Jim Sinclair

Jim Sinclair worked on free trade issues during his 18 years with the United Fishermen and Allied Workers’ Union (UFAWU), eventually becoming union vice-president. He served as associate editor of The Fisherman newspaper that reported on the impacts of free trade on BC’s fishing industry. And he organized protests within the BC fishing industry to challenge free trade as part of the Action Canada Network. In 1992 he edited and co-authored Crossing the Line: Canada and Free Trade with Mexico.

Interview Summary
Jim describes the impact of free trade on labour negotiations in BC’s fishing industry. The free movement of goods across the Canada/US border led to lower wages in Canada. He outlines how this destroyed the structure of labour relations in BC’s fishing industry, diminished union membership and impacted livelihoods – an effect that happened in industries across the Canadian economy, as initially predicted by anti-free trade activists. Jim discussed how anti-free activism in the 1980s was for many about protecting Canadian democracy and workers.