BC ports are back in business

Another strike has come and gone in what’s becoming a #LabourActionSummer. 

What happened: The union representing BC port workers reached a tentative four-year deal with their employer to re-open Canada’s westernmost ports, ending a 13-day-long strike. 

• The exact terms of the deal have not yet been disclosed, but it could involve fairly hefty wage increases for port workers and protection from increased automation.

Why it matters: The strike was estimated to have cost the Canadian economy $9.7 billion, per the president of the Greater Vancouver Board of Trade—or roughly $746 million a day.

• The strike ate into the country’s GDP by disrupting some of the nation’s biggest ports and causing retail rail trade to the US—our biggest trade partner—to drop by 46%. 

What’s next: Workers want to get back to work, but with a backlog of 63,000 shipping containers, one business advocacy group thinks it will take months to untangle the supply chain backlogs.—QH