In a surprise address on the last full day of Convention 2025, Unifor National President Lana Payne reminded delegates that workers “have a lot of leverage in this country, and we can’t be afraid to use it.” Unifor represents more than 320,000 workers in the private sector across Canada.
Payne is calling on the Canadian government to “fight for every single worker, and every single job.” With Prime Minister Mark Carney in Washington this week, and tens of thousands of workers in trade-exposed sectors caught being targeted by Donald Trump, the Payne stressed the need for Canada to “not take its’ foot off the gas” in our approach to negotiations with the United States.
Payne declared that no deal with the United States is better than a bad deal. “We cannot be conditioned into thinking that just because we got the best of a bunch of bad deals, that that’s okay.” Payne drew a strong link between having thriving, healthy industries in communities in order to support strong public services, and cautioned against allowing the trade war to pit workers against each other. “When we fight together, we can absolutely win together.”
CUPE delegates provided a standing ovation to Mark’s call for solidarity with Unifor as they fight tariffs.