Today, the Minister of Labour, Seamus O'Regan Jr., announced that Canada will be a founding partner in the Multilateral Partnership for Organizing, Worker Empowerment, and Rights Initiative (M-POWER) and a member of its steering committee. M-POWER is a United States-led global initiative to strengthen and support unions and other democratic worker organizations.
As part of the official launch of the initiative, Minister O'Regan highlighted the work that Canada is doing through the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA) Labour Chapter, the implementation of labour provisions in other Canadian free trade agreements, and our Indo-Pacific Strategy and International Labour Organization (ILO) commitments to create work environments that are fair, safe and equitable around the world.
Canada welcomes M-POWER as a platform to continue advocating for and supporting workers at home and abroad, and remains committed to furthering this work by:
- ratifying the ILO Violence and Harassment Convention, 2019 (No. 190);
- advancing the right to freedom of association and collective bargaining
domestically through ongoing work on replacement workers and gig workers; and
- enforcing labour chapters, providing technical assistance and promoting labour rights in Canada's trade agreements and regional strategies, with $20 million set aside for projects through the CUSMA and $25 million for those under the Indo-Pacific Strategy.
Following the launch event, the Minister will meet with United States Secretary of Labor Marty Walsh to discuss collaboration through M-POWER in the context of the ILO, and in ongoing work through the CUSMA Labour Chapter.
The Minister will also meet with the Minister of Labour of Argentina, Kelly Olmos, to discuss collaboration through M-POWER, and with United States Trade Representative Katherine Tai on a variety of topics of mutual interest.
