“A new crisis is on the horizon” says the governor of the Bank of Canada. Already, the trade war with the United States is provoking layoffs at companies around the country. And this is only going to get worse.
But while 40 per cent of workers in Canada fear for their jobs, the government is more concerned with protecting corporate profits.
We desperately need working-class action to save jobs and the entire communities that depend on them.
Government protects corporate profits
In response to the trade war, the Canadian government has bent over backwards for corporate Canada. For example, in February the government announced the Trade Impact Program, representing $5 billion of low-cost loans and subsidies to help exporters.
In March, they added another $1.5 billion to support Canadian businesses and agribusinesses negatively affected by the trade war. In total, $6.5 billion for the bosses!
The only pittance they have offered is to allow Employment Insurance to pay a portion of workers’ wages at companies affected by the trade war. But this miniscule measure has done nothing to stop layoffs.
The layoffs commence
In a poll of business leaders in January, a whopping 50 per cent said that they were preparing lay offs in response to the trade war. And the layoffs have begun.
Canada Metal Processing Group announced that they were cutting 150 jobs at their Quebec and Ontario plants. Algoma Steel laid off 20 employees from their Sault Ste. Marie plant. Cyrell AMP announced they were laying off 10 workers from their plant in Beloeil, Quebec. Winnipeg based Eascan Automation Inc, has laid off one third of their workforce. South Shore Furniture, a Quebec furniture maker, cut 115 jobs last February. Quebec tights manufacturer Sheertex laid off 40 per cent of its 350 employees. Furniture company Prepac Manufacturing Ltd. abruptly announced plans to shut down one of its factories and terminate 170 employees, citing the “altered economic environment.”
But the largest layoff is the liquidation of the Hudson Bay Company’s stores which cited the trade war as one of the reasons that pushed them over the edge after a long decline. This means 9,500 jobs lost.
These are just a few examples and this is only the beginning. Tens of thousands of jobs are at risk. This is also a direct attack on the labour movement as many of these workers are unionized.
The Program of the Revolutionary Communists
The labour movement must develop a correct set of policies to rally the working class to fight against the disaster that is beginning to transpire before our eyes. It is only through the independent action of the working class that we will be able to protect ourselves from the crisis.
- No to cuts! Make the bosses pay for their crisis!
All around the world, all major political parties—whether they are ostensibly on the “left” or on the right—are all preaching about the need to rein in so-called “excesses” and cut back on “waste and bureaucracy.” You can see this most graphically with Elon Musk, but also with Starmer in Britain and Macron in France—and now both Poilievre and Carney are preaching the same thing.
We must expose what this actually means: massive cuts to social services, public sector layoffs, etc. The Revolutionary Communist Party completely rejects all attempts to justify passing the burden of this crisis onto the backs of working class people in the form of cuts to social programs. There is more than enough money in our society to fully fund all of the basic needs of the population.
- Wages adjusted to inflation
In the context of a general economic disintegration, levels of inflation unheard of since the 1980s have come back with a vengeance. As wages have not kept pace, this is a wage cut in all but name. The trade war threatens to make inflation endemic as the international division of labour is destroyed, supply chains are dislocated and goods are tariffed.
Workers should not have to pay for this trade war, which we did not start and do not benefit from. If, as Carney claims, we must “place people before money”—then there should be no problem guaranteeing that wages keep pace with inflation. The Revolutionary Communists stand for pegging wages to the inflation rate to guarantee that workers will still be able to pay the bills.
- No to layoffs! Mass working class action to save jobs!
The spectre of mass layoffs and mass unemployment looms on the horizon. The labour movement must develop a plan to protect jobs. We cannot rely on the federal or provincial governments. The labour movement must launch a movement of strikes and occupations in response to any attempts to lay off workers or move production. This is the only way to protect jobs.
- Open the books! Down with business secrets!
As we saw during the pandemic, companies inevitably take advantage of uncertain situations to attack unions, increase prices, and carry out layoffs or cuts to benefits. We cannot be expected to blindly trust executives when they claim that they have no other options. The Revolutionary Communists demand that the books of the big banks and corporations be made public so all of the workers can observe the real situation. This is the only way we can make sure there are no shady deals or capitalists taking advantage of the situation.
This is the first step towards workers’ control. With full access to the books, the entire ruse of capitalist exploitation will be exposed. The workers will be able to expose any behind the scenes deals, demonstrate the immense inefficiency involved in capitalist production and decide how to organize production and save jobs.
- Don’t bail-out! Expropriate!
Canadian governments, both provincial and federal, provide over $50 billion in corporate support each year. This massive transfer of taxpayer money into corporate coffers has done nothing to protect jobs. The already heavily-subsidized auto-sector has continued to shut down plants over recent decades, with hundreds of thousands of jobs lost.
We cannot control what we do not own. The position of the Revolutionary Communists is that any company which decides to shut down or lay off workers because of the trade war should be expropriated. These factories can be retooled and integrated into a vast chain of production to produce for need instead of profit. There is no need for compensation – most of these companies have been handed tens of billions of taxpayer money over the years.
The realism of the workers vs the realism of the capitalists
We firmly believe that the above programmatic points are the only course of action to fight against the crisis that threatens to destroy the livelihoods of millions of workers in Canada.
Of course, many will call this “unrealistic”. But this is only unrealistic if you accept capitalism. It is only unrealistic if your starting point is protecting capitalist profit. The RCP does not accept this so-called “realism.” If capitalism cannot realistically guarantee good living conditions for workers—then the problem is the system itself.
At the end of the day, what is realistic will be decided by the class struggle. The working class in Canada has barely begun to move after a long period of slumber and confusion. All that is needed is the right ideas to win the coming struggle.
