Dear Sisters, Brothers and Friends,
Workers are rightly worried about the impacts of Donald Trump’s boneheaded tariffs. This is the latest step backwards by America, following Trump’s attacks on public servants, his elimination of employment equity, and his obsession with discriminating against trans people.
The Manitoba Federation of Labour will continue to push for government to first and foremost protect Manitoba jobs in response to these tariffs. Manitoba needs to invest in hiring Manitoba workers and building our province through stimulus spending on shovel-ready infrastructure in order to offset economic impacts in the private sector. The trend of seeing out of province license plates on construction sites needs to come to an end.
We need to ensure that taxpayer-funded business supports are tied to protecting and creating jobs, not money grabs that boost corporate profits.
At the federal level, the EI system needs to be expanded to help workers in this moment – including job sharing and other targeted supports. The federal government should also create new income supports for impacted workers who are unable to qualify for EI.
We must continue to defend and enhance our public services, which people will be counting on even more now. This has to include strengthening our social safety net.
As we focus on buying local, let’s ensure we are hiring local too and supporting good union jobs in our province. Manitobans are looking for ways to support their local economy more than ever right now, and the MFL maintains a Buy Local, Buy Union web page. This page is populated entirely by unionized employers that have been provided to us by MFL affiliates. While several unionized sites are listed on this page, we know that there are more out there.
I am asking for your help in building this page up so that we can highlight the great opportunities for Manitobans to buy local and buy union. Please review your union’s listings on this page by selecting “Choose a Union” on the left side of the page and let us know what unionized suppliers need to be added to our database by filling out the form at the bottom of the page.
I know that Manitobans will stand strong and help each other as we face these threats from the bully currently occupying the White House, just as we do when we stand together to fight a flood or give someone’s car a boost in the winter. Working together is the Manitoba way. Please keep us informed of how your members are being impacted by these tariffs so that we can target our asks and campaign work to meet your needs.
In Solidarity,
Kevin Rebeck
President of the Manitoba Federation of Labour
