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Vancouver transit strike: Will buses, SkyTrain be affected? – Vancouver Is Awesome

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The union representing Coast Mountain Bus Company (CMBC) supervisors may extend its picket lines from buses to include the SkyTrain.

Union members will return to work on Wednesday, Jan. 24 at 3 a.m. following the 48-hour transit supervisors’ escalated job action, which included picketing at CMBC transit centres and a full shut down of SeaBus and bus service in Metro Vancouver.

All bus routes will resume operations on their usual schedules but the transit supervisors will continue their ban on overtime, which began Jan. 6.

The union says the overtime ban has affected operations because they often work outside of their regular hours to keep the system running smoothly.

TransLink refutes this position, arguing that they didn’t see any effects from the ban on transit operations.

Now, the union, which hasn’t budged on its position on wages and workload issues, is preparing to escalate its job action yet again.

CUPE 4500 says it will meet with the BC Labour Relations Board (BCLRB) on Monday, Jan. 29, to discuss expanding its job action to the SkyTrain at the start of the next working week. 

It is unclear at this point which of Metro Vancouver’s three SkyTrain lines would be affected, as the Expo and Millennium Lines are operated by British Columbia Rapid Transit Company Ltd. and the Canada Line by ProTrans BC on behalf of TransLink; the scope and location of the picketing is up to the union to determine and the BCLRB to approve. 

University of British Columbia (UBC) professor emeritus Mark Thompson said the union was “being nice” by putting a timeframe on its job action. While the 48-hour suspension of bus service affects thousands of people across the region, most unions strike indefinitely. 

Since it didn’t reach an agreement with CMBC, the union has applied to picket an “ally’s place of work.” Under BC Law, an ally is a person (or organization) that assists “the employer in a lockout or in resisting a lawful strike,” according to the BCLRB.

In this case, the ally would be the SkyTrain, which is operated by British Columbia Rapid Transit Company Ltd on behalf of TransLink.

Will the transit strike expand to the SkyTrain?

A union must issue a 72-hour notice ahead of a strike so its employer can make contingency plans. But TransLink won’t have much recourse if the union expands its job action.

“This is not such a big deal that you wanna be shutting down the whole transit system,” Thompson told V.I.A. “A union of 180 people shutting down thousands of workers.”

The government has various tools at its disposal, including special mediators, but an agreement wasn’t reached after a 20-hour bargaining session over the weekend.

During the bargaining process, the union is typically in one room and the employer in another, while the appointed mediator moves between the two, presenting their respective proposals to each party. 

The mediator is tasked with narrowing down each of their top priorities and finding where they can make some concessions.

The individual, in this case, Vince Ready, works as a type of “shuttle” between the parties who don’t meet face-to-face. Generally, they don’t speak in person until it is time to shake hands, Thompson explained.

“If they get the right next week to picket the SkyTrain, it increases their bargaining power,” he noted. If they do get the right to expand their job action, it might be enough to convince CMBC to change their offer, preventing a complete shutdown of the transportation network.

But at this point, it’s unclear how the discussions will pan out. 

CUPE 4500 told V.I.A. it doesn’t have any further updates on talks or its next steps.

“Anything can happen,” cautioned Thompson. 

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Japan’s SoftBank returns to profit after gains at Vision Fund and other investments

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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.

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Yuri Kageyama is on X:

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

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Trump campaign promises unlikely to harm entrepreneurship: Shopify CFO

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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.

Companies in this story: (TSX:SHOP)

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RioCan cuts nearly 10 per cent staff in efficiency push as condo market slows

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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.

Companies in this story: (TSX:REI.UN)

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