in trucks will have to originate in facilities where direct production workers have an average hourly wage of at least $16 U.S.; elimination of NAFTA's energy chapter, including the proportionality clause that required Canada to export a fixed share of energy production to the U.S., even in times of energy shortages; the strengthening of NAFTA's cultural exception, which is expanded to include digital industries; and a clear general exception for indigenous rights, which implies that nothing in this agreement prevents North American governments from fulfilling their legal, social, economic, cultural and moral obligations to first nations.
Canada's Building Trades Unions, along with our affiliation with North America's Building Trades Unions, welcomes the vital improvements to CUSMA that were negotiated early in 2019 between the House Democrats and the U.S. trade representative, and recently passed in the U.S. Senate. Some of these include the removal of language that allowed a responding party to block the formation of a dispute settlement panel; a reversal of the burden of proof on labour and environmental violations; the removal of language in article 23.6 that rendered unenforceable the prohibition of goods produced in whole or in part through forced and compulsory labour; the removal of language in article 23.7 that stipulated that parties only have to address cases of violence against workers that are occurring “through a sustained or recurring course of action or inaction”; the introduction of a bilateral rapid trade labour mechanism that allows for an independent investigation of potential violations of freedom of association and collective bargaining at specific facilities and, where violations are found to be occurring, the imposition of penalties on goods that are not produced in compliance with these obligations; and the removal of provisions requiring 10 years of market protection for biologics.
There's an area that still needs some attention. Canada’s Building Trades Unions would like to have seen greater access for qualified construction workers between Canada, the United States and Mexico. With similarities in training and accreditation for these skilled trades in both Canada and the U.S. specifically, we believe labour shortages in our countries can have a North American solution. We understand that Canada's negotiators attempted to include this in the negotiations, but ultimately it didn't get to the final text.
We thank our negotiators for listening to the CBTU and our affiliates who strongly advocated for this. We stand ready to consult with the Government of Canada to offer our expertise in areas of mutual benefit. Canada’s Building Trades Unions supports Bill C-4, an act to implement the agreement between Canada, the United States of America and the United Mexican States. We urge all parties to pass Bill C-4. We believe that the provisions and commitments included in CUSMA will continue reinforcing the strong economic ties between the three countries and well supporting middle-class jobs into the future.
I want to thank the committee for allowing us the opportunity to present.
Thank you.