On the surface, at least, last month’s CUPE Local Economy Summit in Vancouver had all the usual trappings of a conference designed to boost B.C.’s small, independent businesses.
Delegates were ensconced at the posh Westin Bayshore, columnist Vaughn Palmer was emcee, two credit unions were among the sponsors and Mike Klassen, newly appointed public affairs director for the Canadian Federation of Independent Business, was tweeting appreciatively from the audience.
But wasn’t that Barry O’Neill, president of CUPE B.C.’s 80,000 public sector workers, heading to the microphone to demand more support for local entrepreneurs?
It was indeed, and labour leaders like the Steelworkers’ Steve Hunt and BC Government Employees Union’s Darryl Walker were listening carefully and taking notes.
The summit was the culmination of six years of work for O’Neill, who became worried after more than a decade at the head of the province’s largest union that B.C.’s local and regional economies were weakening as globalization strengthened. That was hurting communities where his members lived and worked.
“It’s clear that local economies and local governments need a new revenue stream,” he said in an interview after the conference. “If we value our communities, if we want to be sure schools don’t close, that public services are maintained, we need other revenue streams.”
O’Neill began seeking new community economic development strategies with a demonstrated track record of strengthening local economies. A straight “buy local” strategy, he concluded, required too dramatic a change in behaviour.
But a 10% shift of community spending from chain retailers to local independents, he discovered, could make all the difference.
Armed with facts and figures from the growing “10% shift” movement in the U.S., O’Neill went on the road, speaking to more than 50 local chambers of commerce, boards of trade and regional business organizations across the province.
“We’re not only looking at consumer spending,” O’Neill said, “but new ways to incubate manufacturing.”
New research on B.C.’s economy released at the conference found lots of room to improve the climate for B.C.’s independent businesses, which have less market share in the provincial economy than their counterparts in other provinces.
But the study found that B.C. independent retailers and restaurants circulate more than 2.6 times as much revenue in the local economy as chain competitors and they produce more jobs and spend more on wages than chain competitors with equal revenue.
The bottom line: “a shift of just 10% of the market from chains to independents would produce 31,000 jobs paying $940 million in annual wages to B.C. workers.”
Is this just shifting revenue and work from one part of the economy to another? No, the study claims, because such a change in B.C. would simply move our province closer to the national average for independent business market share.
A key audience for O’Neill’s efforts is municipal governments, always big spenders and employers in local economies. O’Neill is urging more emphasis on local procurement – similar policies are routine in the U.S., trade agreements notwithstanding – and more political leadership at the municipal level to support small business.
It seems to be working.
Six mayors dropped by during the two-day event, including Vancouver’s Gregor Robertson, Burnaby’s Derek Corrigan and Victoria’s Dean Fortin.
“We’ve got to stop leakage from our local economies and flow the money down to our independent businesses,” O’Neill insists. “We’ve got to encourage young entrepreneurs, tell them ‘We can do something for you if you can begin manufacturing something we would normally buy from somewhere else.’”
O’Neill’s next project: a “toolkit” workbook for political and business leaders who, in the words of one conference panellist, want to “get their shift together.” It’s a small business development strategy, courtesy of B.C.’s “big labour” movement. •
