Once the legislative changes are made, labor groups such as United Steelworkers can launch commercial challenges without the need for an employer to get involved. The change is something the steelmakers’ union has been pushing with civil servants for five years to align with other nations, including the United States. Since 2017, employees have been able to appear in court to hear allegations of dumping of goods, as is well known in commercial discussions, but the decisions have relied heavily on the impact of the industry. Meg Gingrich, Assistant National Director of Steelworkers, said the change would also mean that dispute committees would look at the impact on employees when adjudicating any disputes – whether there were layoffs. He said the effects could include companies not keeping up with pension payments or pushing for negotiated concessions because cheap goods eat away at revenue – “whatever hurts employees”. “We did not have it before. We have to see what the details really are, but it looks promising in terms of what we can see with these reforms,” said Gingrich, whose union has about 225,000 employees. in Canada.
Canada’s increasingly progressive commercial laws
Last year, the government began considering updating trade dispute rules to give employees more involvement in the process.
An analysis at the time for the business law firm McMillan LLP suggested that adopting the changes could not only help bring employees’ views to litigation, but also help businesses strengthen the industry’s arguments.
The Steelworkers have been involved in only one case according to the rules in force. The CBSA launched an investigation earlier this year following a complaint from the union and Restwell Mattress Co. Ltd. on subsidized Chinese-made mattresses that have entered Canada in the last three years.
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Chrystia Freeland appears at a press conference in Ottawa, before the federal budget is tabled on Thursday, April 7, 2022. (Justin Tang / The Canadian Press)
The budget released earlier this month promised legislative changes that, once approved, would allow workers to file trade complaints if a country unfairly dumped undervalued goods or those bypassing import duties on the Canadian market.
It was part of a package of pledges to renew parts of Canada’s $ 4.7 million trade reparation system over a five-year period, starting this fiscal year, to the Canadian Border Services to help small and medium-sized enterprises navigate the dispute system.
“These are years of paid work and years when our members go and testify in these courts and talk about the impact of the illicit trade on their livelihoods,” Gingrich said.
“It’s the point where Canada will have some of the most progressive trade laws in the world.”
