Wave of strikes in Canada could cause ‘knock-on effect’ in other sectors, experts warn – National | 24CA News
While a brand new tentative deal might have been reached between the 2 sides concerned in a labour dispute impacting 1000’s of B.C. port staff, consultants say Canada might not have seen the final of strikes this yr.
From the B.C. port strike to the latest Greater Toronto Area Metro staff’ strike to the writers’ strike within the U.S., rising prices of dwelling, excessive company income and dissatisfaction amongst staff might all be contributing to collective motion throughout sectors.
Simon Black, affiliate professor of labour research at Brock University, stated that whereas these present-day examples might not be on the identical stage because the strike waves of the Nineteen Seventies and the late Forties, all indicators level in direction of large-scale dissatisfaction.
“Workers have seen their real wages, their purchasing power, eroding a great deal under this inflationary period. And yet, large corporations have made record gains, while working class households have struggled. I think there’s good evidence that the corporate profits and not workers’ wages have contributed disproportionately to inflation,” Black stated.
Moshe Lander, economics professor at Concordia University, stated the most recent strike waves are pushed by a need to get well a number of the misplaced buying energy.
“You’re having, essentially, a showdown that’s dealing with how we recover the lost money or the redistribution of that money during high inflation.”
For 13 days this month starting July 1, some 7,400 port staff at 30 ports in B.C. walked off the job, stalling billions value of cargo from shifting in or out at a few of Canada’s busiest terminals. A tentative deal was reached late Sunday night time, which labour minister Seamus O’Regan stated would imply “long-term stability”.
“We know sometimes labour negotiations can be extremely difficult, but every step of the way, Minister O’Regan has been there to encourage people at the table to make sure that we’re getting towards a solution,” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau stated whereas talking to reporters on Monday.
“And yes, there have been concerns and worries about how things are unfolding over the past days, but we now have a situation where there is another offer, there is another potential deal on the table, and we’re, as always, hopeful that that negotiation at the bargaining table continues to be at the centre of what everyone needs to continue to do.”
On Friday, Metro grocery shops throughout the Greater Toronto Area shut down as 1000’s of grocery retailer staff went on strike. Unifor, the biggest private-sector union, says some 3,700 front-line retailer staff walked off the job simply after midnight.
It says members of Local 414 rejected a tentative labour deal reached final week, however supplied few different particulars. In a press release on Friday, Metro stated it was “extremely disappointed that its unionized employees at 27 Metro locations across the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) rejected the agreement reached last week and decided to go on strike effective July 29, even though the union bargaining committee unanimously recommended the agreement to its members.”
This latest wave of strikes come as Canadian staff are feeling the pinch of upper prices.
A PwC survey launched on Monday discovered 42 per cent of Canadian staff say that whereas their family pays its payments, they don’t have anything left over for financial savings.
Another 14 per cent say their family struggles to pay its payments.
“Work pressures are also acute, with only 22% saying their workload was often or usually manageable in the last 12 months. Many of these issues have been ongoing for some time, but an additional force of disruption emerged this year with the very rapid rise of generative artificial intelligence,” the report stated.
In addition to price of dwelling considerations, Lander stated the Screen Actors Guild strike within the United States is an illustration of how anxieties round the usage of synthetic intelligence may be contributing to labour motion.
Black stated staff’ strike motion will proceed until financial circumstances change.
“I think if these conditions persist — tight labour markets and inflation — workers are going to continue to make demands of their employers, unionized workers, and likely exercise their right to strike. Because they are going to have to play catch–up now.”
He stated buying energy of the working class has eroded a lot that easing inflation might not assist, both.
“Even if we see a loosening of labour markets, even if we continue to see inflation decline, we’ll continue to see workers willing … to go on strike to push their demands.”
The newest studying in Canada confirmed general inflation cooled to 2.8 per cent in June, marking a considerable drop from the height of 8.1 per cent for a similar month final yr.
However, some measures, resembling grocery costs, remained excessive.
Black stated that whereas solely staff in unionized workplaces are prone to strike, all staff throughout the Canadian economic system are feeling the pinch of rising prices of dwelling.
Employers, nevertheless, have requested hanging unions to not be unreasonable of their calls for. In April, throughout the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) strike, then-Treasury Board president Mona Fortier had stated PSAC needs to be “prepared to compromise” to succeed in a cope with the federal authorities as a result of it could actually’t “write a blank cheque” to them.
According to Black, staff might not reply nicely to such appeals.
“Workers aren’t dumb,” he stated. “They know the record profits of the likes of Loblaws and Metro.”
Lander stated the pandemic solely exacerbated this sense of inequality.
“Having come out of COVID, workers are angry because it’s now unacceptable that shareholders who were able to passively sit at home and not have to put themselves on the front line of the years of COVID and what that could do, they’re saying, well, now I want that share for me.”
Loblaw, which was accused of profiteering off of excessive meals inflation, defended itself in February.
“Retail prices are not growing faster than costs, the company is not taking advantage of inflation to drive profit,” Loblaw CFO Richard Dufresne had stated in an earnings name in February. Earlier this month, whereas reporting its newest quarterly earnings, the grocery store blamed excessive provider prices for rising meals costs.
High meals inflation had little influence on the income of Metro Inc., which rose by 10.4 per cent final quarter.
Rising price of dwelling shouldn’t be the one issue making public anger worse. Lander stated that file temperatures this summer season aren’t serving to. “People tend to be angrier, tend to be more frustrated easily, tend to be more exhausted during periods of extreme heat,” he stated.
Black and Lander agreed that strikes in a single sector might have a domino impact on different sectors.
“If a public sector union can negotiate a 12-per cent wage increase over three years and another union goes to their employers and say, I want the 12 per cent over three or I want more than 12 per cent over three, how does the employer turn around and say, no, you can’t have that when another union’s already agreed to it?,” Lander stated.
Black added: “This is what happens when we see a strike action. We see workers learning from other workers.”
“There’s a knock-on effect that other workers see that and learn from that. And so yes, we can see this kind of this kind of activity spread throughout the economy, to different sectors.”
— with recordsdata from The Canadian Press and Global News’ Aaron D’Andrea
