While many CBSA workers are deemed essential and must continue to offer services during a strike, work-to-rule actions could cause significant delays, disruptions and costs for Canadian manufacturers.
Canadian Manufacturers & Exporters (CME) is sounding the alarm regarding a possible Canadian Border Services Agency (CBSA) strike.
It was initially feared that labour action would begin as early as Friday, June 7, if the union and government didn’t reach an agreement, however, union leadership and the government extended mediation talks until Wednesday. Still, if no agreement is reached strike action would affect $3.1 billion in manufactured goods crossing our borders each day, both import and export.
While many CBSA workers are deemed essential and must continue to offer services during a strike, work-to-rule actions could cause significant delays, disruptions and costs for Canadian manufacturers.
“Job action would slow down commercial traffic at the border and ports of entry, impacting international travel, mail and parcel deliveries, and disrupting the collection of duties and taxes on goods entering Canada. In short, a strike would be massively disruptive to any commercial traffic and business travel for manufacturers,” CME says.
Over 9,000 workers with CBSA, out of about 11,000 total workers, could be part of the job action and it could involve CBSA employees at airports and land and marine ports of entry. The CBSA workers are represented by the Customs and Immigration Union (CIU), which is affiliated with the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC). The union has set a deadline of 4 p.m. E.T. June 7. If no deal is reached by that time, the union says workers will take job action immediately. Union members voted 96 per cent in favour of strike action. Both parties started a mediation process on Monday.
BY THE NUMBERS:
- Canada’s economic well-being is heavily reliant on trade, with goods exports accounting for one-quarter of the country’s GDP.
- Manufacturers also rely on imports of certain key raw materials and intermediate inputs to create their final products, so any disruption in the supply chain can significantly impact production schedules, increase costs, and potentially lead to delays in meeting customer demands.
- In 2023, merchandise exports totaled $767 billion, while imports came in at $754 billion, implying two-way trade of $1.5 trillion.
For these reasons, CME is calling on all parties to find a resolution as soon as possible.
“We are very concerned about the impacts that another critical supply chain disruption, this time at CBSA, will have on manufacturers. Extended delays will disrupt operations and production schedules, harming manufacturers, and their workers,” says Dennis Darby, CME President & CEO. “Once again, manufacturers are being held hostage from circumstances outside their control. Labour-related disruptions impacting the transport of goods are no longer the exception and becoming the rule. We need the federal government to take a proactive approach to preventing these disruptions and protecting manufacturing access to critical supply chain infrastructure.”
