8 THE CAAR COMMUNICATOR used to and are still having to do the work under the shadow of COVID. My Supply Chain Broke For some retailers, an inability to receive a product from a manufacturer who could not build a product because of a parts or materials shortage was an everyday problem in March of 2020 that has only recently more or less resolved itself. This supply chain issue was a global one. An inability to mine or process ore to turn it into a needed part. For example, no one was mining the iron ore required to smelt it into a steel-belted tire. Tire shortages hit auto suppliers and manufacturers but really hurt the trucking industry, which, because of the size of tires required and the lower volume compared to automobiles, was not being manufactured as often when the parts were there. The parts were often not there because they were struck in transit—en route via a cargo ship that could not be loaded or off-loaded quickly because of COVID restrictions, and again because of reduced worker availability. For meat and poultry, there were still cows, pigs, and chickens, but farm operators faced issues in getting animal food, workers to care for the animals, truck availability to take the animals to an abattoir, workers to slaughter and butcher, packaging professionals to prep it for transport, limited truck availability—mostly because of a lack of drivers and technicians to maintain them—and then in some locations, workers at grocer stores to offload, store, and stock shelves as necessary. There wasn’t a meat shortage, just a shortage of people to get it from farm to fork. A Change in Behaviour Perhaps it was a long time coming. Perhaps it was the observance of our American cousins acting even more vexed than usual, but post-Covid Canadian attitudes have shifted. Generally speaking, since the reduction in pandemic safety protocols has allowed people to brave the outdoor environment once again without too much fear, people seem angrier. It’s not necessairily a theme of “hate thy neighbour”; it’s not even measurable. But there’s a darker, angrier side exhibited by people who are tired of being pushed around. Yes, worker shortages, inflation, and never-ending increases in the cost of living help define it. Even though it was the government that shut down a business’s ability to remain open during the pandemic, thereby affecting the income of workers, these workers have determined that since there was no loyalty shown to them, there need be no loyalty shown to the employer. They want respect, they want to be paid better, and they know there’s an employee shortage. There certainly are employee shortages in the skilled trades sector, regardless of the industry—and that’s across both the US and Canada. And it’s a collective feeling among the workers—a collective feeling that leads to collective action. During the pandemic, union workers and businesses often had collective bargaining agreements come due. But pandemic fears allowed them to quickly resolve the issue and keep everyone going. For the unions, because there was already a lot of unemployment due to the economic shutdown, workers were reluctant to bring up any workplace grievances and were just happy to keep on working. But post-pandemic, when those same agreements are due again, there’s a reluctance to maintain the status quo. With the inflation—we’re nowhere near the hyperinflation of post-WWI Germany, where it was cheaper to burn money than to use it to buy firewood—and the high cost of living, union workers are more willing to go on strike. They are more aware that their employers will be unable to replace them easily owing to a skilled worker shortage. They are also aware that some companies did rather well upon emerging from the pandemic, so why shouldn’t the workers be paid for that? At the Port of Vancouver and the St. Lawrence Seaway, workers are aware that shipping companies did quite alright in the time during the pandemic as the workers kept the ports open and running, ensuring we Canadians got our goods out and our goods in—even if things were a bit snarled with traffic. Did Canadians have to go without anything in particular during the pandemic? If we exclude outsidethe-home personal contact, then not really. As such, now that agreements between the port and the unionized workers have come due, workers know they have the port over a barrel, so to speak. A call to strike, and soon enough the workers got what they wanted. It’s why we have seen more than our fair share of strike actions in 2022 and 2023 in Canada. It’s also why there isn’t a tremendous roar about strikes from the general populace. Consumers see that there THE COST OF STRIKES
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