Industry committee  Thank you. Good afternoon, everyone. My name is Ken Neumann. I'm the national director for the United Steelworkers union here in Canada. With me is Shaker Jamal, a member of our national office research team. Our union's foundation was laid in the great industrial and manufactu

Industry committee  Thank you very much for the question. I understand the importance of the Sault, knowing that if it weren't for the steel industry, the town would really be suffering. When it gets to the question of the modernization of the trade remedies, we've made a submission along with the

Industry committee  I think it's very important. We do have NAFTA. The fact is you have the three amigos, as you referred to them, working together. It's important. I can tell you our union is very active in the U.S., not just in steel. We are active in tire, rubber, and all those other sorts of th

Industry committee  Thank you for the question. As I said in my submission, we've had a very engaged provincial government, and Ontario is working very closely with us with respect to what's happening up in the Soo and also within Hamilton. We had the opportunity and the pleasure to meet with the H

Natural Resources committee  Thank you very much, and good morning. Thank you for the opportunity to speak to the committee on the future of mining in Canada. My name is Ken Neumann, and I am the Canadian national director for the United Steelworkers union. The steelworkers represent 225,000 members in eve

Natural Resources committee  Yes, I can.

Natural Resources committee  Thank you very much for the question, sir. I can assure you that on behalf of our members in Canada, we will work very diligently to promote the aluminum that's produced by many of our brothers and sisters in Quebec. Getting to your initial comment with respect to a tariff th

Natural Resources committee  Our union is supportive of mining. As I said in my testimony, we represent over 24,000 workers across the country. As I also said, because of exploration not every mine meets the test, and I laid out some of those things that are required with respect to aboriginal involvement, s

Natural Resources committee  Thanks for that question. As I said in my testimony, at one time we used to have MITAC, which was a training advisory committee in which government unions, workers, and communities were part and parcel, no different than at CSTEC. It was very successful. Unfortunately, the prev

International Trade committee  Good afternoon. I want to thank the committee for inviting the United Steelworkers to appear before you to discuss this very important critical industry. I'm Ken Neumann, the national director for the United Steelworkers in Canada. With me is Shaker Jamal from our national resea

International Trade committee  The fact is that we're asking for something we currently don't have. You take our counterparts in the U.S., Australia, Europe. In Australia, the unions there have the ability to file complaints on behalf of their members. That's really what we're asking for, to be on that same le

International Trade committee  That's right, and then as far as the softwood lumber, that's a hot file we're dealing with. I can talk at length with regard to—

International Trade committee  That's right. It's going to be disastrous for Canada. We've lost 50-some mills since the last trade agreement. You have employers on both sides and that's one of the big issues that's coming up within the year.

International Trade committee  With the Buy America, what's coming out now is the fact that they've had the procurement they have now for many years. That's on a tax-funded basis. The fact is that our union is on the other side fighting to make sure we have exemptions. It's nothing new to us. The steelworker

International Trade committee  Those are the kinds of things we're involved in. So the Buy America, I always argued with.... I sent a letter to the Prime Minister, saying we should also be looking, in Canada, at “buy Canadian”. That's something that makes a lot of sense. We're very much involved in that, from