International Trade Committee on June 4th, 2024

[Siobhán Vipond]

Thank you for the question.

Our counterparts are the AFL-CIO, and we have a close relationship. Some of it is more formal, say, through the ITUC and through projects that we work on together, and some is informal and just through relationships.

Our goals are very similar in terms of raising the bar for workers when it comes to this type of work by ensuring that we have minimum standards, that we're respecting the rights of workers and that we're calling out forced labour and lower standards.

We also share affiliates. Some of our international unions that are affiliated with the CLC are also affiliated with the AFL-CIO.

For brevity, what I'll highlight in terms of where the differences are is that the U.S. government has a close relationship with the AFL-CIO, and they're working quite closely together on the approach to what this means in terms of CUSMA. One of our requests is that we have a better relationship so that we are at the table in a more formal way here in order to ensure that the discussion around workers' rights, what workers need and what's good for communities includes unions.

[Mona Fortier, Liberal, Ottawa—Vanier, ON]

What about policies or regulatory opportunities on which you would agree or disagree with your counterparts in this context of reviewing CUSMA?

[Siobhán Vipond]

Do you mean policies that we...? We agree that this is about good jobs, that we need to be raising the floor and that people need to have family-sustaining unionized jobs. That means the mechanisms in the CUSMA agreement have to address this issue so that it's not a race to the bottom.

We feel very strongly about that, especially for international companies or when we're talking about EVs and what that looks like on a global scale, as well as on different projects that are coming to North America. We work really closely. FIPA is a good example, because we want to ensure good jobs and that we are on the same plate as that.

Yes, there are diverging interests, maybe, because we want to make sure we're here for Canadian workers. They're obviously protecting American workers. That doesn't need to be head-to-head. That can be done well, if we are having the discussions and ensuring that people are protected.

[Mona Fortier, Liberal, Ottawa—Vanier, ON]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

Thank you very much. Thank you to our witnesses.

Who knows? We may have to have you all come back for another session. It seems like there are lots of questions. Thank you very much.

The meeting is adjourned.