Das größte Risiko für Kanadas Wirtschaft, über das niemand spricht: drohende große Arbeitsstreiks
The biggest risk to Canada’s economy nobody is talking about: major looming labour strikes
Das größte Risiko für Kanadas Wirtschaft, über das niemand spricht: drohende große Arbeitsstreiks
The biggest risk to Canada’s economy nobody is talking about: major looming labour strikes
30 Kommentare
**In Brief:**
* **Over the next 24 months, collective agreements covering tens of thousands of workers across Canada’s federally regulated transportation network are set to expire.**
* These include major bargaining units at CN and CPKC, the country’s two Class I railways; longshore workers at key marine gateways in Vancouver, Prince Rupert, Montreal, Halifax, and Saint John; and significant employee groups across Canada’s major airlines and airport authorities.
* Together, these firms move well over $1 billion worth of goods per day by rail and hundreds of millions more through ports that handle roughly one-quarter of Canada’s total traded goods by value.
* The stakes are big. Consider, for instance, that in 2023, a 13-day strike at British Columbia’s ports halted cargo movement at facilities responsible for approximately $800 million in goods daily. Rail disruptions in recent years have similarly reverberated across agriculture, mining, energy, forestry, and manufacturing supply chains.
* Even short stoppages generate backlog effects that take weeks to unwind. For export-oriented sectors such as grain, potash, lumber, and autos, delays translate into contractual penalties, lost market share, and reputational damage in highly competitive global markets.
* Canada’s economy is unusually exposed to these risks. Trade accounts for roughly two-thirds of GDP, and much of it moves through a relatively small number of transportation chokepoints.
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No problem. Back to work legislation goes brrrr.
More unions! More collective bargaining!
Monopolies don’t work, public or private. We really should open up the market to way more things to keep the unions and the government accountable.
Ending Canada Post’s monopoly on standard lettermail is the first step.
So in other words, the same thing that has happened every few years for the last few decades
Wealth inequality is at record highs. Pur economy has never been worth more. Just give enough for some dignity for workers, and and ultra rich can still have mega yatchs.
You’ve mistaken a feature as a bug.
We need more major labor strikes to fix our economy. The best way to fix affordability is upward pressure on labor rates. The second best way is competition and anti monopoly controls.
Why do they talk about it like a natural disaster? You know you can stop labour strikes ahead of time right?
Hearkening back to the short lived rail strikes, I can tell you that they completely came down to the companies being unwilling to negotiate.
At CN the arbitrator ended up giving us 3% raises for 3 years and a status quo contract. Most of us would have voted in favour of that contract.
However, both CN and CP came in swinging, demanding complete overhauls of our Collective Agreements, asking us to give up protections and quality of life provisions and offering nothing in return. When we refused, they stonewalled and forced the issue to arbitration in hopes that an arbitrator would grant them a Hail Mary.
The overwhelming issues facing railroad employees are quality of life based. During those last contract talks, when they were trying to strip all of our quality of life provisions out of the agreements, the companies released information saying that the average conductor made around $130,000 a year, and that they had on average 150 days off, or something along those lines. While those numbers don’t tell the whole story (is it a day off if you are on call and first available, expecting to go to work at any moment with no warning?), they can be taken as kind of true. That sounds fucking amazing, right?
Well then, it would be worth asking these companies why, since they are offering these amazing jobs with no downsides, they have new hire retention rates of around 10 percent.
Record corporate profits? Nobody bats an eye
Organized labor trying to get paid fairly? Media working overtime to talk about the dangers / risks of a strike
Don’t threaten me with a good time.
This is why companies love TFWs. They don’t strike. They put their heads down and work for their lower wages
It wouldn’t be a risk if employers bargained in good faith and treated their employees like valuable people who make their business viable.
Strikes are meant to be disruptive and show that their work matters. Workers fighting for better benefits, pay, and working conditions is good for all other workers (even non-unionized ones) because a rising tide lifts all boats.
„Canada increases TFW program and sets up automatic approval process to handle the labour shortage“
Chicken or the egg? Strikes wouldn’t be looking if workers were happy.
Labour strikes are easily preventable…
Looking forward to the strikes resetting the private sector wages too.
We all know how the liberals are gonna deal with this
All of our American capital holding class does not care about the Canadian workers. It’s not surprising.
Hard disagree
Pay people properly
good
Well, corporations have two paths they can take. They can negotiate fair contracts in good faith, or we can have major looming labour strikes.
Boss’ choice.
The unfortunate but inevitable result of corporations and governments working hand-in-hand for decades to keep wages low and profits high.
Which wasn’t so bad until the cost of living doubled in a decade. Also wouldn’t have been so bad if those corporations at least helped pay their fair share in taxes, which they didn’t. They wanted to socialize the costs and privatize the profits FOREVER and expected everyone to just keep working in worse conditions for less pay without complaining about it.
Liberals used section 107 4 times this decade. Not really a concern at all if you’re paying attention.
What BS
More more more! The public purse has no more money! Get back to work!
This is the natural outcome of underpaid workers. You want to have a stronger economy *for Canada* then support unions. Companies are not negotiating in good faith because they (rightfully) believe the government will back them and order the workers back.
People don’t want to strike, they want fair pay, and strikes are the only tool available if we refuse to give them that.