= Despite being more efficient than their American counterparts, Canadian forest industry workers have suffered the ill-effects
of U.S. protectionism. Proto NORMAN GARCIA

Solution must involve our

The Steelworkers-IWA Council calls for innovate solutions to ongoing
Canada - U.S. softwood lumber war following latest NAFTA decision

EVEN THOUGH CANADA, has won the latest NAFTA panel deci-
sion against U.S. protectionism in the softwood industry, and
the Americans have been ordered to pay back over $5 billion in
illegally collected tariffs and duties, our neighbours refuse to

comply with the panel’s decision.

In August the Steelworkers-IWA Council called on the
Canadian government to take selective retaliatory meas-
ures against U.S. commercial interests and suspend, for
an indefinite period, further talks at resolving the dispute.

“Canada has won at the NAFTA and the United States
must comply with a decision to pay back all the duties it
has collected since 2002,” says IWA Council chairperson
Norm Rivard. “Any less would be a an abrogation of the
trade agreement itself.”

Rivard says that Canada has “no choice” but to take
strong actions against the U.S. until the Americans return
to “reasonable and fair” negotiations.

“We need to find targets that will hurt American inter-
ests more than Canadian companies and workers,” said

Rivard, who said talks aimed at a negoti-
ated settlement should be suspended
until the U.S. agrees to “fair and reason-
able negotiations.”

Rivard added that the IWA Council,
which represents the vast majority of for-
est workers within the Steelworkers in
Canada, is not opposed to suggestions that would target
California wines, 95 per cent of which originate in
California or American corn producers, which dump their
exports all over Canada at below-market value. American
agri-businesses are boldly subsidized by the U.S. govern-
ment.

“All over Canada our members, despite being more effi-
cient forest products producers, than our American
cousins, have suffered layoffs due, in great part, to punitive
tariff and duties,” says Rivard.

In June of this year, the IWA Council released a policy
paper which proposes a framework for any future negotia-
tions, between Canada and the U.S. on softwood lumber.

The paper suggests that all illegally-collected duties be
returned to Canada; that any settlement reached should

24 T DECEMBER 2005 THE ALLIED WORKER