January 26, 2009

Budget 2009: Canada’s Economic Action Plan

Budget documents (full text of 343 page Budget) available in HTML and PDF (January 27, 2009)

27th Annual Sefton Lecture

The Sefton Memorial Lecture 2009 will be held on Thursday, March 12, 2009 at 7:00 p.m. at the University of Toronto Multi-Faith Centre, 569 Spadina Avenue. The speaker will be Hugh Mackenzie, former Research Director for the United Steelworkers of America, and the Sefton Award will be given to Leo Gerard, International President, United Steelworkers.

27th Annual Sefton Lecture presented by Woodsworth College & The Centre for Industrial Relations and Human Resources

Past Sefton Memorial Lectures online

Strike at York Continues…

Back to work legislation was introduced by the government on Sunday January 25th and is not expected to pass until Thursday January 27th. Classes have resumed for just 5,000 York students whose programs do not have faculty in CUPE 3903. CUPE is seeking a court challenge to the legislation.

Globe and Mail, January 27, 2008: York union vows to fight back-to-work legislation

Globe and Mail, January 27, 2008: York University union threatens suit

Globe and Mail, January 25, 2008: NDP stalls back-to-work bill for York University strikers

Bill 145: York University Labour Disputes Resolution Act, 2009 (short title) This Legislative Assembly of Ontario website provides the Bill, status information and links to the debates.

Bill 145: an Act to resolve labour disputes between York University and Canadian Union of Public Employees, Local 3903, 1st reading, January 25, 2009 (11 pages, PDF)

CUPE 3903: Representing, Organizing and Activating the Contract Faculty, Teaching Assistants, Graduate Assistants and Graduate Assistants @ York University Toronto Canada, website

Report on Diversity

The Globe and Mail’s Report on Business included a special section titled Report on Diversity in the January 26th, 2009 edition. Links to the articles included in the report are available below:

HIRE LOCAL, THINK GLOBAL: Assembling a workforce that looks like the greater community has become a business imperative. Equally important is doing it the right way

ONE-ON-ONE: RONALD C. GLOVER, VICE-PRESIDENT, DIVERSITY AND WORKFORCE PROGRAMS, IBM Big Blue's global reach; IBM's chief diversity officer helps unify people across time zones and cultures

RECRUITING New faces, new customers; Reaching out to immigrants and visible minorities brings companies new perspectives and access to more clients

ABORIGINAL EMPLOYMENT ‘I found myself. That's what motivated me'; Actively hiring aboriginal workers not only has social benefits – it also opens up a pool of untapped talent

SAME-SEX AT WORK ‘This is really a huge social change'; Workplace rights for gay workers and their partners have come a long way

HIRING IMMIGRANTS Wading into the talent pool; Stories of skilled immigrants who can't find suitable work in Canada have been legion. But as awareness spreads of what employers have been missing, opportunities are growing, Tavia Grant finds

Ivey Business Journal Focuses on Leadership

The January/February issue of the Ivey Business journal is now available online. The focus of this issue is on leadership. Articles available include, “General Electric: an outlier in CEO talent development,” and “Connecting Worker Safety to Patient Safety: A new imperative for health–care leaders,” by Joseline Sikorski, President and CEO of the Ontario Safety Association for Community and Healthcare.

Ivey Business Journal online

Mercer’s Fearless Forecast

The 18th edition of Mercer’s Fearless Forecast has been released. The 2009 Fearless Forecast: A consensus forecast of Canadian and global capital markets and industry trends surveyed 48 Canadian and global investment managers for their views on the economy and capital markets for the coming year.

Fearless Forecast 2009, January 13, 2009 (16 pages, PDF) can be downloaded from the Mercer website

Proudfoot Global and Canadian Productivity Reports

The 2008 Proudfoot Global Productivity Report identifies key productivity issues and opportunities. The findings are the result of interviews with mid-level managers and senior executives around the world and in Canada. These reports look at productivity in terms of “levers of productivity” – management, workforce, communication and training.

2008 Global Productivity Report, January 2009
News release

2008 Canadian Productivity Report, January 2009.

Community Employment Innovation Project

A report titled Encouraging Work and Supporting Communities: Final Results of the Community Employment Innovation Project, has been released by the Social Research and Demonstration Corporation(SRDC). The report provides evidence that governments, by supporting the capacity of voluntary organizations in vulnerable communities, can bring about sustainable benefits to communities and improve the circumstances of the unemployed.

Access to the report and executive summary, released November 2008

About SRDC

2008 Catalyst Census of Women in Fortune 500 Companies

Catalyst has found that little change has occurred in the percentage of directorships or corporate officer positions held by women between 2007 and 2008. Updates to the data provided were made in January 2009.

Report - Directorships, January 12, 2009 (2 pages, PDF)

Report – Corporate Officers, January 12, 2009 (1 page, PDF)

Increase in Numbers Receiving Employment Insurance

Statistics Canada has released preliminary monthly data on the number of Canadians who received Employment Insurance benefits in November 2008. EI recipients increased most dramatically in the metropolitan areas with year-over-year increases of 99.1% occurring in Oshawa, 57.9% in Windsor and 46.5% in London.

Employment Insurance November 2008, Statistics Canada, January 27, 2009

CBC News, January 27, 2009: EI rolls lengthen across Canada — and double in Oshawa -- November employment insurance figures show big jumps in auto centres

Canadian Social Trends Online

The most recent edition of Statistics Canada’s Canadian Social trends is now available online. Articles include: “Immigrants in Canada who work in a language other than English or French”; “The Impact of working in a non-official language on the occupations and earnings of immigrants in Canada”; and Métis in Canada: Selected findings of the 2006 Census.

Canadian Social Trends, #87, January 20, 2009

Perspectives on Labour and Income

The January 2009 issue of Perspectives on Labour and Income has been released. The first article is titled, “Age and earnings” and the second is “Minimum Wage”.

Access to individual articles, abstracts and highlights

Complete issue, January 2009 (17 pages, PDF)

Book of the Week

Outsourcing America: What's Behind Our National Crisis and How We Can Reclaim American Jobs, by Ron Hira and Anil Hira. New York : Amacom, 2008. 270 p. ISBN 978-0-8144-0989-3

"Foreword by Lou Dobbs

One of the hottest, most controversial topics in the news is the outsourcing of American jobs to other countries. Outsourced jobs are extending well beyond the manufacturing sector to include white-collar professionals, particularly in information technology, financial services, and customer service. Outsourcing America reveals just how much outsourcing is taking place, what its impact is and will be, and what can be done about the loss of jobs.

More than an exposé, the book shows how outsourcing is part of the historical economic shifts toward globalism and free trade, and demonstrates the impact of outsourcing on individual lives and communities. The authors discuss policies that countries like India and China use to attract U.S. industries, and they offer frank recommendations that business and political leaders must consider in order to confront this snowballing crisis -- and bring more high-paying jobs back to the U.S."

About the Authors

Ron Hira, Ph.D., PE (Rochester, NY) is a recognized expert on outsourcing, and the only person to testify twice before Congress on its implications. He has appeared on national television and radio, and has been widely quoted in The New York Times, Time, Newsweek, The Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, Times of London and other publications. Anil Hira, Ph.D. (Burnaby, BC) is a specialist in international economic policy and trade issues. He currently teaches at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver.