Dairy

The following is a joint statement from Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa and Teamsters Canada President François Laporte in response to outstanding issues that U.S. and Canadian trade representatives must hash out to ensure that a new North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) is a deal that works for workers.

Teamsters Canada will be studying the final agreement and its implementing legislation before deciding to support or stand against the new United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA).

Teamsters 647 is excited to announce that through the hard work of our Teamsters 647 Nestle members, the London Ice Cream plant will soon be hiring 150 permanent full-time production positions at its London facility. Our members produce products like Häagen-Dazs, Parlour, and Drumstick. Recently, a $51.5 million expansion was announced to help with greater production demands.

Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa and Teamsters Canada President François Laporte, speaking at a North American labour summit sponsored by the AFL-CIO, agreed that workers’ rights must be front-and-center in the minds of those participating in the fourth round of renegotiations of NAFTA.

Several issues that are priorities for Teamsters are on the table in the third round of talks, including workers’ rights, dairy market access and highway safety. The Teamsters have also joined the chorus of civil society groups that are calling for the elimination of the controversial dispute settlement mechanism in NAFTA’s investment chapter whereby corporations can sue governments...

Yesterday we were in Ottawa to speak out against the secretive and deeply flawed Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). Canadians elected the current government on...

Teamsters are calling for dairy workers to be compensated in the upcoming federal budget for losses from recent trade agreements. The union represents 5,000 dairy workers in Canada in the dairy processing sector and in bulk milk and dairy product transportation.

Today’s signing of the new NAFTA offers Teamsters little reason to celebrate. American tariffs on steel and aluminum continue to actively harm hundreds of the union’s members. Dairy workers also remain under a cloud of uncertainty; their compensation package is being negotiated in secret between the federal government and big business.

The Teamsters Union is disappointed that the Government of Canada will sign the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). The agreement, reached after two days of talks in Tokyo, was confirmed by an International Trade spokesperson and could be ratified in March.

General President Jim Hoffa and Teamsters Canada President François Laporte applaud the decision by the U.S. Trade Representative to fix the NAFTA cross-border trucking provision.