Finally a Canadian Union Gets It; 600 Jobs to Mexico
- Thread starter tay
- Start date
The thing is, nobody really knows. Pence must wake up every morning and think to himself "What now?"
Your financial post does not include 2016 which was $9 billion USD or $12 Canadian
Your response to Union dues is childishly irrelevant
What does the share of risk have to with engineered assembly in any country? What you are failing to accept is that Mexico is a politically corrupt country that allows Corporates to take advantage of their people...........
The Trade Debate Isn’t About the U.S. vs. the World, It’s Corporations vs. the Rest of Us
If Trump lets corporate elites dictate new trade rules, all working families will suffer.
We need an internationalist approach to trade that lifts up labor rights, environmental standards, and human rights for people in all of the nations involved in the agreement, and provides good jobs for workers in the U.S. Trump wants to allow corporations to pit American workers against other working communities in a global race to the bottom. IPS will fight with broad civil society networks for a trade policy that lifts up all working families and the environment.
We support the recent trinational declaration that brings together Canada, Mexico, and the United States to make a transparent, internationalist approach to trade a reality.”
The Trade Debate Isn't About the U.S. vs. the World, It's Corporations vs. the Rest of Us - IPS
Mexico buys just 8 per cent of North American-made vehicles but employs 45 per cent of the continent’s autoworkers
The auto sector rates nary a mention in the published list of U.S. objectives for the renegotiation of NAFTA.
But senior Canadian officials privately believe the automotive industry is actually at the root of American demands for changes to NAFTA and will be the key to the success — or failure — of negotiations to revamp the trilateral deal.
Donald Trump, they note, rode a wave of anti-trade sentiment to victory in last fall’s U.S. presidential election, propelled by an unabashedly protectionist, America-first agenda, including a threat to rip up NAFTA, which he called “the worst trade deal in the history” of the United States.
It was a populist message that tapped into long-simmering resentment over the exodus of American manufacturing operations — including the Big Three automakers and auto-parts plants — to Mexico. And it resonated particularly loudly with voters in the 14 auto-producing states, 12 of which ultimately delivered their electoral college votes to Trump.
Now, Canadian officials believe the success of the NAFTA renegotiation, set to start Aug. 16, hinges on Trump’s ability to claim a win on the auto front. And they believe the route to that victory lies in stricter labour and environmental standards to minimize Mexico’s low-wage advantage.
It’s an issue on which Canadian and American interests are largely aligned. Some stark statistics compiled by Unifor, the union representing autoworkers in Canada, explain why:
The auto sector rates nary a mention in the published list of U.S. objectives for the renegotiation of NAFTA.
But senior Canadian officials privately believe the automotive industry is actually at the root of American demands for changes to NAFTA and will be the key to the success — or failure — of negotiations to revamp the trilateral deal.
Donald Trump, they note, rode a wave of anti-trade sentiment to victory in last fall’s U.S. presidential election, propelled by an unabashedly protectionist, America-first agenda, including a threat to rip up NAFTA, which he called “the worst trade deal in the history” of the United States.
It was a populist message that tapped into long-simmering resentment over the exodus of American manufacturing operations — including the Big Three automakers and auto-parts plants — to Mexico. And it resonated particularly loudly with voters in the 14 auto-producing states, 12 of which ultimately delivered their electoral college votes to Trump.
Now, Canadian officials believe the success of the NAFTA renegotiation, set to start Aug. 16, hinges on Trump’s ability to claim a win on the auto front. And they believe the route to that victory lies in stricter labour and environmental standards to minimize Mexico’s low-wage advantage.
It’s an issue on which Canadian and American interests are largely aligned. Some stark statistics compiled by Unifor, the union representing autoworkers in Canada, explain why:
- Mexico buys just 8 per cent of North American-made vehicles but employs 45 per cent of the continent’s autoworkers
- Since NAFTA came into effect in 1994, four assembly plants in Canada and 10 in the United States have closed; eight new plants have opened in Mexico
- U.S. and Canadian vehicle and auto-parts trade deficits with Mexico have grown exponentially — a fourfold increase for Canada, from $1.6 billion pre-NAFTA to $8.7 billion now
And all those disturbing numbers are explained by another stark statistic: Mexican autoworkers earn an average of about $4 per hour, compared to $30-$35 per hour in the U.S. and Canada.
Rebalancing the auto industry so that all three countries get a fair share of investment and jobs “will be the biggest piece of the puzzle, I would suggest, in NAFTA,” says Unifor president Jerry Dias.
On that score, there’s some urgency for Canada and the U.S., both of which hope to regain a bigger share of the pie as the auto industry embarks on historic investments in the next generation of vehicles: electric and self-driving cars.
While the U.S. list of objectives for NAFTA negotiations doesn’t mention the auto sector specifically, it does call for stiffer rules of origin and more stringent, enforceable environmental and labour standards — which would have a direct bearing on the automotive industry.
Unifor supports those American objectives. The union wants to see the rules of origin beefed up so that vehicles must have at least 70 per cent North American-made content — up from the current 62.5 per cent — to be eligible to move duty-free between Canada, the U.S. and Mexico.
That’s aimed primarily at forcing Asian and European automakers and Chinese producers of auto electronics to build more plants in North America.
Automakers, however, are vehemently opposed to raising the minimum content requirement, which they argue is already the highest of any trade agreement in the world.
“Any changes to the duty-free access and content rules will disrupt the highly integrated supply chains and reduce the massive benefits, undermining the global competitiveness of that integrated automotive industry we talk about,” Mark Nantais, president of the Canadian Vehicle Manufacturers’ Association, told the House of Commons trade committee last May.
David Paterson, vice-president of General Motors Canada Ltd., reminded the committee that a vehicle built in North America can cross borders seven times during the manufacturing process. Tracing the content of every part already requires “a lot of bureaucracy.”
“Under the category ‘do no harm,’ we must set out to reduce, not add, red tape,” he said. “We would prefer to see tracing eliminated.”
On this issue, the government appears to be siding with the automakers.
Rather than focus on rules of origin, senior Canadian officials — speaking anonymously because they were not authorized to speak publicly on the matter — said strengthening labour and environmental standards would be a more effective way to reduce Mexico’s disproportionate share of auto investment and jobs.
The objective, one official stressed, is not to stop auto production in Mexico, but to close the wage gap so Mexican workers benefit while making the other two NAFTA partners more competitive.
Mexico would not be averse to measures that would raise the standard of living for its workers, Canada’s ambassador to the U.S., David MacNaughton, suggested in an interview.
“The question really is over what period of time and how you achieve that,” MacNaughton said.
“Also, we need to make sure that living standards and good paying middle-class jobs in Canada and the United States continue to be created, too. So the question is: can you find a way to create that win-win-win?”
Currently, NAFTA includes side deals on labour and the environment — essentially just aspirational goals to improve working conditions and committing each country to enforce its own labour and environmental standards.
That has allowed Mexico to take advantage of its low wage rate, lack of free collective bargaining and non-existent health, safety and environmental standards to lure auto companies looking for the cheapest place to set up shop, Dias says.
That advantage would diminish if companies operating in Mexico were compelled to abide by standards similar to those applied in the U.S. and Canada. Dias advocates strict timelines for raising wages and penalizing companies that don’t meet them.
“There’s going to have to be a wholesale change in the system,” Dias says.
“Corporations are going to have to be more responsible, they’re going to have to start to treat people better, they’re going to have to start to pay them respectfully.”
https://www.thestar.com/business/ec...portionate-share-of-auto-investment-jobs.html
Well, Canadian officials are complete idiots. This was shown true during the CETA, with government ministers crying everywhere.
No one, and I mean no one, gives a crap about environmental standards in Mexico.
Yes, Trump will look for a win for the auto sector, real or imaginary, he campaigned on that.
Thinking that moving Mexican workers from $2 to 3$ an hour will not be that win.
A win will be getting companies back to the US.
Canada will simply get caught in the crossfire.
More like under 20.
Cdns are worried about their auyto sector???? HAHAHAHA! Has nobody noticed that activity at General Motors Oshawa is at a standstill? And has been that way for many months and it will CONTINUE to stand still until our premier Wynne-bag drops her Carbon Crap and Trade garbage just for GM!
For Cdns- those who don't hold a decaying CAW union card- the BIG issue issue is national security! Consider the time line of Trump trade rhetoric:
Trump was elected and called out NTAO slackers-including Canada- that are spending only a portion of the required percentage of GDP on defense- we were spending half the minimum when Trump came on the scene but Yankees were willing to ignore it as we had sent good people to Afghanistan and had sent fighter jets to fight against ISIS.
Trump called out Our idiot Boy Justin on defense and did not get a `proper` answer- so out comes the dairy and lumber argument- which idiot Boy ignored- even worse, idiot CUT defense spending further- to its lowest level ever just to spite Trump-its the usual LIE-beral thing- they like it when Cdn leaders sneer at Yankees.
In response to the sneer from idiot Boy, Trump began making noises about NAFTA changes.
Our idiot Boy responded by opening the border to all sorts of people that Yankees think ought to be DEPORTED- not just from United States but from all of North America! By accepting all these unknown alien types from who knows where as well as letting it be internationally known that even convicted terrorists are entitled to keep Cdn citizenship, Our idiot Boy has signaled that he does not give s++t about Ynakee security concerns and in fact is LAUGHING at Yankee worries!
And now we have Trump getting ready to lay a full scale hit on stupid Cdn LIE-berals because of their refusal to get with the rest of western civilization and start tracking terrorists. We have a stark choice- continue letting LIE-berals thumb their noses at Yankee fears abd keep letting LIE-berals flood our society with mostly Muslim people who think we are morally inferior and should be made to change our ways at gunpoint if need be.
Yankees have a REAL concern that Canada is being colonized by the moral and social equivalent of cancer cells! And based on the news out of Europe- calling Muslims a form of cancer is entirely fair- they are SURELY HARMING their European hosts!
StatsCan put out some numbers a few years back stating that Canada had pulled in so many third world university graduates that the value/salary for a Cdn university graduate had been devalued by 20 percent. And the report went on to say that so many third world types had immigrated to United States- often illegally- that the value/salary of a Yankee high school graduate had also been devalued by 20 percent.
The Trump argument against Mexico is mainly about jobs but its also about organized crime. Afew years back the FBI got involved investigating a series of train robberies in Texas- there was a Yankee rail line running close to the border- with a long high grade to climb at one point. The grade was so steep that a Mexican gang would sneak across the border, wait at a certain point and literally step aboard the train as it crawled past.
Once aboard the freight, the Mexicans would wait fro a signal from pals-and then activate the emergency brakes on the cars-this would stop the train and the gang would then swarm over a batch of cars picked at random and empty the contents into waiting trucks. Natrually rhey would not know what was in the cars-toilet paper-computers-canned food-clothing-whatever was found would be loaded up and hauled off while the train crew radioed for help- which to often came to late.
Enter FBI- they put a big team into some rail cars and let them ride up and down the line till Mexicans took the bait and staged a raid-the train was halted in the usual way and the Mexicans opened up a car full of FBI guys and the fight was on!
KNivwes, baseball bats, brass knuckles, boots and fists- one agent got clubbed in the head- fractured skull but survived while the other agents chased down the club swinging Mexican to a nearby town and arrested the guy and took him back to Texas.
And the Mexican govt got word of this and complained to Washington that the FBI had insulted Mexico and invaded its sovereign territory!
Mexico is a black hole were criminals go to thrive. The govt really has no control over what happens and United States is left to deal with criminals hiding on both sides of the border as Mexican govt is powerless!
Trump does NOT want the same sort of Mexican drug lords in the south and Muslim terrorists in the North!
Our idiot Boy Justin has tow stark choices- get with the Yankee national security concerns and keep the border open or kiss up to his Muslim voter pals and kill much of our economy!
Considering the staunch socialist upbringing of Our idiot Boy and his lack of understanding of money and debt, it is reasonable to guess he is going to screw us- and in the end he will be a one term wonder. The only real question is how big a mess he will make before we ditch him?
Unfortunately the only Canadians that can afford these cheaper goods are the rich government employees because everyone else lost their jobs and can no longer afford the basics let alone buying a car.
Unifor made such a mess of the auto industries that they had to have a name change.
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That's where free movement comes in. If plants are allowed to move to Mexico, so should workers.
Moving plants to Mexico is a good thing? HAHAHAHAHA! LIE-berals are SO confused! LIE-berals are working HARD to throw us OUT of cars so we will not pollute the air nor will we block roads LIE-berals want to use to get to work and to the cottage and etc! They want us ALL to get on the bus AND STAY THERE! Unless of course we are able and willing to ride our bicycles to work!
Anybody who thinks making cars in Mexico will help anybody except the auto company CEO`s is DREAMING! They make cars in Russia too and the latest news on Russia is that their economy is only slightly smaller than the Cdn one!
The really SAD part of the argument is this: ITS NOT ABOUT CARS OR JOBS! ||Its about Our idiot Boy Justin opening up Canada to a wave of potential Muslim terrorists who will make raids into United States while Our idiot Boy looks the other way! Its not even about Mexican jobs because the number of robots in use-even in mexico is huge and the number of jobs- other than sweeping floors and loading and unloading freight cars and such is SHRINKING rapidly. Trump is much more concerned about illegal immigration from Mexico- Trump is concerned that illegal immigrants are stealing blue collar jobs from poor Yankees in United States and he has good reason to be worried about that!
You are clueless- the name change came as the result of cdn auto workers separating from the U.S. parent union.
HAHAHAHAHA!!!!! What Cdn would move to Mexico? The benighted land where news paper reporters have publicly BEGGED organized crime bosses to give them a list of APPROVED topics the reporters can write about WITHOUT having goons show up at the office and beheading reporters they dont like!
Nothing but heat and dust and flies and poverty- Mexico is a failed state and one should pity the poor people marooned there but rhe ugly reality is there is NO WAY to make ordinary life in Mexico acceptable to any Cdn who has to live outside to tourist zones!
Is that what it's all about?
Unifor probably went down there and tried to get the Mexicans to join if they agreed to 40.00CAD/hour wage and they laughed Unifor out of town. Is that what happened?
Many decades ago, my brother lost his 20 dollar per hour job to a mexican faciĺity paying 1 dollar per hour. Was the auto unions outraged? Nope.
Turn around is a bitch.
Turn around is a bitch.
Retrain the over paid fukks and get them back to work..
Life is hard, nobody owes you a damn thing.
Life is hard, nobody owes you a damn thing.
opening up the NAFTA agreement like a gutted fish just because 600 autoworkers are losing their jobs would be unprecedented stupidity for Canadian negotiators.
Meanwhile I am left wondering why the unions aren't being held accountable for failing to secure the job security of their members?
Meanwhile I am left wondering why the unions aren't being held accountable for failing to secure the job security of their members?