Heading into the 2024 season, the price floor for crab was set at $2.60 per pound and it has harvesters refusing to go fishing. (Terry Roberts/CBC)
Newfoundland and Labrador’s lucrative snow crab season opened days ago, but harvesters haven’t headed to the water due to a headlock around the pricing formula, which has fish plant workers applying for relief, says the Progressive Conservative fisheries critic.
After weeks of protesting, including shutting down Confederation Building, fish harvesters scored big with concessions on who they could sell their catches to.
The situation soured soon after, when the new crab price formula was revealed.
According to a communications representative for the Association of Seafood Producers, Sara Norris, the harvester share is between 53.9 per cent and 56.9 per cent and, as the market price increases, so does the price paid to harvesters. There also isn’t a cap on the price paid to harvesters.
Once the market reaches above $8, harvesters maintain a margin of 56.9 per cent and as price continues to increase this percentage remains the same.
But harvesters are refusing to go out on the water with the current formula.
Bonavista MHA Craig Pardy called the situation unfortunate and said he’d hoped to avoid a repeat of last year, when there was a six-week delay to the start of the season.
“We got 450 employees at the plant in Bonavista. Many of them — after going through last year with the delay in the season [and] a new change in the formula for EI — have been short on their EI benefits,” he told CBC News.
Pardy said he’s heard that more than 50 Bonavista plant workers have had their EI support elapse and are now without income.
“Some of those have gone to the office to look at income support. and that’s where we are. So how critical is it that we get this fishery started? It is critical,” said Pardy. “The health and welfare and the livelihoods of many are on the line.”
More than 180 people in trouble
The problem is something the Fish, Food & Allied Workers union said it has been trying to bring to the attention of the Newfoundland and Labrador government for months.
In an open letter dated April 5, FFAW president Greg Pretty told Gerry Byrne, the minister of immigration, population growth and skills, that recent changes to EI have hurt plant workers in recent months.
FFAW president Greg Pretty is calling for a meeting with Immigration, Population Growth and Skills Minister Gerry Byrne to discuss the financial hardship facing plant workers. (Patrick Butler/Radio-Canada)
In November, the federal fall fiscal update noted regional unemployment rates were down, resulting in a reduction of EI benefits for some. The federal government said it was adding four additional weeks of regular benefits in certain economic zones, including Newfoundland and Labrador.
On top of adjustments in the number of weeks payable for regular benefits, workers now have to reach a minimum of 490 hours worked to qualify, instead of the previous 420. Their benefits are based on their best 16 weeks of work, as opposed to the previous standard of 14.
At the time, Pretty raised concerns over how the decision would affect seasonal plant workers, estimating they’d be out hundreds of dollars a month.
In Pretty’s recent letter, he said claimants got up to $400 less in benefits over the winter and their claims ran out four to six weeks before the 2024 season.
“While our union is working very hard to ensure an orderly and timely fishery in 2024, many processing plant workers have been without income for almost four weeks (an income loss that cannot be recovered), and have no other choice but to avail on social assistance,” he wrote.
More than 180 unionized plant workers have contacted the union about the growing income gap, he said.
“For clarity, we are seeking programming that will allow these plant workers to receive economic support to stabilize the workforce and promote retention to prevent people from experiencing poverty,” wrote Pretty.
He’s calling for a meeting with Byrne to discuss what economic support programs are available to help impacted workers.
CBC News asked the FFAW for comment but did not hear back by publication time.
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.
