Bus service for the nearly three million residents of Metro Vancouver is scheduled to resume on Wednesday at 3 a.m. — but the big questions surrounding the strike will continue.
“Clearly, we don’t have a deal now, so we’ll have to plan our next escalation,” said CUPE Local 4500 spokesperson Liam O’Neill on Monday, speaking about the job action taken this week by more than 180 supervisors for Coast Mountain Bus Company.
But what could that escalation look like? And why can 180 workers have such an impact on the transit system?
Here’s our attempt to answer some of the questions about the transit strike.
1. Who is taking job action?
CUPE Local 4500 represents more than 180 transit supervisors, engineers, maintenance and communication workers who work for Coast Mountain Bus Company, a subsidiary of TransLink.
The union says the last collective agreement expired at the end of 2022.
Members voted in favour of a strike mandate in December 2023 and issued a 72-hour strike notice on Jan. 2. After two weeks of not working overtime, they withdrew all services on Monday.
CUPE 4500 spokesperson Liam O’Neill said the job action was designed to last 48 hours, allowing for a restoration of service on Wednesday morning.
While there was no deviation from that plan, there were also no negotiations between CUPE 4500 and the Coast Mountain Bus Company during that time.
Picketers are pictured outside of the Coast Mountain Bus Company Vancouver Transit Centre in Vancouver, British Columbia on Tuesday, Jan. 23, 2024. Striking staff are set to return to work at 3 a.m. Wednesday. (Ben Nelms/CBC)
2. Why does this affect some transit operations but not others?
While many people may think of TransLink as one organization, a variety of different organizations are responsible for different facets of Metro Vancouver’s transit system, which results in a variety of different unions.
While most buses and the SeaBus were not in operation during the job action, service on the SkyTrain, West Coast Express, HandyDART and a handful of bus routes was not affected.
But that could change CUPE 4500 has asked the B.C. Labour Relations Board for the legal right to picket transit operations outside their specific jurisdiction. A hearing has been scheduled for Jan. 29.
3. What are the issues at play?
While some labour disputes involve significant disagreements over benefits or working conditions, this one appears to be almost entirely about money.
Coast Mountain has released what it says are CUPE’s demands, which work out to a 20 to 25 per cent increase for all its positions over three years, which would raise yearly salaries from a range of $92,000-$114,000 to $114,000-$141,000.
Coast Mountain says it has matched CUPE’s demands in one category (mechanics supervisor), while offering a 14 to 15 per cent wage increase.
CUPE has disputed those numbers, but has said they’re asking for wage equality with other TransLink employees doing similar jobs. Coast Mountain has argued they’ve offered wage increases similar to ones given to other CMBC workers.
CUPE 4500 said wage gaps between its members and other TransLink supervisors needed to be closed before a settlement could be reached. (Ben Nelms/CBC)
4. Is TransLink’s claim of a financial crisis accurate?
One of the more contentious questions in the labour dispute is how much of an impact the future salaries of 180 workers could have on TransLink’s financial operations.
“The reality is, we are facing a fiscal crisis,” said TransLink CEO Kevin Quinn this week, arguing that the long-term deficit TransLink is projecting means they have to be restrained in what they can offer for future wage increases.
Quinn said if CUPE 4500 members received a 20 to 25 per cent wage increase, it could create expectations for future collective agreements with other unions that would cost TransLink an additional $250 million over the next decade.
The Early Edition8:22TransLink is facing a major funding gap over the next ten years
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Gavin McGarrigle, western regional director for Unifor, the union representing thousands of Coast Mountain workers, sees it differently.
“The fact of the matter is, Coast Mountain has not been able to reach a deal with 180 people,” said McGarrigle.
“And they somehow think the cost of that is worth impacting thousands of workers directly employed by the system and the public.”
Empty buses are pictured at the Coast Mountain Bus Company Surrey bus depot in Surrey, British Columbia on Jan. 22, 2024. Bus drivers refused to cross the transit supervisors’ picket lines. (Ben Nelms/CBC)
5. What comes next?
The provincial government could order binding arbitration in the dispute through a special mediator, or deem transit an essential service, though to date they have not signaled they are considering either option.
Which means that, should negotiations between CUPE and Coast Mountain not improve, further strike action could be taken — and perhaps expanded if CUPE is successful with its Labour Relations Board appeal.
Which also means that commuters who rely on transit services like the 99 B-Line should keep a Plan B in mind going forward.
“I think they clearly have a strategy, and they’re not going to lay it out on the table all in public,” said Barry Eidlin, an associate sociology professor at McGill University and an expert in labour and social movements.
“They have made clear that they will consider a more open-ended strike, and they’ve also petitioned to strike at the SkyTrain. So that would expand not just the length but the scope of the strike.”
TOKYO (AP) — Japanese technology group SoftBank swung back to profitability in the July-September quarter, boosted by positive results in its Vision Fund investments.
Tokyo-based SoftBank Group Corp. reported Tuesday a fiscal second quarter profit of nearly 1.18 trillion yen ($7.7 billion), compared with a 931 billion yen loss in the year-earlier period.
Quarterly sales edged up about 6% to nearly 1.77 trillion yen ($11.5 billion).
SoftBank credited income from royalties and licensing related to its holdings in Arm, a computer chip-designing company, whose business spans smartphones, data centers, networking equipment, automotive, consumer electronic devices, and AI applications.
The results were also helped by the absence of losses related to SoftBank’s investment in office-space sharing venture WeWork, which hit the previous fiscal year.
WeWork, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2023, emerged from Chapter 11 in June.
SoftBank has benefitted in recent months from rising share prices in some investment, such as U.S.-based e-commerce company Coupang, Chinese mobility provider DiDi Global and Bytedance, the Chinese developer of TikTok.
SoftBank’s financial results tend to swing wildly, partly because of its sprawling investment portfolio that includes search engine Yahoo, Chinese retailer Alibaba, and artificial intelligence company Nvidia.
SoftBank makes investments in a variety of companies that it groups together in a series of Vision Funds.
The company’s founder, Masayoshi Son, is a pioneer in technology investment in Japan. SoftBank Group does not give earnings forecasts.
Shopify Inc. executives brushed off concerns that incoming U.S. President Donald Trump will be a major detriment to many of the company’s merchants.
“There’s nothing in what we’ve heard from Trump, nor would there have been anything from (Democratic candidate) Kamala (Harris), which we think impacts the overall state of new business formation and entrepreneurship,” Shopify’s chief financial officer Jeff Hoffmeister told analysts on a call Tuesday.
“We still feel really good about all the merchants out there, all the entrepreneurs that want to start new businesses and that’s obviously not going to change with the administration.”
Hoffmeister’s comments come a week after Trump, a Republican businessman, trounced Harris in an election that will soon return him to the Oval Office.
On the campaign trail, he threatened to impose tariffs of 60 per cent on imports from China and roughly 10 per cent to 20 per cent on goods from all other countries.
If the president-elect makes good on the promise, many worry the cost of operating will soar for companies, including customers of Shopify, which sells e-commerce software to small businesses but also brands as big as Kylie Cosmetics and Victoria’s Secret.
These merchants may feel they have no choice but to pass on the increases to customers, perhaps sparking more inflation.
If Trump’s tariffs do come to fruition, Shopify’s president Harley Finkelstein pointed out China is “not a huge area” for Shopify.
However, “we can’t anticipate what every presidential administration is going to do,” he cautioned.
He likened the uncertainty facing the business community to the COVID-19 pandemic where Shopify had to help companies migrate online.
“Our job is no matter what comes the way of our merchants, we provide them with tools and service and support for them to navigate it really well,” he said.
Finkelstein was questioned about the forthcoming U.S. leadership change on a call meant to delve into Shopify’s latest earnings, which sent shares soaring 27 per cent to $158.63 shortly after Tuesday’s market open.
The Ottawa-based company, which keeps its books in U.S. dollars, reported US$828 million in net income for its third quarter, up from US$718 million in the same quarter last year, as its revenue rose 26 per cent.
Revenue for the period ended Sept. 30 totalled US$2.16 billion, up from US$1.71 billion a year earlier.
Subscription solutions revenue reached US$610 million, up from US$486 million in the same quarter last year.
Merchant solutions revenue amounted to US$1.55 billion, up from US$1.23 billion.
Shopify’s net income excluding the impact of equity investments totalled US$344 million for the quarter, up from US$173 million in the same quarter last year.
Daniel Chan, a TD Cowen analyst, said the results show Shopify has a leadership position in the e-commerce world and “a continued ability to gain market share.”
In its outlook for its fourth quarter of 2024, the company said it expects revenue to grow at a mid-to-high-twenties percentage rate on a year-over-year basis.
“Q4 guidance suggests Shopify will finish the year strong, with better-than-expected revenue growth and operating margin,” Chan pointed out in a note to investors.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 12, 2024.
TORONTO – RioCan Real Estate Investment Trust says it has cut almost 10 per cent of its staff as it deals with a slowdown in the condo market and overall pushes for greater efficiency.
The company says the cuts, which amount to around 60 employees based on its last annual filing, will mean about $9 million in restructuring charges and should translate to about $8 million in annualized cash savings.
The job cuts come as RioCan and others scale back condo development plans as the market softens, but chief executive Jonathan Gitlin says the reductions were from a companywide efficiency effort.
RioCan says it doesn’t plan to start any new construction of mixed-use properties this year and well into 2025 as it adjusts to the shifting market demand.
The company reported a net income of $96.9 million in the third quarter, up from a loss of $73.5 million last year, as it saw a $159 million boost from a favourable change in the fair value of investment properties.
RioCan reported what it says is a record-breaking 97.8 per cent occupancy rate in the quarter including retail committed occupancy of 98.6 per cent.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 12, 2024.
