Chilliwack – In an open letter on their website, the Chilliwack Chamber of Commerce has asked the Provincial Labour Minister to take action in the long drawn out Transit Strike.
From Leanna Kemp, the Executive Director of the Chilliwack Chamber of Commerce to the Provincial Minister of Labour Harry Bains:
(NOTE – Minister Bains said at the start of this job action, that he wanted both sides to work out an agreement and he was cool to the idea of a legislated back to work order. He recently asked both parties to get back to bargaining in good faith.)
The Chilliwack Chamber of Commerce is requesting the Ministry of Labour to appoint a mediator to help resolve the current transit strike affecting businesses and communities across the Fraser Valley and Lower Mainland.
Many of our local Chilliwack Businesses, Organizations and Service Providers have reached out to the Chilliwack Chamber to inform us of the impact this strike has on their employee’s ability to get to and from work. We have also heard from several our member businesses who are experiencing a significant drop in customer counts and sales directly related to the strike. This transit interruption, coupled with the increasing costs to small businesses; such as an increase in paid sick days and the recent increase to minimum wage, is creating hardships for our local economy. Getting through 3 years of a Global Pandemic and with the threat of recession in our near future, we need to do everything we can to support the heart of our communities and that is our local businesses.
The Chilliwack Chamber is calling on you, Minister Bains, to mandate the use of a mediator to this collective bargaining process, which since the strike occurred on March 20th, 2023, there has been no movement towards reaching an agreement that will get 213 people back to work and allow our community members who are both consumers and employees, get back to regular activities that support our business community.
