April 13, 2009
- Upcoming Health and Safety Conference -- request for comments and suggestions
- Automotive Industry Profits in Canada
- York University and Teaching Staff make a Deal
- Government of Canada Supports National Initiative to Help Recruit and Retain Nurses
- Recession-Era Labour Relations in Ontario
- First Contract for Unionized Quebec Wal-Mart Workers
- Alternative Federal Budget 2009
- Women are Changing Law Firm Culture
- Employees with Disabilities in the Leadership Pipeline
- Canadian Business Leaders Speak
- Trust Barometer 2009 – open communication will win trust
- Gender Pay Gap in U.K Financial Sector
- European Work Council News
- Book of the Week
Upcoming Health and Safety Conference -- request for comments and suggestions
Lancaster House is pleased to announce that it is once again joining with the University of Toronto's Centre for Industrial Relations and Human Resources to host Toronto's Health and Safety Conference. This year's Health and Safety Conference takes place at the Sutton Place Hotel on November 5th, 2009, with pre-conference workshops offered on November 4th. In preparation for the upcoming conference, Lancaster House would appreciate input on panel topics. Your comments and suggestions are very valuable so please fill out a short online survey (link provided below). Everyone who completes the survey will have his/her name entered into a draw for a free registration to the conference. Please complete the survey no later than Wednesday, April 15th, 2009.
You can access the survey at: Pre-Conference Survey: Health and Safety Conference 2009
Automotive Industry Profits in Canada
A new study titled, The Profitability of Automotive Manufacturing in Canada, 1972-2007, by Jim Stanford, Ph.D., Economist, for the Canadian Auto Workers union has found that Canada's automotive manufacturing industry has been a profitable and lucrative component of Canada's economy – a critique of the study in the Globe and Mail points to “a capricious” global currency market as a risky foundation for the auto sector’s prosperity.
Study, April 13, 2009 (10 pages, PDF)
Globe and Mail, April 14, 2009: CAW's loonie argument misses the point, by Derek DeCloet
York University and Teaching Staff make a Deal
CUPE 3903: Detailed Summary of the Memorandum of Settlement
Globe and Mail, April 9, 2009 York reaches tentative deal with staff, by Elizabeth Church
Government of Canada Supports National Initiative to Help Recruit and Retain Nurses
Support is being provided to “Research to Action: Applied Workplace Solutions for Nurses,” a new initiative being undertaken with the Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions to improve recruitment and retention strategies through projects in nine provinces across Canada. Nova Scotia has recently announce its new program which will give participating late-career nurses time to provide mentorship to new grads and new graduates will receive more support when they enter the workplace.
Government Announcement: Research to Action: Applied Workplace Solutions for Nurses, March 6, 2009.
Nova Scotia, Department of Health, April 9, 2009: Project gives Nurses More Reason to Stay
The Economic Value of Professional Nursing, Medical Care • Volume 47, Number 1, January 2009
Recession-Era Labour Relations in Ontario
Kevin Wilson, Assistant Deputy Minister in the Ministry of Labour's Policy, Program Development, and Dispute Resolution Services Division, spoke to Queen's School of Policy Studies in late March. As well as talking about Ontario’s economic situation he identified future labour relations issues concerning both public and private sector unionism.
First Contract for Unionized Quebec Wal-Mart Workers
Unionized workers at the St-Hyacinthe Wal-Mart in Quebec have their first collective agreement after almost four years. Approximately 200 workers at the store unionized in January 2005. The agreement settled by arbitration is a first in North America. The new agreement includes an annual increase of $0.30 per hour for the next two years, for current employees only – new hires are ineligible. David Doorey’s Workplace News Blog covers this story with a critique of Terrance Corcoran opinion piece in the National Post.
CBC News, April 9, 2009: Unionized Quebec Wal-Mart workers get 1st contract
Doorey’s Workplace Law Blog, April 13th, 2009: Wal-Mart: The Poor, Misunderstood Employer?
Alternative Federal Budget 2009
The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives has released its Alternative Federal Budget for 2009. The article is titled,Too Little Too Late: Federal Stimulus Budget Eclipsed by Job Loss, by David Macdonald. The paper states that “the rapid contractions of both the Canadian economy and the job market have eclipsed the federal government’s stimulus package months before it will dispense its first dollar.”
Article, April 2009 (6 pages, PDF)
Women are Changing Law Firm Culture
A recent article in the Globe and Mail looks at how Ontario’s law firms are committing to accommodating women in the workplace. Work-life balance is a major issue for female lawyers and has recently been addresses by a Law Society of Upper Canada Working Group.
Law Society of Upper Canada: Retention of Women in Private Practice Working Group webpage (with links to reports and consultation findings)
Employees with Disabilities in the Leadership Pipeline
The Conference Board of New York webcast titled, “Maximizing Human Capital: Employees with Disabilities: Building Your Leadership Pipeline” is available to the University of Toronto community. The webcast discusses: research on strategic workforce planning, especially in the leadership ranks; building a talent pipeline that includes employees with disabilities; developing and implementing strategies for advancing the careers of employees with disabilities: tools that employees with disabilities need to become a more significant part of the leadership pipeline.
Canadian Business Leaders Speak
In the spring issue of National and Global Perspectives members of the Canadian Council of Chief Executives address both the risks and the lessons of the deepening recession. In excerpts from recent speeches and essays, executives from Home Depot, Manulife and the Bank of Nova Scotia, among others, discuss the challenges of leading in difficult times, the importance of staying focused on long-term growth opportunities, and the need for a balanced and responsible approach to financial market regulation.
National and Global Perspectives, Spring 2009
Trust Barometer 2009 – open communication will win trust
The 2009 Edelman Trust Barometer is the 10th edition of the firm's annual trust and credibility survey. The report finds that the erosion of trust in western business has been led by banks and automakers. The most authoritative voices on business are now academics -- trusted by 61 per cent of the Americans polled, compared with just 16 per cent who would take the word of a company's CEO. People also trust anecdotal information from a company's employees and their circle of friends. Staff bloggers are three times more credible than chief executive bloggers. A recent article in theGlobe and Mail looks at how important trust is to the employment relationship.
Trust Barometer 2009, January 27, 2009 (24 pages, PDF)
Gender Pay Gap in U.K Financial Sector
A report by the Equality and Human Rights Commission has found significant gender pay gaps in the finance sector. Women working full time in areas including fund management, stock broking and futures trading suffer the largest pay gap in the financial services sector, earning on average 60 percent less annual gross salary than men - a pay gap more than twice the national average.
European Work Council News
“Euro-workscouncil.net”, is a training and consultancy network that alerts readers to the activities of European Works Councils and related subjects. Issue number one of the EWC News is now available.
EWC News, March 20, 2009 (15 pages, PDF)
Book of the Week
Weathering Storms: Human Resources in Difficult Times, by the Society for Human Resource Management. Alexandria, Va. : Society for Human Resource Management, 2008. 174 p. ISBN 978-1-586-44134-0
The book’s solutions-based, practical approach strongly argues that the HR community has a proactive and persuasive role in making sure their organizations not only weather the problems they are facing today but also help the organization hit the ground running on the other side of the downturn.
About the Authors: By the SHRM Staff with an Introduction by Peter Cappelli.
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