See related story
Canada is pushing for the inclusion of enforceable, progressive labour standards in a rewritten North American Free Trade Agreement, aimed at compelling Mexico to pay workers higher wages and do away with so-called “yellow” unions that represent employers rather than employees.
Canada’s proposed chapter on labour standards also calls for an end to right-to-work laws in the United States, whereby workers in 28 states have the right to refuse to join or pay dues to a union while enjoying all the benefits of a unionized workplace. Labour leaders contend such laws are essentially aimed at starving the unions of cash and weakening their ability to represent the interests of their members.
Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland boasted Monday that Canada has “put forward the strongest, most progressive labour provisions ever put forward by Canadian trade negotiators.”
And union leaders who’ve been consulted on the proposal say that’s no exaggeration.
“She’s absolutely correct,” Unifor president Jerry Dias said in an interview. “The Canadian proposals are very aggressive and progressive.”
One of the biggest concerns of both Canada and the U.S. is the exodus of quality jobs and investment, particularly in the automotive sector, to Mexico, where the minimum wage is less than $1 per hour.
Canada’s proposal does not suggest any specific minimum wage should be set, Dias said. It focuses more generally on the principles of improved working conditions, fair compensation, gender equality and the right to collective bargaining.
Angella MacEwen, senior economist with the Canadian Labour Congress, said the proposal reflects the International Labour Organization’s declaration on fundamental principles and rights at work.
“There isn’t an internationally accepted minimum wage but there are internationally accepted standards around discrimination of workers, around hours of work, around health and safety — at least that this has to be taken into consideration, that you have to have some protection for workers,” she said.
While there’s no specific minimum wage proposed, MacEwen said: “In general, we think that if you have higher labour standards and you make those labour standards enforceable, that gives workers more bargaining power and so that allows them to push wages up in Mexico.”
NAFTA currently includes an unenforceable side deal on labour which essentially commits each NAFTA partner to the aspirational goal of improving working conditions and enforcing its own labour standards.
Canada’s proposal also calls for an end to Mexican unions which are dominated by the employers, which MacEwen said is essentially “an unfair subsidy to business” that helps keep wages low.
That’s not just bad for Mexican workers, she said, “it’s also bad for workers in Canada and the United States because now we’re competing with these unfairly low wages.”
Similarly, union-busting right-to-work laws in the U.S. have resulted in lower wages there so Dias said Canada is proposing that they also be scrapped.
Freeland did not get into specifics of the proposal but said it’s aimed at addressing the skepticism workers have about trade agreements.
“Canadian workers have legitimate anxieties about the ways in which international trade can lead to a race to the bottom in labour standards and can erode their own living standards and their own wages,” she said.