Wed, April 24, 2024 at 9:35 AM EDT
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Ottawa's emergency benefits program becomes a flashpoint – Business News – Castanet.net
Photo: The Canadian Press
Canada’s emergency response benefits have become a flashpoint, as employers seek to recall workers who are still concerned about the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
A poll by the Canadian Federation of Independent Business suggested tensions are flaring between workers and employers, with around 27 per cent of 3,389 employers polled indicating some of their laid-off staff have refused to return to work.
Of the nearly 870 businesses that provided the reasons their employees gave for refusing to return to work, 62 per cent reported workers “prefer the Canada Emergency Response Benefit.” Employers could choose more than one explanation for why a worker refused to return, and respondents also selected options such as concern for health (47 per cent), childcare obligations (27 per cent) or lack of hours in return offer (16 per cent).
CFIB president Dan Kelly said it’s “clear” that CERB “created a disincentive to return to work for some staff, especially in industries like hospitality.” Other sectors where conflicts are arising include child care, dental offices, home health care, amusement parks, gambling and spectator sports, the study suggested.
“CERB was created as emergency support for workers who had lost their job due to the pandemic, not to fund a summer break,” Kelly said in a statement.
But Ian Robb, Canadian director of the Unite Here union that represents hospitality workers, disagrees. He said workers are impatient to return to work — for what is usually the lucrative summer season — but employers are the ones failing to adopt measures like frequent cleaning and wage subsidies. The union previously estimated that average wages in cities like Toronto are around $20 per hour for hospitality.
“A number of our members in the U.S. have gone to work and contracted (COVID-19),” Robb said.
“There’s just not enough safety in front of service. Nobody wants to stay home and make two grand when they can make double that by working.”
The survey suggested that the hospitality sector had the biggest share of employers, 45 per cent, who had trouble recalling workers. CFIB defines hospitality as including hotels, restaurants and bars.
The CFIB study suggests that in the hospitality sector, 56 per cent of hard-to-fill positions were “unskilled, entry-level jobs” that pay “at or around minimum wage,” although across sectors, skilled and semi-skilled jobs were harder to fill.
Employment and human rights lawyer Neena Gupta says she has heard of tradespeople unable to perform jobs because workers failed to return.
She said the reason an employee is refusing the work matters. Lack of childcare, like daycare and camps, can be a job-protected reason for staying home, as can disabilities such as being immunocompromised, says Gupta, a partner in Gowling WLG’s Waterloo Region and Toronto offices.
The federal government’s website states that workers seeking CERB, which offers $500 per week over a limited period, “should be seeking work opportunities and/or return to work when their employer makes a request for their return, provided they are able and it is reasonable to do so.” The government’s COVID-19 guidelines also provide for employees to refuse to do a dangerous job, although the worker must already “be at work” to refuse such a task.
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Business
Oil Firms Doubtful Trans Mountain Pipeline Will Start Full Service by May 1st
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Oil companies planning to ship crude on the expanded Trans Mountain pipeline in Canada are concerned that the project may not begin full service on May 1 but they would be nevertheless obligated to pay tolls from that date.
In a letter to the Canada Energy Regulator (CER), Suncor Energy and other shippers including BP and Marathon Petroleum have expressed doubts that Trans Mountain will start full service on May 1, as previously communicated, Reuters reports.
Trans Mountain Corporation, the government-owned entity that completed the pipeline construction, told Reuters in an email that line fill on the expanded pipeline would be completed in early May.
After a series of delays, cost overruns, and legal challenges, the expanded Trans Mountain oil pipeline will open for business on May 1, the company said early this month.
“The Commencement Date for commercial operation of the expanded system will be May 1, 2024. Trans Mountain anticipates providing service for all contracted volumes in the month of May,” Trans Mountain Corporation said in early April.
The expanded pipeline will triple the capacity of the original pipeline to 890,000 barrels per day (bpd) from 300,000 bpd to carry crude from Alberta’s oil sands to British Columbia on the Pacific Coast.
The Federal Government of Canada bought the Trans Mountain Pipeline Expansion (TMX) from Kinder Morgan back in 2018, together with related pipeline and terminal assets. That cost the federal government $3.3 billion (C$4.5 billion) at the time. Since then, the costs for the expansion of the pipeline have quadrupled to nearly $23 billion (C$30.9 billion).
The expansion project has faced continuous delays over the years. In one of the latest roadblocks in December, the Canadian regulator denied a variance request from the project developer to move a small section of the pipeline due to challenging drilling conditions.
The company asked the regulator to reconsider its decision, and received on January 12 a conditional approval, avoiding what could have been another two-year delay to start-up.
Business
Tesla profits cut in half as demand falls
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Tesla profits slump by more than a half
Tesla has announced its profits fell sharply in the first three months of the year to $1.13bn (£910m), compared with $2.51bn in 2023.
It caps a difficult period for the electric vehicle (EV) maker, which – faced with falling sales – has announced thousands of job cuts.
Boss Elon Musk remains bullish about its prospects, telling investors the launch of new models would be brought forward.
Its share price has risen but analysts say it continues to face significant challenges, including from lower-cost rivals.
The company has suffered from falling demand and competition from cheaper Chinese imports which has led its stock price to collapse by 43% over 2024.
Figures for the first quarter of 2024 revealed revenues of $21.3bn, down on analysts’ predictions of just over $22bn.
But the decision by Tesla to bring forward the launch of new models from the second half of 2025 boosted its shares by nearly 12.5% in after-hours trading.
It did not reveal pricing details for the new vehicles.
However Mr Musk made clear he also grander ambitions, touting Tesla’s AI credentials and plans for self-driving vehicles – even going as far as to say considering it to be just a car company was the “wrong framework.”
“If somebody doesn’t believe Tesla is going to solve autonomy I think they should not be an investor,” he said.
Such sentiments have been questioned by analysts though, with Deutsche Bank saying driverless cars face “technological, regulatory and operational challenges.”
Some investors have called for the company to instead focus on releasing a lower price, mass-market EV.
However, Tesla has already been on a charm offensive, trying to win over new customers by dropping its prices in a series of markets in the face of falling sales.
It also said its situation was not unique.
“Global EV sales continue to be under pressure as many carmakers prioritize hybrids over EVs,” it said.
Despite plans to bring forward new models originally planned for next year the firm is cutting its workforce.
Tesla said it would lose 3,332 jobs in California and 2,688 positions in Texas, starting mid-June.
The cuts in Texas represent 12% of Tesla’s total workforce of almost 23,000 in the area where its gigafactory and headquarters are located.
However, Mr Musk sought to downplay the move.
“Tesla has now created over 30,000 manufacturing jobs in California!” he said in a post on his social media platform X, formerly Twitter, on Tuesday.
Another 285 jobs will be lost in New York.
Tesla’s total workforce stood at more than 140,000 late last year, up from around 100,000 at the end of 2021, according to the company’s filings with US regulators.
Musk’s salary
The car firm is also facing other issues, with a struggle over Mr Musk’s compensation still raging on.
On Wednesday, Tesla asked shareholders to vote for a proposal to accept Mr Musk’s compensation package – once valued at $56bn – which had been rejected by a Delaware judge.
The judge found Tesla’s directors had breached their fiduciary duty to the firm by awarding Mr Musk the pay-out.
Due to the fall in Tesla’s stock value, the compensation package is now estimated to be around $10bn less – but still greater than the GDP of many countries.
In addition, Tesla wants its shareholders to agree to the firm being moved from Delaware to Texas – which Mr Musk called for after the judge rejected his payday.
Business
Stock market today: Nasdaq futures pop, Tesla surges after earnings with more heavyweights on deck
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Tech stocks rose on Wednesday, outstripping the broader market as investors welcomed Tesla’s (TSLA) cheaper car pledge and waited for the next rush of corporate earnings.
The Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) rose roughly 0.6%, coming off a sharp closing gain. The S&P 500 (^GSPC) was up 0.2%, continuing a rebound from its longest losing streak of 2024, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) fell 0.1%.
Tesla shares jumped nearly 12% after the EV maker’s vow to speed up the launch of more affordable models eclipsed its quarterly earnings and revenue miss. That cheered up investors worried about growth amid a strategy shift to robotaxis and the planned cancellation of a cheaper model.
The results from the first “Magnificent Seven” to report have intensified the already high hopes for Big Tech earnings, that the megacaps can revive the rally in stocks they powered. The spotlight is now on Meta’s (META) report due after the market close, as the Facebook owner’s shares rose after the Senate voted for a potential ban on rival TikTok. Microsoft (MSFT) and Alphabet (GOOG) next up on Thursday.
Meanwhile, Boeing (BA) reported better than expected first quarter results before the opening bell with a loss per share of $1.13, narrower than the $1.72 estimated by Wall Street. Shares rose about 2% in morning trade.
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