Unifor leadership is meeting with skilled trade workers in Ontario to review issues the autoworkers have with the recently ratified Ford contract.
Workers have voiced their opposition to a deal that narrowly passed ratification with 54 per cent of people voting in favour, one of the lowest approvals in recent history.
“There’s some real big questions out there and it turns out that a lot of the trades people between Windsor and Oakville have turned down the contract,” said Anton Mesic, a Ford worker in Oakville.
Unifor has confirmed that skilled trades workers, which include electricians, welders and mechanics, rejected the deal.
What’s in the deal
The majority of the 5,600 autoworkers approved a contract that includes a 15 per cent wage increase over three years, a $10,000 signing bonus, and cut the time it takes to reach the top of the pay scale for production workers in half.
Skilled trade workers will also get a 5.25 per cent raise split between year one and three of the deal, which brings their hourly wages from $44.77 to $51.97 in year one and up to $55.97 by the third year.
Production workers will see hourly wages rise from $37.33 to $42.39 in the first year and up to $44.52 in the third year.
The contract also includes a cost of living allowance capped at $2 an hour over three years and increases the employers contributions to the pension plan to seven per cent of an employees earnings, capped at 2,080 hours.
Some workers wanted more
On Monday, skilled trade workers were brought to an in-person meeting in Oakville to go over details of the agreement.
“Way back in 2008, right, we gave up everything. We gave up pension money, we gave up wages, we gave up benefits. Just to save the Ford Motor Company from going bankrupt,” said Norman Little, a Ford worker in Oakville.
“But now, with the situation, we need something. We really need some money, some benefits back.”
Ford workers in Oakville, Windsor share thoughts on new deal
Ford workers share their thoughts on the new three-year contract that was ratified with a 54% approval.
Workers have told CBC News that they believe there’s language in the union’s constitution that would see the deal rejected based on the majority of skilled trades voting against the contract.
Unifor’s national president said that is not possible.
“There is no right by which skilled trades members can block a ratification by the whole bargaining unit,” said Payne in a statement to CBC News.
“Unifor is meeting outside of the bargaining process with Skilled Trades members in both Oakville and Windsor this week to review issues.”
Economic gains cover recent inflation pressures, say expert
Barry Eidlin is a labour professor at McGill University who has been watching the auto negotiations in Canada and the United States.
Thousands of United Auto Workers members have been on strike at General Motors, Stellantis and Ford since September 14th,
“As they repeatedly say, the big three have made a quarter trillion dollars in profits over the past 10 years while wages have decreased for autoworkers,” said Eidlin.
“So there’s a lot of catching up to do.”
Unifor talks Ford autowoker contract that nets 54% ratification vote
Unifor’s national president Lana Payne details what she calls a life-changing agreement that was narrowly ratified by Ford autoworkers on Sunday and what she would say to the people who voted against the deal.
Eidin said that the deal between Unifor and Ford, which both call historic, needs to be looked at in the context of inflation.
“If you’re negotiating 15% wage increases, but inflation has eroded 10% of your wages over the past three years, you know, you’re starting in a hole and you’ve got to dig yourself out,” said Eidin.
Marvin Ryder is an associate professor at McMaster University’s DeGroote School of Business also watching the auto contract negotiations and said that a boost in wages is needed because of inflation.
“The first year of this deal, which is a ten percent across the board increase, is really playing catch up,” said Ryder.
“What’s year two, what’s year three? That’s a three per cent and two per cent raise which are very much in line with what everyone would like to see if inflation is coming down to the two percent range.”
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.
