Canada must not ratify ‘fundamentally flawed’ European trade pact, unions say

Canadian unions issue statement on CETA

“We stand with European workers and members of civil society mobilizing in Germany, Austria, Belgium and elsewhere to resist CETA" — CFNU President Linda Silas

Along with several major unions and the Canadian Labour Congress, the Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions has called on Ottawa not to ratify the Canada-European Union Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement, commonly known as CETA.

There are too many questionable aspects to CETA for it to be ratified by Canada, CFNU President Linda Silas said in a statement today. “We stand with European workers and members of civil society mobilizing in Germany, Austria, Belgium and elsewhere to resist CETA,” she said.

More than three million Europeans have already signed a petition against the trade pact and its twin agreement with the United States, the Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership.

Among the Canadian unions’ objections are:

  • Investor rights rules bypass Canada’s courts and use extra-judicial arbitration that favours corporations
  • There is no protection for public services from privatization, putting Canadian public services at risk by making it harder to reverse failed privatizations or expand public services in the future
  • Extensions on pharmaceutical patents that could increase annual costs to Canadian health care by more than $1 billion a year
  • Limits the rights of provinces and municipalities to get the most out of procurement spending by favouring local goods and services
  • There is no meaningful enforcement of labour rights

“Our analysis shows that CETA will cost Canada jobs across the manufacturing and processing sectors,” said Unifor President Gerry Dias.

In addition to CFNU and Unifor, the statement was signed by the Canadian Union of Public Employees, the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, the National Union of Public and General Employees, the United Food and Commercial Workers and the United Steelworkers. Click here to read the full statement on CFNU’s website.

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