The Ironworkers along with Ironworkers Management Progressive Action Cooperative Trust (IMPACT) held meetings with representatives of the three main political parties in the Province of Ontario. These meetings were held Tuesday, May 26 and Wednesday May 27 in Toronto and had representatives from the governing Liberals, Progressive Conservative and NDP Members of Provincial Parliament (MPPs).

Our objective was to discuss concerns related to unfair trade in fabricated steel coming from certain countries.  The proposed solutions discussed included new regulations on government procurement.

After a series of meetings that included a Minister, several senior Policy Directors from different departments and a number of MPPs, the IMPACT delegation was encouraged by the openness and the interest in having further discussions to achieve results on this issue.

Our delegation, composed of representatives from the Ironworkers, unionized employers and non-unionized employers was successful in achieving a consensus: something needs to be done to create a process where fair competition is encouraged and unfair competition is stopped.

IMPACT will continue to be involved in promoting the interest of ironworkers and employers on this specific trade issue.This initiative is going to be repeated throughout the country.