Perry Work Report: work&labour news&research, April 17, 2015

April 17, 2015

Announcement:

The Centre for Industrial Relations and Human Resources Welcomes a New Director

After six years as the Director of the Centre for Industrial Relations and Human Resources, Professor Anil Verma will be stepping down effective June 30 this year.

Please join us in welcoming Professor Rafael Gomez as the next Director, effective July 1, 2015. Many of you would may know Rafael from his long association with the University of Toronto. Others may have seen or heard him in the media as he has been a frequent guest on radio, TV and other media. Rafael got his PhD from this Centre in 2000 after which he went on to teach at the London School of Economics for almost a decade and later Glendon College (York University). He returned to the University of Toronto as Associate Professor at the Centre and Woodsworth College in 2009. His many research interests include small-scale entrepreneurship, worker preferences for workplace representation and the effect of demographic change on labour markets and economic institutions. He has co-authored and co-edited 4 books and over 50 articles and chapters in prestigious academic publications. In 2015 his book Small Business and City: The Transformative Potential of Small-Scale Entrepreneurship was published by Rotman-UTP press. He also won a substantial research grant from the Social Sciences & Humanities Research Council to study worker preferences at the workplace in Canada, a study that will be simultaneously carried out in three other countries.

 

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Cornell University ILR Online Webcast

HR in the Workplace: Past, Present and Future

Webcast Date:  Thursday, May 7, 2015
Webcast Time:  12:00 - 1:00 p.m. (Eastern Time)

This webcast is free of charge and will be closed captioned.

“The ILR Online webcast series 2014-15 lineup will feature programs with a ‘past, present and future’ theme, to align with Cornell University’s 150th anniversary and the ILR School’s 70th anniversary in 2015.“

“In the May webcast, ILR faculty and senor HR executives will discuss the importance of human resources in modern organizations and how the field has evolved from an administrative function to a vital piece of a successful organization’s business strategy. The program will highlight some of the latest issues and trends in diversity and analytics, and address the impact of technology on HR practice as well as expectations for HR leaders of the future. Viewers are encouraged to participate in the program by offering questions and comments throughout the live webcast.“

Click here to register

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Equal Pay Day in Canada -- April 20th 2015

“Equal Pay Day illustrates how far into the next year a woman, on average, must work to earn the same amount made by a man the previous year.”

“Ontario’s Equal Pay Coalition and the Ontario government has declared that Equal Pay Day this year will fall on April 20th, 2015. According to the most recent Statistics Canada data, the average annual earnings of all women in Ontario as compared to men is 69.5% -- or a 31.5% gap. This measure includes all the women part-time workers, with about two thirds of part-time workers being women. This gap has increased by 3% over the previous year.”

“The pay gap increases substantially when intersecting with other forms of discrimination such as those experienced by women of colour, women with disabilities and Aboriginal women.“

Equal Pay Coalition [website]

Equal Pay Day in the United States April 14th, 2015

“Today marks ‘Equal Pay Day,’ the date that symbolizes how far into the new year the average American woman would have to work to earn what the average American man did in the previous year.”

“As our video explains, the estimated 16-cent pay gap today has narrowed from 36 cents in 1980. Back then, the average woman would have had to work approximately 90 days, roughly into the beginning of May, in order to catch up with men’s earnings from the year before.”

“In spite of its narrowing, the gender pay gap persists. Why is this? In our survey, women were more likely to say they had taken career interruptions to care for their family. And research has shown that these types of interruptions can have an impact on long-term earnings.”

Pew Research Centre, April 14, 2015: “On Equal Pay Day, key facts about the gender pay gap,” by Eileen Patten

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Good Jobs Summit Final Report Released

Unifor is proud to announce that they “now have a comprehensive review of the Good Jobs Summit! The summary document pulls together information from all of the sessions, from the Ryerson Research Symposium to every single workshop. The new report is complete with video clips and lots of photos from the summit.

Click here for the online version and here for the interactive PDF [29 pages].

Unifor -- Good Jobs Summit final report [website]

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The Harper Record on Jobs, 2006-2014

“A close look at the data takes a good deal of shine off Harper’s lofty claims. The long-term trend has been towards a more polarized jobs market: the growth of full time work is being dwarfed by the growth of low-pay, part-time and precarious work. The employment rate in 2014 remained very low at 61.7%, youth unemployment stubbornly high at 13.5%, and there is indication of increasing wage inequality.”

The Broadbent Blog, April 15, 2015: “The Harper Record on Jobs, 2006-2014,” by Andrew Jackson

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CBC Workplace Investigation Report on Jian Ghomeshi

“CBC failed to provide its staff a workplace “free from disrespectful and abusive behaviour,” says the report of an independent investigator hired to examine the corporation's handling of the behaviour of former radio and television host Jian Ghomeshi.”

“Janice Rubin, a Toronto employment lawyer with expertise in the field of workplace harassment, says in the report that Ghomeshi’s behaviour violated CBC standards, and that his behaviour was "considered to create an intimidating, humiliating, hostile or offensive work environment.“

CBC News, April 16, 2015: “CBC inquiry concludes management mishandled Jian Ghomeshi”

CNW, April 16, 2015:  “CBC/Radio-Canada releases report on workplace investigation regarding Jian Ghomeshi”

RubinThomlinson, April 13, 2015:  “CBC Workplace Investigation Regarding Jian Ghomeshi Report” (56 pages, PDF)

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Strike: Thousands Fight for $15

“Fast-food workers in dozens of cities are rallying Wednesday [April 15, 2015], demanding a $15 hourly wage for their work. They’re joined in some cases by home-care aides, retail clerks and other low-wage workers who often earn closer to the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour than their stated goal.”

“But is $15 an hour a realistic demand? At first blush, it seems a real stretch. A $15 an hour federal pay floor would represent a 107% increase in the minimum wage.”

“But there are several reasons that $15 an hour may not be such a reach.”

“San Francisco, Seattle and the airport suburb of SeaTac, Wash., have already established minimum wages of $15 an hour .... If lawmakers and voters in those places view $15 as a living wage, other cities could soon follow.”

“There is also clear momentum for a higher minimum wage at the state level. Less than half of states still follow the federal wage. [And several states], including Colorado, New York and Oregon, are considering changes to their pay-floor laws.”

“Beyond law changes, large employers, including McDonalds, Wal-Mart and Target have all pledged to increase starting pay for workers to well above the federal minimum wage. While promises to lift workers to $10 an hour is far short of the $15 goal, it suggests the federal mandate is no longer sufficient to attract workers even for the lowest-skilled jobs.”

The Wall Street Journal, April 15, 2015: “Is $15 an Hour a Realistic Goal for Fast-Food Workers?,” by Eric Morath

Follow all the strike updates on the Guardian’s live blog.

Visit the Fight for $15 website for more information about local rallies and events.

Canada is getting in on the action, as well. There are organized campaigns in three provinces, making direct links with the U.S. Fight for $15 campaign.

“An Ontario campaign, #15andfairness for example, makes the link between the minimum wage and other employment standards. This campaign defines fairness as access to paid sick days, predictable hours and scheduling, and meaningful enforcement of employment laws so that all workers have dignity and respect at work.”

“The BC Federation of Labour launched its ‘Fight for $15 BC’ in November 2014, and have been holding events on the 15th of each month. The Halifax and Dartmouth Labour Council joined with a coalition of community groups to launch a “Fight for $15 / Living Wage” campaign in February 2015.”

The Broadbent Blog, April 15, 2015: “Fifteen dollar an hour minimum wage fight comes to Canada,” by Angella MacEwen

Workers’ Action Centre, March 2015: “Still Working on the Edge: Building Decent Jobs from the Group Up” (84 pages, PDF)

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The High Public Cost of Low Wages

“When jobs don’t pay enough, workers turn to public assistance in order to meet their basic needs. These programs provide vital support to millions of working families whose employers pay less than a liveable wage. At both the state and federal levels, more than half of total spending on the public assistance programs analyzed in this report -- Medicaid/CHIP, TANF, EITC, and food stamps -- goes to working families.”

“Higher wages and increases in employer-provided health insurance would result in significant Medicaid savings that states and the federal government could apply to other programs and priorities. In the case of [Temporary Aid to Needy Families] ... higher wages would allow states to reduce the portion of the program going to cash assistance while increasing the funding for other services such as child care, job training, and transportation assistance. Higher wages would also significantly reduce federal expenditures on the [Earned Income Tax Credit] and [the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program].”
“Overall, higher wages and employer provided health care would lower both state and federal public assistance costs, and allow all levels of government to better target how their tax dollars are used.”

The research brief is available as a PDF (11 pages) here.

UC Berkeley Center for Labor Research and Education, April 2015: “The High Public Cost of Low Wages,” by Ken Jacobs, Ian Perry, and Jenifer MacGillvary 

“Adriana Alvarez, a cashier at a McDonald’s in Chicago, is among the people pushing for higher wages. After five years with the fast-food giant, Ms. Alvarez, 22, earns $10.50 an hour, well above the federal minimum wage of $7.25. Still, she depends on food stamps, Medicaid and a child-care subsidy to help get through the week. ‘He eats a lot,’ Ms. Alvarez said of her 3-year-old son, Manny, with a laugh. He also drinks a lot of milk, she said -- ‘a half-gallon every two days’ -- and because he is lactose intolerant, he requires a more expensive brand, using up most of her $80 allotment of food stamps.”

The New York Times, April 12, 2015: “Working, but Needing Public Assistance Anyway,” by Patricia Cohen

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Where the Poor and Rich Really Spend their Money

“Lawmakers in several states are urging limits on how welfare recipients use public benefits, suggesting that the poor are buying things like lobster, filet mignon, vacations aboard cruise ships and visits to psychics. It’s an open question whether the problem these proposals aim to solve actually exists, but the Bureau of Labor Statistics just helpfully released new data on how the poor -- and the rich -- spend their money.“

“The survey provides no evidence that the poor are wasting their money on delicacies. Indeed, the results show that regardless of income, Americans make very similar choices at the grocery store. The wealthy spend more overall, of course, and less as a share of their total spending. Yet the rich, the poor and the middle class all spend about 19 percent their grocery budget on fruits and vegetables, about 22 percent on meats, and about 13 percent on breads and cereals.”

Washington Post, April 14, 2015: “Where the poor and rich really spend their money,” by Max Ehrenfreund

United States Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Consumer Expenditure Survey data

“In fact, the poor are much more savvy about how they spend their money because they have less of it (quick quiz: do you know exactly how much you last spent on a gallon of milk? or a bag of diapers?). By definition, a much higher share of their income -- often more than half of it -- is eaten up by basic housing costs than is true for the better-off, leaving them less money for luxuries anyway. And contrary to the logic of drug-testing laws, the poor are no more likely to use drugs than the population at large.”

Washington Post, April 7, 2015: “The double-standard of making the poor prove they’re worthy of government benefits,” by Emily Badger

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Low-Wage Workers Deserve Predictable Work Schedules

“On Friday afternoon, New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman sent a letter to 13 large retailers, including Gap, Target, and J.C. Penney, asking them about their scheduling practices. In particular, the letter alleged that those retailers had been giving their workers little notice about shift changes. Such practices have become common as employers have sought ways to cut costs. But that tactic makes it nearly impossible for many low-income workers to plan their lives. Unchecked, it becomes a way for employers to exploit their workers -- and policymakers need to put a stop to it.”

“Just-in-time scheduling, as the practice is also known, allows employers to efficiently allocate resources. Scheduling software offers real-time analysis for staffing needs. When customers flock to a store, managers bring in on-call workers. When business is slow, managers don’t call those workers in -- or they turn them away. In some cases, these workers will have already commuted to work, paid for child care, and arranged their lives around a shift that evaporates, leaving them without a wage and no recompense for their troubles. The unpredictable schedules interfere with such basic daily activities as grocery shopping, doctor’s appointments, and looking for a better job.”

The New Republic, April 14, 2015: “Low-Wage Workers Deserve Predictable Work Schedules,” by Danny Vinik

“The labor market continues to recover, but a stubbornly high rate of underemployment persists as more than five million Americans are working part-time for economic reasons (U.S. BLS 2015a; 2015b). Not only are many of this type of underemployed worker, by definition, scheduled for fewer hours, days, or weeks than they prefer to be working, the daily timing of their work schedules can often be irregular or unpredictable. This both constrains consumer spending and complicates the daily work lives of such workers, particularly those navigating through nonwork responsibilities such as caregiving. This variability of work hours contributes to income instability and thus, adversely affects not only household consumption but general macroeconomic performance.“

Economic Policy Institute, April 9, 2015: “Irregular Work Scheduling and Its Consequences,” by Lonnie Golden

“Congressional Democrats want to fix this on the national level but are unlikely to succeed. They have introduced a bill, the Schedules that Work Act, that would, among other things, give workers greater predictability in their schedules and grant them stronger protections for asking their employer for flexible scheduling. Since Republicans control the House and Senate, the bill is dead-on-arrival in Congress.”

113th Congress (2013-2014) H.R.5159 - Schedules That Work Act

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Global Human Capital Trends 2015

“Global organizations today navigate a ‘new world of work’ -- one that requires a dramatic change in strategies for leadership, talent, and human resources. More than 3,300 organizations from 106 countries contributed to Deloitte’s Global Human Capital Trends 2015 survey, assessing the importance of specific talent challenges and their readiness to meet them.”

This report explores 10 major trends that emerged from our research, which reflects four major themes for 2015: leading, engaging, reinventing, and reimagining. We present the capability gaps associated with each of these trends and offer practical insights to help you address these challenges in your organization. We also outline six key findings and invite you to interact with the Human Capital Trends Dashboard to explore the trends by geography, industry, and company size.”

Deloitte, April 2015: “Global Human Capital Trends 2015: Leading in the new world of work“

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Working Through Depression

“According to the National Institute of Mental Health, 16 million Americans had at least one major depressive episode in the past year. Of that number, many struggle with whether and how to talk about their depression in the workplace.”

On this past weekend’s episode of For the Record, two experts with two very different perspectives discuss the issue of disclosing depression to your employer.

Click here to read the transcript.

NPR, April 12, 2015: “Working Through Depression: Many Stay On The Job, Despite Mental Illness,” Rachel Martin

“In medicine, law, and aviation -- and other fields responsible for people's lives and livelihoods -- strict regulations attempt to promote safety, but may discourage people from getting the help they need.”

The Atlantic Monthly, April 16, 2015: “Mentally Ill in a High-Stakes Job,” by Karen Veazy

According to workplace psychologist Jennifer Newman, the revelation that the Germanwings Flight 9525 co-pilot was depressed is actual an opportunity to cast aside some of the stigma associated with depression.

“... ‘talking about depression helps people a lot and that’s one part of the fallout of this -- I think we’re going to be talking more about it.’”

Click here to hear the full interview with Jennifer Newman (audio, 7:53 min.).

CBC News, April 2, 2015: “Germanwings Flight 4U9525 highlights issue of depression at work“

“Nearly 568,000 uninsured people who have been diagnosed with a serious mental health condition would have received treatment in 2014 if their states had chosen to expand Medicaid, according to the American Mental Health Counselors Association, a professional organization that does advocacy and education. That’s one in five of the nearly 3 million uninsured adults with serious mental health conditions who live in the 24 states that did not expand Medicaid last year. That treatment would have been fully paid for by the federal government.”

Washington Post, April 14, 2015: “These states leave the most mentally ill adults untreated. Guess what else they have in common,” by Ana Swanson

AMHCA, March 2015: “Access Denied: Non-Medicaid Expansion States Blocked Uninsured People with Serious Mental Illness from Receiving Affordable, Needed Treatments”(40 pages, PDF)

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New NLRB Union Election Rules Now in Effect

“An Obama administration rule that speeds up the process by which employees can unionize will take effect Tuesday [April 14, 2015] after Republicans last month failed to block the measure.”

“Under the new National Labor Relations Board rules, employees could potentially organize a union in less than two weeks, compared to the previous average of 38 days between the time a petition is filed and the election is held.”

“Labor groups say this will prevent management from needlessly delaying union elections. But Republicans and business groups contend it will not give companies enough time to prepare for union elections.”

“A number of business groups ... are challenging the rule in court. Meanwhile, the NLRB is moving ahead with the union election rule.”

Click here to read the guidance memo issued by General Counsel Richard F. Griffin, Jr. on modifications to the representation case procedures(36 pages, PDF).

You can also visit NLRB’s webpage on conducting elections to access all of the documents that have been designed to assist practitioners and the public in implementing the changes in representation case processing.

The Hill, April 14, 2015: “Obama pro-union rule to take effect,” by Tim Devaney

National Labor Relations Board, April 6, 2015: “NLRB General Counsel Issues Guidance for Representation Case Rule Implementation“

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Harvard Makes Strides Towards Tenure-Track Gender Parity

“For the first time in its history, Harvard University hired an equal number of women and men as junior faculty members in 2014-15, according to a new report from its Office of Faculty Development and Diversity. Harvard took on 62 new tenure-track faculty members this year, exactly half of whom were women; 24 percent were minority. Some 28 percent of the Harvard ladder faculty over all are women -- at 438 faculty members, that’s about 90 more than even 10 years ago.”

“Harvard says it’s cautiously optimistic that the gender parity can be maintained over time; while many factors play into such an outcome, the university’s made a significant effort to welcome more women onto the faculty in recent years by conducting broader, more inclusive faculty searches and through various pipeline efforts aimed at increasing the number of female faculty members.”

Inside Higher Ed, April 10, 2015: “Harvard U. Achieves Gender Parity in Junior Faculty Hires”

Harvard University, Office of Faculty Development and Diversity, April, 2015: “Faculty Snapshot 2014-2015” (2 pages, PDF)

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The Last Coal Miners of Spain

“Gonnord’s photographs also share an affinity with Lewis Hine’s portraits of child laborers (particularly those of children employed in the Pennsylvania coal mines); Dorothea Lange’s Dust Bowl portraits; and, more recently, Ruben E. Reyes’s portraits of foreign laborers in Dubai.”

“A difference here is that the Spanish miners do not resent the dirty, thankless work they do. They see no better way of supporting their families. They are fighting to remain in the mines, enduring the backbreaking labor and inhaling the noxious dust, despite the increased cancer rates and reduced life expectancy.”

The New York Times Magazine, April 10, 2015: “The Last Coal Miners of Spain,” text by Nathaniel Richapril

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Book of the Week

The Tumbleweed Society: Working and Caring in an Age of Insecurity, by Allison J. Pugh. New York, NY : Oxford University Press, 2015. 262 p. ISBN 9780199957712 (hardback)

From the publisher: "Drawing on 80 in-depth interviews with three groups of parents (mostly women) who vary in their experiences of job insecurity, Pugh explores how people adapt to the new American landscape of uncertainty and insecurity--some with cool acceptance, others with denial or pragmatism, and still others with astounding altruism and over-commitment. She observes that many workers today adopt what she calls the ‘one-way honor system.’ Faced with perpetual insecurity both at work and at home, Pugh finds that people defensively construct stronger and thicker walls between the two, expecting little or nothing from their jobs and placing nearly all of their expectations for enduring and fulfilling connections on their intimate relationships. This trend, she argues, often has the effect of making individuals' intimate lives, in which some invest so much in an effort to countervail the insecurity of work, in fact more fraught, reproducing the very ‘tumbleweed’ dynamics they seek to check. By examining how we adapt ourselves, and prepare our children, for a new environment of uncertainty, Pugh gives us a finely detailed rendering of what ‘commitment’ now means and how we still try to find it."

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