8 THE CAAR COMMUNICATOR er doesn’t get their money, it could mean burdensome financial difficulties for them to feed their family, pay workers, and purchase the materials needed for the next growing season. • And, whenever anyone goes on strike—regardless of why it is be- ing done—there is a negative im- pact on the country—in this case, Canada’s global reputation. Being unable to get grain or other crops to customers by a pre-specified date harms Canada’s reputation as a reliable supplier. Because oth- er countries and customers are no longer sure when the Canadian strike might end, they, to protect themselves, look elsewhere for food items. Canada’s reputa- tion—while generally excellent— was stretched after the 2023 dock workers strike. Another stoppage? Maybe Canada isn’t a safe market to deal with. That’s not our opin- ion, but rather how a grain pur- chasing agent might think. • Economic losses are a real out come of a strike. When the dock workers went on strike in 2023, it was estimated that the potential economic loss for Canada was over $35 million for each day that the strike persisted. • Along with Canada being consid- ered a weakened trade partner that is unable to reliably guaran- tee delivery of its grains, for ex- ample, because farmers will have shipped their harvested grain to grain elevators, it could spoil while awaiting transport. • Worse yet, there could be pen- alties involved for agents promis- ing delivery of grain to port—and it arriving late—or possible port penalties to ships—demurrage— for having to wait for the product to arrive in port. When boats are not loaded according to contract timelines, shippers are charged daily demurrage costs, which are ultimately passed on to farmers. A Brief History of RR Strikes Pick an industry, and there’s been a strike. As such, of course, there is a history of rail strikes in Canada. There have been many notable strikes in Canada across the decades—even before Confederation in 1867, including a few that resemble just what the current Teamsters Canada Rail Conference is after—livable work hours. According to The Canadian Encyclopedia, a strike action was mentioned in 1836 by Toronto printers who were seeking a 10-hour workday. It also mentioned a strike action in 1855 by Montréal rail workers and the same in the 1860s by shoemakers in various Canadian cities. While this writer was unable to find exact details for the rail worker’s strike of 1855, we can surmise that low wages, poor working conditions, and not being paid were all concerns—as it was for most industries before labour laws were put in place. The same holds for the gathering wave of shoemaker strikes in the 1860s across Canada. While specifics are minimal, we can look to the 1860 strike by shoemakers in New England, US, that preceded the Canadian actions. The New England shoemaker strike was the largest labour strike in the US before the Civil War (1861–65), involving some 20,000 workers over six weeks. They were protesting poor working conditions and low wages. Lower wages, actually. For all of the US, in 1857 there was a financial panic, causing many businesses to reduce their labour pool. But when the economy grew again and people were hired back, it was at a reduced rate. This is for everyone, not just shoemakers. When hired back, along with reduced pay, they also had longer work hours. While that would be great if everyRAIL TRANSPORTATION Police breaking up a Railway strike, Motherwell, Scotland, Victorian, 1891 duncan1890/DigitalVision Vectors photo
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