January 24, 2014
work&labour news&research -- follow us on the CIRHR Library Tumblr and on the CIRHR Twitter
- Labour's PR Problem
- Hudak, the Unions, and the Right to Work
- IKEA: Canadian Workers Locked Out, Malaysians Sign First Collective Agreement
- WorkSafeBC's Report into the Burns Lake Sawmill Explosion
- The North
- The Wealth of Canadians: How Much, in the Hands of How Few?
- New Releases from the Conference Board of Canada
- Statistics Canada Releases
- Women on Boards: the Ontario Securities Commission Nudges Management
- The Economics of Obesity
- Beyond Yahoo: Virtual and Campus Based Work
- The Future of Jobs and the Future of Work
- Unequal at Any Speed -- Project Syndicate
- World Economic Forum's Global Risks 2014 Report
Labour's PR Problem
"Unions face many negative perceptions, such as the notion that union workers are lazy, under worked, have job security for life, and enjoy gold-plated benefits and pension packages that others can only dream about. In light of this, how can unions overcome their PR problem?"
"This question was one of many that was put to a panel of labour relations practitioners and experts recently, at a roundtable discussion sponsored by Queen’s IRC, and hosted by the Canadian HR Reporter. Todd Humber, the Canadian HR Reporter’s managing editor, moderated the roundtable discussion."
"In the first of three videos to be released by the Canadian HR Reporter, panelists weighed in on the future of unions in the private sector, discussed the PR problem unions may or may not have, made suggestions about what can be done to overcome it, and looked to the future for Canadian unions."
Queen’s University IRC, January, 2014: “The Future of Unions in Canada’s Private Sector: How Can Unions Overcome their PR Problem?,” by Stephanie Noel
Hudak, the Unions, and the Right to Work
"Ontario Federal of Labour President Sid Ryan was enraged to discover that some of the province’s most influential labour leaders had huddled privately without him earlier this month," writes Martin Regg Cohn.
“Warren (Smokey) Thomas, head of the 130,000-member Ontario Public Service Employees Union... is still mindful of gratuitous attacks from the Tories last month, who sent him an open letter taunting the ‘union elites’ who have ‘had it pretty good these past 10 years.’ December’s unprovoked attack on OPSEU was the culmination of Hudak's 18-month campaign against union bosses,’ proposing that workers be permitted to opt out of union membership and dues.”
"While Hudak has lowballed that controversial strategy during a byelection campaign in union-friendly Niagara Falls, labour leaders have little doubt his fondness for American-style ‘right to work’ laws remains a core belief that will resurface in due course.”
Toronto Star, January 21, 2014: Unions slide from unity to enmity over Tim Hudak: Cohn,” by Martin Regg Cohn
The Globe and Mail, January 21, 2014: “Hudak axes Windsor-area Tory candidate over ‘right-to-work’ remarks,” by Adam Radwanski
The Globe and Mail, January 17, 2014: “Ontario PC leader Tim Hudak shies away from union fight in latest proposal,” by Adam Radwanski
Maclean’s, January 13, 2014: “The odds are against Tim Hudak’s plan to create a million Ontario jobs,” by Mike Moffatt
Toronto Star, September 5, 2013: “Arguments against unions are ideological, not empirical: Cohn,” by Martin Regg Cohn
IKEA: Canadian Workers Locked Out, Malaysians Sign First Collective Agreement
On December 30, 2013, “...IKEA-Malaysia signed its first collective agreement with a trade union.”
"The agreement, which is effective for three years, includes recognition of the union as an exclusive bargaining body, time off for union activities, paternity leave, co-workers discount on IKEA goods, child care leave and a personal accident and hospitalisation plan."
"IKEA is coming under increased pressure to tackle the anti-worker culture present throughout its global network... [T]he company has failed to live up to the values it holds up at home and has highlighted grave inconsistencies in IKEA’s approach to workers’ rights abroad.”
UNI Global Union, January 6, 2014: “IKEA-Malaysia signs first collective agreement with union”
"In Canada, workers at the Richmond [British Columbia] store have been locked out for more than 8 months over a collective bargaining conflict between their union The Teamsters and local management."
UNI Global Union, January 14, 2014: “IKEA workers’ rights abuses make headlines at home”
Truthout, January 1, 2014: “Little Holiday Cheer for IKEA Workers”
IKEA Hurts Families -- A website bringing attention to the locked-out workers at IKEA’s Richmond, BC, Canada store.
WorkSafeBC's Report into the Burns Lake Sawmill Explosion
"The union representing sawmill workers said Wednesday the industry did not fully understand the risk prior to the blast -- but it should have. 'I say, yes they should have [known]. But so should the regulator,' said Steve Hunt, director for Western Canada of the United Steelworkers. 'I think there was a total system failure here. People who ought to have known failed to act.'”
The Globe and Mail, January 22, 2014: “Burns Lake sawmill owners deny wrongdoing in deadly explosion,” by Justine Hunter
"WorkSafeBC’s report into the Burns Lake sawmill explosion that killed two people and left 20 others injured is not pleasant reading. What is abundantly apparent by the time you reach the end is that the mill was a bomb just waiting to go off. The only question was who would be the unlucky workers on shift when it did."
The Globe and Mail, January 17 2014: “WorkSafeBC report says sawmill explosion was inevitable,” by Gary Mason
WorkSafeBC, January 16, 2014: “WorkSafeBC Incident Investigation Report overview -- Babine Forest Products Ltd”
WorkSafeBC, January 16, 2014: “Babine Forest Products Incident Investigation Report” (88 pages, PDF)
2013 Alf Nachemson Memorial Lecture
"Dr. Mieke Koehoorn, senior scientist for the Partnership for Work, Health and Safety at the University of British Columbia and a professor in the university’s School of Population and Public Health, delivered the 2013 Alf Nachemson Memorial Lecture on November 21st in Toronto [entitled ‘Research informing policy: How to make an impact’].”
"Dr. Koehoorn shared examples of the contribution of research to informing regulatory and compensation policy in worker health protection in British Columbia through the Partnership for Work, Health and Safety. Working with WorkSafeBC (British Columbia’s workers’ compensation board), the partnership aims to advance the use of routinely collected administrative data to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of public programs. Dr. Koehoorn drew from this unique experience to share some lessons learned about high-impact collaborations between research and policy."
Click to view the slidecast (slides with audio) or download the presentation (slides only) (24 pages, PDF).
Past presentations may be viewed here.
The North
"Globe journalists and local voices explore the unprecedented change to the climate, culture and politics of Canada’s last frontier."
"Writer Ian Brown and photojournalist Peter Power learn that the High Arctic, touted as Canada’s future, is like nothing any southerner expects"
The Globe and Mail, January 17, 2014: "The North: Myth, Reality, Future”
The Globe and Mail, January 17, 2014: “The Magnetic North” [multimedia feature]
The Wealth of Canadians: How Much, in the Hands of How Few?
"In the next few weeks (no firm date has yet been set), Statistics Canada will release the results of the 2012 Survey of Financial Security. This survey, which is unfortunately only conducted on an episodic basis, will provide a detailed look at the assets, debts and net wealth of Canadians. It will provide an important complement to the many sources of information we have on incomes and income inequality.”
"... [W]e can only judge the real extent of economic inequality when we look at the distribution of wealth among households, and not just annual income flows."
"In the case of Canada, a very large share of net wealth (assets such as houses, pensions and financial assets, minus debts) is concentrated in relatively few hands, and that share has been slowly rising. In 2005, the top 10 per cent of households owned 58.2 per cent of all wealth, up from 51.8 per cent in 1989 (the earliest year for which we have data)... It will be interesting to see, in the new Financial Security survey, if Canadian wealth inequality increased further from 2005 to 2012.”
The Globe and Mail, January 20, 2014: “The Wealth of Canadians: How much, in the hands of how few?,” by Andrew Jackson
University of Paris economist Thomas Piketty and Gabriel Zucman from the London School of Economics shed new light on the changing nature of wealth and inequality in their recently released article.
Paris School of Economics, December 16, 2013: “Capital is Back: Wealth-Income Ratios in Rich Countries 1700-2010,” by Thomas Piketty and Gabriel Zucman (50 pages, PDF)
Oxfam Warns of the Dangers of Growing Inequality
"The richest 85 individuals in the world hold wealth equal to that owned by the poorest half of the planet’s population, according an Oxfam report."
“‘This massive concentration of economic resources in the hands of fewer people presents a significant threat to inclusive political and economic systems,’ the charity said. ‘People are increasingly separated by economic and political power, inevitably heightening social tensions and increasing the risk of societal breakdown.’”
CBC News, January 20, 2014: “Oxfam warns of dangers of growing inequality”
Oxfam International, January 20, 2014: “Working for the Few: Political capture and economic inequality,” by Ricardo Fuentes-Nieva and Nicholas Galasso
Click here to download the full report (32 pages, PDF) and here to download the summary (6 pages, PDF).
New Releases from the Conference Board of Canada
In Conversation with Lydia Bowie
“The In Conversation With series presents insights from chief human resources officers -- across various industries and regions -- on contemporary human resources management trends and challenges in Canada.”
Where are pay plans headed in 2014? Compensation Planning Webinar
“In this 60-minute webinar, Ian Cullwick, Vice-President of the Conference Board’s Leadership and Human Resources Research division, discusses the 2014 pay environment, projected compensation levels by region and industry, and how organizations are responding to continued economic uncertainty.”
Workplace Absenteeism Webinar
“This 60-minute webinar presents data on absenteeism rates in Canada, the key drivers or causes of absenteeism, as well as the cost of employee absences.”
Statistics Canada Releases
"The findings suggest that, after accounting for differences in the number of years of completed schooling and demographic characteristics, a high school diploma is associated with $83,000 to $123,000 in additional earnings for men and with $70,000 to $107,000 in additional earnings for women over the 20-year reference period."
Statistics Canada, Analytical Studies Branch Research Paper Series, January 23, 2014: "The Long-term Labour Market Premiums Associated with a Terminal High School Diploma", by Marc Frenette
"The main finding is that increased wages have a dual impact for young men: they tend to reduce their full-time university enrollment rates -- at least temporarily -- and to bring (back) into the labour market those who were neither enrolled in school nor employed. Contrary to previous research from the United States, the study finds no evidence that school enrollment rates of less-educated young men fall in response to increased pay rates, whether these are measured in real terms or relative terms. These findings hold under a variety of robustness checks and do not appear to be driven solely by selective migration."
Statistics Canada, Analytical Studies Branch Research Paper Series, January 13, 2014: "Wages, Youth Employment, and School Enrollment: Recent Evidence from Increases in World Oil Prices," by Rene Morissette, Ping Ching Winnie Chan and Yuqian Lu
Women on Boards: the Ontario Securities Commission Nudges Management
“The Ontario Securities Commission’s new rule requiring corporations to report on their policies to promote women to top roles is simultaneously a historic watershed decision and a classic exercise in Canadian compromise.”
"The regulator announced on [January 16, 2014] that it will require companies to publish annually a description of their diversity policies, including whether they have internal targets for promoting women to their boards of directors or to senior executive roles. The new standard is a first of its kind in Canada and could help spur meaningful change in diversity at many companies. But it isn’t imposing quotas or even requiring companies to have diversity policies -- only to report on whatever policies exist."
The Globe and Mail, January 19, 2014: “Women on boards: the OSC nudges management”
Ontario Securities Commission, January 16, 2014: “OSC proposes rule amendments regarding disclosure of women on boards and in senior management”
The Economics of Obesity
"[O]besity is an economic problem, plain and simple. Obese Americans costs the U.S. $190 billion in annual medical costs attributable to their weight -- or 20 percent of national health-care spending, according to [John] Cawley’s research. That’s a shockingly high figure, and it implies that unpacking the relationship between income and obesity could save America even more money and anxiety than many researchers estimate.”
The Atlantic, January 20, 2013: “Where Does Obesity Come From?,” by Derek Thompson
National Bureau of Economic Research, Reporter 2013 Number 4: “Research Summary: The Economics of Obesity,” by John Cawley
Bloomberg, January 13, 2014: “Thirteen Facts About the Economics of Obesity,” by Peter Coy
Beyond Yahoo: Virtual and Campus Based Work
"Marissa Mayer’s decision to revoke Yahoo’s telecommuting policy stirred the debate about flexible workplace strategies. Is the move to virtual work inevitable? Both virtual work and campus-based approaches have benefited employers who use them. Hybrid models, which couple elements of campus and virtual models, can offer the best of both."
Deloitte, January 17, 2014: “Beyond Yahoo: Breaking down the ‘virtual’ versus ‘campus’ debate,” by Heather Stockton, Jeff Schwartz, Mary Ann Stallings, and Stephen Harrington
Click here to download the PDF version (17 pages).
Working Nowhere [website] -- Your window on the world of virtual work in all its forms.
The Future of Jobs and the Future of Work
"At the same time, even in relatively egalitarian places like Sweden, inequality among the employed has risen sharply, with the share going to the highest earners soaring. For those not in the elite, argues David Graeber, an anthropologist at the London School of Economics, much of modern labour consists of stultifying “bullshit jobs” -- low- and mid-level screen-sitting that serves simply to occupy workers for whom the economy no longer has much use. Keeping them employed, Mr. Graeber argues, is not an economic choice; it is something the ruling class does to keep control over the lives of others."
The Economist, January 18, 2014: “The future of jobs: The onrushing wave”
‘While corporations may engage in ruthless downsizing, the layoffs and speed-ups invariably fall on that class of people who are actually making, moving, fixing and maintaining things; through some strange alchemy no one can quite explain, the number of salaried paper-pushers ultimately seems to expand, and more and more employees find themselves, not unlike Soviet workers actually, working 40 or even 50 hour weeks on paper, but effectively working 15 hours just as Keynes predicted, since the rest of their time is spent organising or attending motivational seminars, updating their facebook profiles or downloading TV box-sets.”
STRIKE!, August 2013: “On the Phenomenon of Bullshit Jobs”
Policy Options, January 2014: “Get ready for the next economy: Emerging technologies are washing over our institutions, remaking the hierarchy in everything from politics to big business. They will radically change our economic order. What follows depends on us,” by Nicole
Policy Options, January 2014: “The skills we need: In the digital era, our economy relies on a steady supply of skilled information and communications technologies workers,” by Ross Finnie
Policy Options, January/February 2014: “Can technology save the world?”
Unequal at Any Speed -- Project Syndicate
"The 2008 financial crisis and its aftermath have focused widespread attention on economic inequality -- all the more so because the gains from revived growth have accrued almost entirely to the rich. What explains persistent growth in wealth and income disparities, and how should governments, non-governmental organizations, businesses, and local communities respond?"
Project Syndicate, December 2013 - January 2014: Focal Points -- Unequal at Any Speed?
"At the end of 2013, one of our age’s great political leaders and campaigners for social and economic justice, Nelson Mandela, passed from our midst. The pursuit of sustainable patterns of equitable and inclusive growth will be a defining feature of economic policymaking worldwide in 2014 and beyond. We must hope that business and labor leaders can come together with government, educational establishments, and social entrepreneurs to advance this agenda. Mandela’s example and generosity of spirit should be our guide."
Project Syndicate, January 9, 2014: “The Distributional Challenge,” by Michael Spence
World Economic Forum's Global Risks 2014 Report
“Taking a 10-year outlook, the report assesses 31 risks that are global in nature and have the potential to cause significant negative impact across entire countries and industries if they take place. The risks are grouped under five categories -- economic, environmental, geopolitical, societal and technological -- and measured in terms of their likelihood and potential impact.”
World Economic Forum, December 30, 2013: “Global Risks 2014 report” (60 pages, PDF)
You may also browse the report reader by clicking here.
Book of the Week
Trouble at Work, by Ralph Fevre ... [et al.]. New York : Bloomsbury Academic, 2012. 264 p. ISBN 9781472557483 (pbk.) Link to e-book: http://go.utlib.ca/cat/9082255
"Trouble in the workplace - whether it is bullying, harassment or stress -- is always in the headlines. Yet, in many discussions, the research and statistics that are cited prove unreliable. This book summarizes the largest specialist research programme on ill-treatment in the workplace so far undertaken. It provides a powerful antidote to half-truths and misinformation and offers a new way of conceptualizing trouble at work, moving the discussion away from individualized explanations -- and talk of 'bullies' and 'victims' -- towards the workplace characteristics that cause trouble at work. The biggest problems arise where organisations fail to create a workplace culture in which individuals really matter. Paradoxically, these are often the organizations which are well-versed in modern management practices."
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