In this edition:
- Striking B.C. dock workers and employers reach tentative agreement
- Heddle spearheads initiative to train new shipbuilders in Port Weller and Hamilton
- Hamilton to enter Greenbelt talks ‘under protest’
- Niagara Falls planning to welcome ‘mass influx’ of visitors to view April 2024 total eclipse of the sun
- Port Colborne’s Main Street BIA sees new growth
- OPG reports on 2022 Environment, Social, and Governance performance
- Metro grocery store workers poised for strike action across GTA
- KPMG, Microsoft sign cloud and AI alliance mega deal
- Reading Recommendations: Equity, Diversity & Inclusion
Striking B.C. dock workers and employers reach tentative agreement
At 10:20 PDT, Canadian Minister of Labour Seamus O’Regan received notice that both the BCMEA and the ILWU have accepted the Terms of Settlement from federal mediators. The parties have reached a tentative agreement. The parties are finalizing details for the resumption of work at the ports.
“We thank the Union and the Employer for their commitment to the collective bargaining process,” said Ministers O’Regan and Alghabra in a statement, “and federal mediators for their instrumental role in supporting the parties in their negotiations and proposing the successful settlement.”
Heddle spearheads initiative to train new shipbuilders in Port Weller and Hamilton
The Ontario government is investing over $3.7 million to train 300 shipyard workers, apprentices, and jobseekers in Hamilton and Port Weller. This funding will help modernize Ontario’s shipyards to attract lucrative shipbuilding contracts and thousands of well-paying jobs to the province.
Led by Heddle Shipyards, new and existing workers will have the chance to participate in 12 months of hands-on and in-class learning focused on improving and refreshing technical skills in ship repair and shipbuilding, shipyard health and safety knowledge, and professional development and leadership training. There will also be courses for workers to begin in-demand careers in the skilled trades as welders, millwrights, and electricians, helping tackle the critical shortage of workers in the sector.
Hamilton to enter Greenbelt talks ‘under protest’
Hamilton will enter talks with a provincial facilitator over ex-Greenbelt lands eyed for development — but “under protest,” reluctant councillors have decided.
The hope is to have some say in how that development unfolds with the province dangling the prospect of “community benefits” through the facilitator-led negotiations with builders.
“I think we’ve been dealt a bad hand. I lament that,” said Coun. Ted McMeekin, echoing his colleagues during Tuesday’s planning committee meeting.
But if there’s “any chance” for a “creative or imaginative solution,” Hamilton won’t find it “by ignoring the process,” McMeekin reasoned.
Niagara Falls planning to welcome ‘mass influx’ of visitors to view April 2024 total eclipse of the sun
Niagara Falls is preparing from logistical and promotional perspectives as it expects to welcome a “mass influx” of visitors to view a once-in-a-lifetime total solar eclipse next April.
It’s a spectacle that has not been seen in Niagara for almost a century and won’t happen again until 2144.
Although it’s nine months until the sun is blacked out in a total solar eclipse on Monday, April 8, Niagara Falls is planning now from not just a safety and traffic standpoint, but also marketing that the city is going to be “one of the best locations in North America” to view the event.
Port Colborne’s Main Street BIA sees new growth
It’s no secret that it’s been a tough couple of years for business owners. Despite the challenges brought on by the pandemic, there is a renewed sense of spirit among members of the Port Colborne Main Street Business Improvement Area, with many new businesses opening, and new events planned.
“The BIA has definitely been impacted by COVID-19 and the BIA was dormant during the pandemic,” explained BIA chairperson Nicki Lumsden.
“But we have a new committee with a good mix of business and service-oriented people with mortgage specialists, a doctor and chiropractor and more to help contribute to the business community.”
OPG reports on 2022 Environment, Social, and Governance performance
Ontario Power Generation (OPG) has released its annual Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) Report, updating performance in these key focus areas over the past year.
Since launching its inaugural report last year, the company continued to make steady advancements in building and refurbishing clean, reliable generation infrastructure to meet a growing economy, as well as becoming more inclusive, diverse, and socially responsible.
Metro grocery store workers poised for strike action across GTA
Unifor has set a strike deadline of 11:59 p.m. on Tuesday July 18 for more than 3,700 frontline grocery workers at 27 Metro stores across the GTA.
“Our negotiating committee is prepared to bargain all day and night to achieve a fair collective agreement,” says Lana Payne, Unifor National President. “Unifor members at Metro deserve a collective agreement that not only addresses the significant affordability challenges they face but that also fairly distributes the company’s record profits with those on the frontlines generating those profits.”
Progress has been made in talks that began on June 26, but major wage, benefit and other monetary issues remain outstanding.
Unifor members at Metro voted 100% in favour of strike action, ahead of negotiations, in the event a deal cannot be reached.
KPMG, Microsoft sign cloud and AI alliance mega deal
KPMG and Microsoft have announced what they described as a “significant expansion of their global relationship that will reshape professional services across a number of business-critical areas including workforce modernization, safe and secure development, and use of artificial intelligence (AI) initiatives for clients, industries and society more broadly.”
The collaboration between the two includes KPMG making a “multibillion dollar commitment in Microsoft Cloud and AI services over the next five years that will help to unlock potential incremental growth opportunity for KPMG of over US$12 billion,” the announcement said.
Did you know?
Focus on Equity, Diversity & Inclusion
How equity, diversity and inclusion can drive growth and innovation in businesses of all sizes
Dr. Wendy Cukier, founder and academic director of the Diversity Institute (DI), underlined the strategic importance of equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) in the workplace and how businesses can achieve it during an insightful presentation hosted by the Ontario Chamber of Commerce (OCC) on Feb. 1, 2023.
Moderated by Andrea Carmona, manager of public affairs at OCC, “What is diversity and why does it matter?” attracted almost 200 people from 100 businesses. The webinar is the first in a series designed to encourage more organizations to join the 50 – 30 Challenge and support them along their EDI journeys.
The 50 – 30 Challenge calls on organizations to aspire to gender parity (50% women and non-binary people) and increased representation of other equity-deserving groups (30%) on boards and in senior leadership positions across sectors. For the purposes of the Challenge, equity-deserving groups include Indigenous Peoples, racialized people, persons with disabilities and those who identify as 2SLGBTQ+.
Through the Daily Updates, the GNCC aims to deliver important business news in a timely manner. We disseminate all news and information we feel will be important to businesses. Inclusion in the Daily Update is not an endorsement by the GNCC.
