Calls for the return of hazard pay are growing as workers on the front lines of Canada’s retail industry grow increasingly anxious amid rising COVID-19 cases.
While some companies offered so-called hero pay to essential workers at the outset of the pandemic, most wage premiums ended as the first wave ebbed.
Yet retail workers say morale is lagging as COVID-19 cases spike across much of the country.
Without a pay bump that recognizes the risk of working during a pandemic, they say workers are increasingly calling in sick — leaving fewer staff to enforce rules around mask-wearing and physical distancing.
Some companies have preemptively addressed the issue.
Lowe’s Canada said this week it plans to pay a discretionary bonus to all eligible Lowe’s, Rona and Reno-Depot workers.
The Boucherville, Que.-based home improvement retailer said full-time staff will receive $300 later this month, with $150 for part-time staff. The October bonus is in addition to bonuses paid in March and August, and $2 per hour wage premium paid from April to July.
The Home Depot Canada said it has implemented paid sick leave benefits and is providing workers with an ongoing weekly bonus — $100 for full-time workers and $50 for part-time workers.
Meanwhile, Chapman’s Ice Cream in Markdale, Ont., recently made its $2 an hour pandemic pay raise permanent.
It’s something unions across the country are calling for, arguing that the pay bump not only recognizes the ongoing threat of COVID-19 but also pays workers a living wage.
Yet retailers have argued that they are now operating safely in a “new normal.”
In a June statement, Loblaw Companies Ltd. chairman Galen Weston called it “the right time to end the temporary pay premium we introduced at the beginning of the pandemic.”
“Things have now stabilized in our supermarkets and drugstores,” he said. “After extending the premium multiple times, we are confident our colleagues are operating safely and effectively in a new normal.”
Many workers and unions disagree.
It’s a debate currently playing out in Newfoundland and Labrador, where 11 Loblaw’s stores under the Dominion banner are shuttered amid an escalating labour dispute.
It’s one of the first collective agreements to be negotiated in Canada since the start of the pandemic, and experts say it could serve as a forerunner for what to expect as other locals go to the bargaining table in the coming months.
Jennifer Green, a front-end cash supervisor at a Dominion in Conception Bay South, said 1,400 grocery store workers have been on strike for more than six weeks in an effort to obtain better wages.
She said without the COVID pay premium, she lives “paycheque to paycheque.”
“A lot of us were really struggling,” Green said. “But when we got the $2 an hour raise, we felt important.”
She said when the pay premium was cancelled, workers felt “sad and upset” and that going into work remained “nerve wracking.”
“It’s been stressful and at times scary,” Green said. “And it’s been really, really busy with online orders and extra cleaning.”
Loblaw did not respond to a request for comment.
‘It felt like a thank you’
Chris MacDonald, a spokesman with Unifor, the union representing Dominion workers, said the COVID pay premium made workers feel respected.
“It felt like a thank you from a retail employer that was more than just an `attaboy’ or a pat on the back,” he said.
“But now with the second wave, workers are scared and worried they’re not going to get the same level of respect.”
Some retail workers have had to deal with aggressive customers, with videos surfacing on social media of shoppers challenging rules around masks and physical distancing.
UFCW Canada spokesman Tim Deelstra said some of the union’s members have been in “disgusting situations.”
“There have been screaming matches,” he said. “Some of our members have been spit on or attacked by members of the public.”
The union is calling for a pay bump to recognize the ongoing efforts and risks taken by front-line workers.
Amanda Nagy, assistant bakery manager at a Fortinos Supermarket in Hamilton — also a Loblaw franchise — said she’s worked throughout the pandemic but is now growing increasingly nervous.
“It’s really overwhelming when we see the number of cases rising every day,” she said. “Then we have anti-maskers come in or people who claim they have a pre-existing condition and don’t wear masks — it’s just a scary environment to be in.”
Nagy said at the outset of the first wave, many people were calling in sick. She said that changed when the pay premium was introduced.
“It’s just good for the morale to feel appreciated,” she said. “Otherwise we’re basically risking out lives at a job where we can barely make ends meet.”
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.
