A strike by Unifor autoworkers could still be averted as the union says contract talks with Ford Motor Co. haven’t stalled, but experts say the Canadian auto sector could soon take a hit anyway after U.S. autoworkers walked off the job.
The union has met resistance in its negotiations so far, Unifor national president Lana Payne said Thursday evening in an update to members .
“To date, we have received two … offers from Ford Motor Company and we have rejected both. That should tell you that those offers did not come close to meeting our expectations,” said Payne.
However, she added that “talks have by no means stalled,” and that the union has until the current contract expires at the end of the day Monday to reach a deal. After that, it could announce a strike.
Payne said she wouldn’t make public any of the contract proposals so far, sticking with Unifor’s strategy of not bargaining in public. Ford also declined to provide any update on the talks.
Meanwhile, some 13,000 U.S. autoworkers started striking Friday, targeting a plant at each of the Detroit Three automakers.
Members of the United Auto Workers union began picketing at a General Motors assembly plant in Wentzville, Mo., a Ford factory in Wayne, Mich., near Detroit, and a Stellantis Jeep plant in Toledo, Ohio.
It was the first time in the union’s 88-year history that it walked out on all three companies simultaneously after four-year contracts with the companies expired at 11:59 p.m. Thursday.
The strike, while limited for now, could soon have an impact on deeply integrated Canadian parts suppliers, said Automotive Parts Manufacturers’ Association president Flavio Volpe.
“As of today, with these plants shut down, it’s not an immediate hit, but it could be quite soon,” said Volpe.
“If we see an expanded shutdown or a prolonged strike, it’s going to have an effect for sure on volume production, on lines at Canadian parts suppliers.”
He said parts suppliers could keep producing with plants down, but they can only really carry one or two days’ inventory.
And while U.S. workers have already walked off the job, and their president Shawn Fain has taken a combative tone in this round of bargaining, Volpe emphasized different circumstances in Canada where the union and industry have worked closely together on issues.
“We’re monitoring like we always do, but I’m certainly making no equivalence between the Unifor talks and the UAW talks,” he said.
Sam Fiorani, vice-president of Global Vehicle Forecasting at AutoForecast Solutions LLC, said they haven’t seen impacts yet on Canadian suppliers, but it will happen if the strike persists.
“It’s likely that in a couple of weeks, if the strike were to hold up, it will affect a bunch of small companies on both sides of the border.”
He noted that the plants the UAW chose to target don’t affect any of the Detroit Three powertrain operations in Canada, leaving Unifor the chance to strike at those plants.
“With Unifor negotiating at almost the same time, it’s unlikely that the UAW would target anything that would significantly impact Canadian suppliers or factories, just so that Unifor could have the unique strength to target its own plants.”
So far, even the U.S. strikes are fairly limited as the UAW looks to pressure automakers into more concessions, said Fiorani.
“It’s a minor inconvenience for the Detroit Three, and it’s just to show them that they can shut down the plants if they want to.”
Autoworkers do seem to have public support to press further though, said Stephanie Ross, an associate professor at McMaster Univeristy’s School of Labour Studies.
She pointed to a recent poll in the U.S. that found 75 per cent supported the UAW even as it pushed for a 40-per-cent pay bump as it tries to catch up on concessions from past bargaining rounds. The situation contrasts with negotiations in decades past when automakers looked to gain public support by emphasizing outsized pay packages for workers.
“It is actually possible now for unions to feel more confident about going to the public with their demands, and being able to frame them as this is what is just, this is what we deserve, and this is also what you deserve, which is very much the tack that UAW is taking.”
The aggressive stance of the UAW, and their kicking off strike action ahead of Unifor, puts the Canadian union in a tricky spot, said Ross, as workers will judge contract gains against each other.
“It strikes me that Unifor now kind of has to wait to see what happens in the U.S.,” she said.
“There are risks to Unifor getting a settlement too early because what if the UAW gets a better deal on a whole host of issues?”
Payne, however, has tried to emphasize that issues faced by the two unions are not the same. In her Thursday update, she noted that there are important differences in contracts, including pay rates and job security, along with wider differences such as universal health care in Canada and more non-union competition in the U.S.
“All of this accounts to completely different political, social and economic context for our members, as well as differences in our collective agreements.”
What both unions share though is that they’re in contract talks with auto companies that have seen historic profits, and workers that are hungry for gains.
“The companies continue to rake in money hand over fist at a time when Canadian autoworkers, active and retired, are facing the most difficult affordability crisis in a generation. There is a lot at stake in these talks for everyone,” said Payne.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 15, 2023.
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.
