As an international union, the USW knows that solidarity has no borders. In every sector that we represent, our members are negotiating with multinationals where Canadian workplaces are a small part of their large global operations. The negative consequences of globalization such as job losses due to unfair trade agreements, environmental degradation and the weakening of laws and regulations intended to protect workers and communities do not affect us all equally. Our union partners with global allies from the labour movement to fight for justice and fairness, values that are at the core of our identity as Steelworkers.
As an international union, the USW knows that solidarity has no borders.
Global networks
Our union relies on key alliances to advance our progressive agenda globally:
IndustriALL – A global union federation with more than 50 million workers in 140 countries working in industrial sectors such as mining, manufacturing, steel and others.
Los Mineros – Mexico’s independent trade union is a close ally working on labour issues across North America.
Blue Green Canada – Co-founded by the USW, Blue Green Canada works jointly with environmental allies to fight for policies that create and maintain good, union jobs grounded in local communities while combatting climate change.
Canadian networks – The USW plays a key role in many grassroots networks of Canadian activists on issues of international solidarity such as the Americas Policy Group, Common Frontiers, the Trade Justice Network and the Canadian Network on Corporate Accountability.
Union networks / workers in the supply chain
Although products and materials circulate freely around the world, it is rare for workers across supply chains to share their respective realities. Establishing union networks has been an important strategy to build worker power by fostering collaboration and exchange among workers who share the same multinational employer.
Since 2019, working closely with District 5, the Steelworkers Humanity Fund has been supporting a project in Madagascar to strengthen union capacity and solidarity with workers at the QMM mine, owned by multinational Rio Tinto. Whether through worker-to-worker exchanges or by having USW Canadian leadership participating in the Rio Tinto Steering Committee and raising the issues faced by our partners as they defend the rights of their members against one of the world’s biggest mining giants, we help raise the bar for all workers across the company’s supply chain.
In 2023, we began meeting with other unions employed by Newmont, the world’s largest gold mining company, including SITRACOMY in Peru, Los Mineros in Mexico, ASIJEMIN in Argentina and the Australian Workers’ Union. The USW represents Newmont workers in District 3 and District 6. The Newmont International Miners Network was launched in Lima, Peru, in January 2024. It has co-ordinated responses to the targeted mass layoff of union members and harassment of leaders at the Yanacocha mine in Peru and spoken out on workplace fatalities at the Cerro Negro mine in Argentina. In 2025, District 3 will be hosting a meeting and training which will be key for the strengthening of the network.
Canadian telecom giant Telus has reinvented itself as a multinational digital outsourcing firm and has since contracted out or offshored thousands of USW member jobs. This is why we stand in solidarity with call centre workers in Turkey with whom Telus is refusing to negotiate, despite their union having obtained legal recognition. We are also reaching out to Telus workers organizing in parts of Europe and in Central America.
Canadian Network on Corporate Accountability
The USW is a cofounder of the Canadian Network on Corporate Accountability (CNCA), with 41 Canadian civil society member organizations. The CNCA is a driving force to advocate for laws and regulations to end human rights and environmental abuses in the global operations and supply chains of Canadian companies.
The CNCA has campaigned for the federal government to pass mandatory human rights and environmental due diligence legislation that would require Canadian corporations to identify, remedy and prevent human rights abuses, workers’ rights violations and environmental destruction in their global operations. The CNCA has advanced the social and political case for this law in significant ways, including collecting over 50,000 signatures from Canadians, publishing hard- hitting case studies documenting harms linked to Canadian companies overseas, and bringing the voices of impacted people to decision-makers, among many others.
During this time, the CNCA continued to pressure the government to equip the Canadian Ombudsperson for Responsible Enterprise (CORE) with the powers it needs to independently investigate allegations of abuse by Canadian companies. In 2023, the CNCA used the office’s five-year anniversary to highlight the government’s broken promise to provide these powers. This prompted significant critical media coverage, shifting the public perceptions that the CORE is adequate and creating expectations for reform.
Solidarity with workers around the world
Mexico
The USW has long maintained strong relationships with independent unions in Mexico during the rise of multinational operations and the implementation of the most recent Canada-U.S.A.-Mexico free trade agreement (CUSMA). Many workers across North America have common employers in the mining and manufacturing sectors. These employers have exploited obstructions to Mexican workers’ right to democratically unionize and have lowered labour standards across the continent. The USW has accompanied our allies in Mexico to the Canadian embassy and spoken out in solidarity when workers have gone on strike or faced threats because of their organizing.
As the CUSMA approaches its review, the USW is demanding that the rights of workers and their communities in all three countries be prioritized, and to stop the corporate-led race to the bottom. We are participating in government consultations, as well as leading a campaign with our union and civil society allies to advance an agenda for trade that is fair and equitable.
Bangladesh
Union leaders and advocates for workers’ rights in Bangladesh have been fighting for safer working conditions and viable wages for the millions of workers, mostly women, who make the clothes we wear. That’s why in addition to supporting organizations like the Bangladesh Centre for Worker Solidarity (BCWS) in its fight for safer workplaces and sustainable wages, the USW has been leading initiatives aimed at raising awareness with Canadian consumers – and putting pressure on Canadian companies benefitting from this workforce.
In November 2022, the USW, jointly with the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC) became some of the first organizations to file a complaint to the CORE against Canadian Tire and its subsidiary Mark’s for violating the human rights of its workers by not paying a living wage.
More than two years after the complaint process was started, our union continues to support and defend workers’ rights in Bangladesh, especially as the country was going through a violent episode of state-sponsored repression against social activists, including trade unionists.