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The Windsor-Essex Regional Chamber of Commerce has written to both federal and union officials urging them to find a solution to contract negotiations to avoid putting $400 million a day at the Windsor-Detroit border at risk.
Chamber CEO Rakesh Naidu sent the letter Wednesday and has received support from all local members of parliament. He’s yet to receive a reply from the president of the Treasury Board Anita Anand or PSAC-CIU national president Mark Weber.
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The two sides continued negotiations Thursday ahead of a 4 p.m. Friday deadline when the unions promised to begin job action.
The Canadian Border Services Agency workers are considered essential workers, so there won’t be a mass strike. However, Naidu said a work-to-rule campaign would be equally effective in snarling border traffic.
“Our concern is if there’s a slowdown, it would quickly build up things at the border,” said Naidu, adding 27 per cent of all trade between Canada and the U.S. passes through Windsor-Detroit.
“It would delay freight and components leading to real challenges for manufacturers, assembly operations and the supply chain in other sectors.”
The automotive industry would be held hostage to border disruptions with its just-in-time delivery philosophy vital in reducing the need for inventory and warehousing.
The local agricultural industry would be equally vulnerable if its fresh produce gets caught in traffic and paperwork snarls at the border.
“Our concern isn’t just over the flow of goods, but the reputational damage even a short strike would have,” said Naidu noting labour problems at the border come only two years after the COVID-19 protesters blockading the Ambassador Bridge and months after a strike by St. Lawrence Seaway workers.
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“We want to be viewed as a reliable trading partner. Things like this make businesses think about if it’s better to take the border out of the equation.”
Naidu also said it isn’t just businesses that would be impacted, but anyone crossing the border or using airports and ports. The collection of taxes and duties would also be affected by job action.
Transit Windsor issued a statement Thursday warning passengers on regular tunnel buses or users of its Detroit Special Event service of potential delays beginning Friday afternoon.
“Our tunnel bus is just like any personal or professional vehicle crossing our border,” said Transit executive director Tyson Cragg.
“We’re not immune to delays, so we just want to ensure riders know we could all face delays when returning to Canada.”
At this time, Transit Windsor said its service to Detroit will remain in operation as normal and the situation will be monitored for any changes.
The last labour disruption at the border came in 2021 and lasted 36 hours before a settlement was reached.
With $3.1 billion worth of trade crossing the Canada-U.S. border daily, the Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters also sounded the alarm Thursday with a statement outlining the hefty costs even a short-term disruption would cause.
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The CME note in 2023, Canadian exports totalled $767 billion with imports of $754 billion coming into the country making annual trade between the two countries worth $1.5 trillion.
“We are very concerned about the impacts that another critical supply chain disruption, this time at CBSA, will have on manufacturers,” said Dennis Darby, CME president/CEO.
“Extended delays will disrupt operations and production schedules, harming manufacturers, and their workers.
“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 are 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.”
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