Small businesses can’t wait for truckers to get back to work
Posted March 23, 2014 12:42 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – The province is set to legislate truckers back to work Monday, following two weeks of job action. It can’t come soon enough for Lower Mainland small business owners who are anxious to get goods moving through Port Metro Vancouver once again.
Like many local companies, Viceroy Homes in Richmond has been forced to shell out more than $1,500 extra per container to get their manufactured houses moving during the strike. CEO Doug Auers says each house they ship requires at least two containers, so the costs add up.
“We have our items that are being shipped to Japan either in our parking lot or having to go to Seattle and Tacoma and soon they’re going to have to go to Portland. The sooner this ends the better for everyone, and trade in general,” says Auers.
If he can’t get his product moving soon, he’s worried business will suffer significantly. “It has the potential to cost us over 100 homes. If we don’t strike while the iron is hot and sell our homes into Japan right now, the season is lost, that can cost jobs.”
It’s not just small businesses warning of the impacts of the strike.
Following a landmark free-trade deal with South Korea, the federal government has been touting the economic benefits of the 38 free-trade agreements it has put in place since coming to power in 2005, promising more to come. The deals waive hefty import/export tariffs on goods like cars and food.
Federal Minister of International Trade Ed Fast says if trucker job action continues, it could put future trade deals at risk.
“Any time that your ability to get your goods and products out to market is impaired, you’re going to hear it from your trading partners. That’s why it’s critical that we take the steps necessary to keep that port open,” says Fast.
Ottawa is currently in free-trade negotiations with Japan, Morocco, and India.
Auers says his contacts and customers in Japan are anxious about the strike. He was part of the delegation of business leaders who travelled to South Korea in early March with Prime Minister Stephen Harper leading up to the signing of the first significant free-trade deal for Canada in Asia.
“The Port of Vancouver is a critical link to the world. That’s why it’s absolutely impairitive that the port remain open,” adds Fast.
The federal government will take whatever steps needed to serve the national interest in moving goods, but does respect the bargaining process, he assures. However, he wouldn’t comment on whether the province legislating truckers back to work is respecting that process.
Truckers’ job action is estimated to have cost the economy over $800 million each week.
