My colleagues have covered various spooky topics recently, so allow me to cover something that strikes a different kind of fear in people’s hearts. It’s a fear that changes depending on which side you stand on. Are you worried about getting through a tough stretch for proper dues down the line? You may be thinking about lost revenues and how to get things moving again at the table. Optics could be your primary concern, and you’re out to bring attention to some larger issue. If you’ve missed the picture on the left and the title didn’t clue you in, I’m talking about labour strikes.
But I hear you asking, why am I talking about strikes? In large part, it’s because they seem to be in the news in one form or another all the time these days. Air Canada Pilots narrowly ratified a deal earlier this month, with 67% voting to take the contract, but 98% voted to strike in August. They’ve secured 42% pay increases over 4 years, bringing them in line with their American counterparts, and that’s just with the threat of a strike. Of course, who knows what would have happened if the pilots hadn’t struck a deal. It played in the pilots’ favour that Air Canada is… I’ll go with not well-liked, to put it mildly, which helped put public support behind the workers. If a strike disrupted people’s travel plans, though? Its harder to say where public support would have gone in that case.
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