Windsor-Essex Regional Chamber of Commerce has expressed deep concern for a potential strike at the border.
The Chamber sent a letter to both the National President of PSAC, Mark Weber, and the Hon. Anita Anand, President of the Treasury Board outlining concerns for the business community of Windsor-Essex and other impacted regions.
Speaking on AM800's The Shift, Rakesh Naidu, CEO & president, Windsor-Essex Regional Chamber of Commerce says there is an economic cost to border delays.
"An economy that relies significantly on trade and businesses that rely tremendously on the movement of good, movement of parts and components, for us any delay, any congestion, any back ups, any disruptions at the border impacts us."
He says his members are worried about a delay of goods.
"We don't carry a lot of inventory because the entire manufacturing industry works on just-in-time, and if there is a delay and if the border is disrupted for a significant amount of time, we will then have a depletion of the parts and the inventory will continue to sink slow. That may result in some shifts having to be cancelled."
Naidu says it's important to protect the region's reputation.
"We've done well as a region to attract good investments, but there are other investments that I know are in the pipeline and our economic development agencies and others are working hard in attracting them to our region. We want to make sure that this disruption doesn't cost us in terms of reputation damage."
A deadline of 4 p.m. Friday has been set to make a deal between the union and the government.
Despite the potential economic impact of a strike, it wouldn't be a full shutdown of the border since 90 per cent of front-line border officers are considered essential workers and can't stop working during a strike. Instead, border workers may implement work-to-rule efforts, causing delays at the border.