There remains to be no motion on the port after 7,400 employees went on strike on Canada Day setting in movement job motion that would drain the nation’s economic system of billion of {dollars}.
The Canadian Chamber of Commerce says about $800 million in items strikes by means of B.C. ports daily, and if this strike spans every week, the nation may lose as a lot as $5.5 billion.
“The Canadian Chamber of Commerce is urging the Government of Canada to immediately intervene in order to prevent further disruption to Canada’s supply chains and limit the impact on Canadians, who are bearing the cost of inflationary pressures,” it says in an announcement.
Canada’s Minister of Labour Seamus O’Regan took to social media over the lengthy weekend to verify the 2 sides are nonetheless speaking.
“The focus needs to be on the table. All our energies must be directed at the table. Because that’s where the best deals are reached. Canadians are counting on it.”
The BCMEA and ILWU are nonetheless on the negotiating desk with federal mediators working in the direction of a deal.
The focus must be on the desk. All our energies have to be directed on the desk.
Because that’s the place the very best offers are reached. Canadians are relying on it.
— Seamus O'Regan Jr (@SeamusORegan) July 2, 2023
Over the weekend, the International Longshore and Warehouse Union Canada held a news convention and issued a blunt warning to the federal authorities to not get entangled.
“This deal must be reached at the collective bargaining table,” says President Rob Ashton. “For the last 30 years, we’ve had labour peace in this province. It’s been almost 30 years since our union has been on strike. If the (BC Maritime Employers Association) gets their way, and their way is to let the government make this collective agreement for them, there will never be labour peace on the waterfront.”
The ILWU Canada and its members have begun strike motion at quite a lot of websites throughout B.C. For extra data
https://t.co/n30sE9Hyg5 pic.twitter.com/0fIli74N2i
— BC Maritime Employers Association (@BC_Maritime) July 1, 2023
The federal authorities is the employer on this case and Fiona McQuarrie, professor emeritus on the University of the Fraser Valley says it has a couple of choices to place a cease to this.
“Every government in Canada has the option of back-to-work legislation, which essentially, sends the workers back to work but lets the negotiations continue… but that’s sort of a last resort,” the business professor mentioned.
McQuarrie says whether or not it’s mediation or intervening, the clock is ticking.
“With the port workers, obviously this is a very critical workplace because of the amount of goods that comes through the ports, and it also has a big ripple effect because those goods get put on trucks or get put on trains and get transported to wholesalers and retailers. So, there’s a lot of other industries that are impacted by a shutdown as well,” she mentioned.
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Wages to deal with the brunt of the cost-of-living disaster is among the many sticking factors on this combat. McQuarrie says she understands why.
“Perhaps workers feel their wages are not rising at a level that will help them keep up with rising costs. But I think the Public Service Alliance [of Canada] (PSAC) strike demonstrated that, at least for that group, that a strike can be effective in getting some of what the workers want in the negotiations. And also, we’re coming out of the effects of the pandemic and that really hit a lot of people very hard financially.”
McQuarrie feels there can also be a generational issue to this strike.
“Younger workers are starting to realize the value that unions can have for them and seeing them as an option,” she explains. “I think with Amazon and Starbucks, at least in the U.S. and this is starting to happen in Canada as well, those unions are started by the younger workers themselves. They have a lot more say over what the union does, and they structure the union in a way that works for them and their particular concerns.”
She says the final statistical estimates present someplace between 70 and 90 per cent of collective settlement negotiations in Canada are settled with out a strike.
“A strike is more unusual than it is usual, but the ones that get publicity… are large groups of workers whose work is critical to the economy,” she mentioned.
-With recordsdata from Cole Schisler
The put up B.C. port employees’ strike may price Canadian economic system billions of {dollars} appeared first on CityNews Calgary.
Source: calgary.citynews.ca