TORONTO—Unifor applauds the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC)’s decision to proceed with developing rules that will ensure Canadian programming is available and visible on online streaming services. At the same time, the union is also calling on the federal government to also immediately move ahead with implementing the contributions requirements for digital streamers.

The Commission’s decisive move comes after the issue played a significant role in ending trade talks with the U.S.

“Global streaming companies that profit from Canadian audiences must also contribute to the Canadian broadcasting system and help audiences find Canadian stories,” said Unifor National President Lana Payne.

The CRTC has said it will move forward with regulatory proceedings to determine how individual streaming services will be required to will be required to promote and make Canadian programming discoverable to users. The process implements the Online Streaming Act, which requires streaming services operating in Canada to support access to Canadian programming, including French-language content.

“Strong, enforceable and transparent discoverability rules are essential,” added Payne.

“Canadian content cannot be technically available but effectively buried. The rules must lead to meaningful visibility for Canadian productions and create more job opportunities for the skilled workers who make them.”

Unifor’s media sector has advocated for years for enforceable federal policies to address the crisis facing Canada’s media landscape, including the Digital Services Tax, the Online Streaming Act and the Online News Act. These measures were intended to ensure companies benefiting from access to the Canadian market contributed to the system that supports Canadian stories, journalism and media jobs.

The union continues to support the Online Streaming Act and the Online News Act.

Unifor is urging the federal government and the CRTC to move ahead without delay in implementing the contribution requirements for digital streamers as per the Online Streaming Act, ensuring the final framework includes clear obligations, measurable outcomes, and effective enforcement.

The union will continue to advocate for rules that strengthen Canadian and Indigenous production, protect Canada’s cultural sovereignty, and encourage and sustain good jobs across Canada’s media sector.

TORONTO—Unifor members at General Motors voted overwhelmingly to ratify contracts that secure new products and investment, while also delivering the wages and benefit improvements in the union’s pattern agreement.

“These agreements commit more than one billion dollars in vital investments to Canadian GM facilities, with a new single source next-generation transmission at the St. Catharines Propulsion Plant and the return of next-generation Heavy-Duty GMC Sierra production to Oshawa,” said Unifor National President Lana Payne. “GM is making these investments in both its highly skilled Canadian workforce and facilities at a crucial time, as our domestic auto industry is under siege by the Trump Administration.”

Negotiations with GM took place under challenging circumstances, with the CAMI Assembly Plant in Ingersoll, Ontario idled and the majority of members on indefinite layoff.

The union made clear that it will continue to push for production to return at CAMI Assembly. GM committed to seek opportunities for the CAMI facility and designated it as the plant of first consideration for the allocation of Canadian Armed Forces defence work if that work is awarded to General Motors. The agreement also extends the Income Maintenance Plan to eligible members on layoff until May 2028.

“I thank the negotiating team for their hard work to reach this tentative agreement that delivers solid gains for our members at a time of upheaval for our industry,” said GM Master Bargaining Chairperson Trevor Longpre. “We made significant progress in securing good, stable auto jobs and a stronger Canadian footprint, but the work to bring production back to CAMI is not over. This agreement  gives our Ingersoll members a bridge until we get CAMI workers back on the job.”

The three-year collective agreement mirrors the 3% annual wage increases in the Detroit Three pattern agreement, set by Unifor with Ford Motor Company. The contract increases wages for full-rate production members to $50.20/hour and Skilled Trades workers to $62.71/hour during the life of the contracts.

The new contracts cover more than 4,600 Unifor members at GM Ontario facilities in Oshawa, St. Catharines and Woodstock (the “GMCC” agreement) and the GM Assembly Plant in Ingersoll (the “CAMI” agreement).

Unifor members covered by the GMCC Agreement voted 80.5% in favour. Members covered by the GM CAMI agreement voted 96.5% in support.

Highlights include:

•    C$144 million to add next generation Heavy-Duty GMC Sierra truck to Oshawa Assembly.
•    C$215 million to assemble next-generation transmission in St. Catharines, with work anticipated to begin in late 2029.
•    Prior commitments of C$691 million to support sixth generation V8 engine in St. Catharines and $63 million toward stamping and CCA upgrades in Oshawa enshrined in the collective agreement.
•    Plan to mitigate layoffs at Oshawa Assembly.
•    Renewal of Cost of Living Allowance.
•    $10,000 Productivity and Quality bonus for eligible members.
•    $2,000 December Bonus for eligible members.
•    Increase in Retirees Universal Healthcare Allowance payments and extend payments to include surviving spouses.

View the Master and Local Bargaining brochures here.

For more information visit Autotalks.ca.

TORONTO—Unifor welcomes the Canadian tariff countermeasures announced today but is reiterating the union’s call for stronger industrial policies and income security measures, as the trade war with the United States escalates.

“Unifor has long called for Canada to fight back against Trump tariffs designed to target Canada’s industrial base and force concessions from Canada,” said Unifor National President Lana Payne. “The Canadian counter-tariffs are a good first response, but we need to take action at home to keep workers on the job by fast-tracking procurement dollars, implementing national industrial strategies, and calling on corporate Canada to step up and Buy Canadian.”

In addition to dollar-for-dollar counter-tariffs on $27.6 billion worth of U.S. goods, the federal government also announced several changes to Employment Insurance (EI).

The measures include extending the waiver of the one-week EI waiting period and allowing workers to receive EI without first using up separation payments, both through October 2027. They also extend the Work-Sharing Program to March 2027 and provide an additional 20 weeks of EI for long-serving workers only, through June 2027.

New measures will also allow workers who voluntarily leave their jobs to collect EI without penalty and help connect unemployed and underemployed workers with major projects that are hiring.

However, these measures still fall short of what workers need, as the government failed to address some of the biggest gaps in Canada’s EI system, including lowering qualifying hours for part-time, part-year, seasonal and precarious workers, improving EI benefit rates or introducing a minimum benefit, and broadly extending benefit durations beyond the additional 20 weeks available only to long-serving workers.

“Workers are being asked to absorb the economic shock of a trade war they did not start and cannot control. These EI measures will provide some welcome relief, but they are temporary fixes to a much bigger problem,” said Unifor Quebec Director Daniel Cloutier. “Workers need income security they can count on, not a patchwork of measures that expires when the next deadline passes. As this trade war continues, the federal government must be ready to go further to protect workers, support communities and ensure people are not left carrying the cost of this escalating fight.”