The head of the largest labor organization in Canada on Monday was overwhelming in his evaluation of a powerful union leader south of the border for his support for the automotive rates of US President Donald Trump.
Bea Bruske, president of the Canadian Labor Congress, said that the president of United Cars workers, Shawn Fain, is an incorrect evil in supporting the taxes of 25 percent of Trump about automotive imports.
“Shawn Fain is wrong,” Bruske said at a press conference in Windsor on Monday morning. “It is absolutely wrong.”
Bruske’s comments illustrate the strong division on tariffs between union leaders in Canada and the United States, who share decades of history and have more commonly worked in solidarity. They also occur when Fain continues to defend his decision to support Trump’s commercial war, arguing that tariffs will force manufacturing companies to transfer jobs to the United States.
But industry experts and Canadian union leaders have repeatedly warned that tariffs on Canada and Mexico could destabilize, and even destroy, the automotive sector of North America, which is based on a deeply integrated supply chain.
“We already know that five different American plants have layoffs today due to the imposition of tariffs and how integrated our economy is,” said Bruske, the busy ambassador of the bridge that connects Windsor and Detroit in the background.
“So what is [Fain]He is trying to achieve more manufacturing to the United States, this is already affecting UAW members on the southern side of the border, “he said.
Stellantis, who builds the Pacifica Minivans in Windsor, announced last week that production stopped at the plant for two weeks as a result of Trump’s rates, which came into force on Thursday.
The company has also stopped production in one of its factories in Mexico. These closures have led to temporary dismissals in five plants in Michigan and Indiana.
Bruske and other union leaders said they were in Windsor on Monday to show solidarity with automatic workers and demand more support for those who face dismissals.
The CLC wants to see the expanded Canadian employment insurance system and public procurement to support unionized workplaces, among other things. Bruske also asked financial institutions to protect workers from losing their homes or cars.
“When workers face dismissals, we are asking banks and lenders to take a step forward and support workers,” said Bruske. “And that means that at this critical moment, without mortgage executions, without recoveries, not now, not while workers in this country are under attack.”
Her comments about Fain arrived after she intervened to answer a journalist’s question to a Canadian UAW member who attended the press conference.
Bill Pollock, president of Local UAW 251, represents workers in a variety of industries in southwest Ontario, including automotive suppliers. He was asked how he reconciled his solidarity with local workers with the support of Fain to the rates.
“It’s not for me to reconcile,” he said. “But I know that promulgated rates are, allow me to reformulate that. They don’t look for our jobs, they look for fair trade agreements, not after our work.”
Previously at the event, Pollock, a “proud member” of the UAW since 1970, said he wanted to “try to leave the record” in the position of the union with respect to the tariffs.
“The UAW is not against workers in Canada. The UAW supports workers in Canada,” said Pollock. “What we are calling is a fair trade framework that protects and elevates workers in the working class in North America.”
The UAW did not immediately respond to a request for comments. However, in an interview with NPR published Monday morning, Fain seemed to limit his support for tariffs on those of the automotive industry. The UAW leader described Trump’s announcement last week from a wide range of “reckless” reciprocal tariffs.
Trump’s automotive rates announced immediately applied a 25 percent tax in completely assembled vehicles. Next month, the same rate will be applied to the imported parts.
The Administration has said that companies that matter under the United States-Mexico (Cusma) agreement of Canada and Canada may reduce their tariffs certifying the content of the United States in their products, but the process to do so remains without being clear.
