Perry Work Report: work&labour news&research, December 4, 2015

December 4, 2015

Announcement:

December 3, 2015: International Day of Persons with Disabilities

The theme for 2015 is Inclusion matters: access and empowerment for people of all abilities

Sub-themes: 

  • Making cities inclusive and accessible for all   
  • Improving disability data and statistics   
  • Including persons with invisible disabilities in society and development

“The estimated one billion people living with disabilities worldwide face many barriers to inclusion in many key aspects of society. As a result, people with disabilities do not enjoy access to society on an equal basis with others, which includes areas of transportation, employment, and education as well as social and political participation. The right to participate in public life is essential to create stable democracies, active citizenship and reduce inequalities in society.”

“By promoting empowerment, real opportunities for people are created. This enhances their own capacities and supports them in setting their own priorities. Empowerment involves investing in people - in jobs, health, nutrition, education, and social protection. When people are empowered they are better prepared to take advantage of opportunities, they become agents of change and can more readily embrace their civic responsibilities.”

United Nations Enable, December 3, 2015: “International Day of Persons with Disabilities, 3 December 2015"

Statistics Canada, December 3, 2015: “Canadian Survey on Disability, 2012 -- A Profile of the Labour Market Experiences of Adults with Disabilities among Canadians aged 15 years or older, 2012," by Matthew Till, Tim Leonard, Sebastian Yeung & Gradon Nicholls (20 pages, PDF)

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Our Demographic Destiny 2050: How We Will Work, How We Will Live, and How We Will Age

“The year 2050 is right around the corner, and yet it is hard to imagine ... In a multimedia series, The Wall Street Journal helps readers envision how we will work, how we will live, and how we will age by 2050.”

The Wall Street Journal, November 2015: Demographic Destiny 2050

WSJ 2050: How Demographics Rule the Global Economy -- Articles are available on the following issues:

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Don't Ban Ride Sharing. Rethink Regulation. But Can You Trust Uber?

“Taxi drivers are in a real bind. Their loyalty to the old model is not surprising, but it works against the public interest. Worse, it harms their own self-interest. The Uber model for drivers is more efficient, less expensive to get into and provides participants with more control over the prices they charge and the hours they drive.”

“If they thought it through, cabbies would abandon the current model and push for one that, as the Competition Bureau says, has the lightest possible regulatory touch, and whose regulations are the same for all drivers, old or new. Don’t limit entry into the market and don’t set fares; do require car inspections, police background checks and a reasonable level of insurance.”

“In other words, make taxis a lot more Uber-like, and Uber a little bit more taxi-like. That’s the right balance.”

The Globe and Mail, November 29, 2015: “In the Uber-vs-taxi battle, less regulation is the way to go”

Competition Bureau, November 26, 2015: “Don’t ban ride-sharing. Rethink regulation,” by John Pecman

Competition Bureau, November 26, 2015: “Modernizing Regulation in the Canadian Taxi Industry”

Mowat Centre: “Emerging Issues in the Taxi and Limousine Industry” (25 pages, PDF)

But Can You (the Driver that is) Trust Uber?

“Uber is partnering with Enterprise Rent-A-Car, and -- as the slogan goes -- they’ll pick you up! By ‘they’ I mean the poor schmucks who sign up to pay around $1000 a month to work for Uber. The pilot program, which launched in Denver, gives people access to a discounted rental car at $210 a week, plus taxes and fees. Uber is spinning this as a progressive, think-of-the-poor-people effort to give people who can’t afford cars ‘all-inclusive’ access to a vehicle. Yet this access comes with all sorts of strings attached that make the program a terrible job opportunity -- but a great money-making grab for Uber and Enterprise. In addition to the base payments, drivers will have to pay a $500 refundable deposit and a $40 sign-up fee. If they go over 2800 miles a month (90 miles a day) there’s also an additional $0.25 per mile fee tacked on. Someone new and bad at being an Uber driver, or working on a slow week, can end up owing Enterprise hundreds of dollars.”

Gizmodo, December 16, 2015: “Uber Launches Insane “Pay-to-Work” Car Rental Program,” by Kate Knibbs

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5 Ways to Address Canada's Internal Trade Barriers?

“A web of intricate rules and regulations still inhibits the free movement of workers and goods in Canada as the country prepares to join two massive free-trade deals spanning Europe and much of the Pacific Rim, author Laura Dawson points out in the report, Five Ways to Improve Internal Trade in Canada.”

“The report highlights five steps the new government can take to shore up the internal trade pact:

  1. Strengthen the institutional framework of the Agreement on Internal Trade (AIT). 
  2. Implement policies that facilitate greater labour mobility between provinces and harmonize apprenticeship and training programs. 
  3. Create a single national system for corporate registration and reporting. 
  4. Promote market access and regulatory coherence in provincial energy and environmental policies to help promote sustainable growth.
  5. Encourage dairy exports and the establishment of a common Canadian market to enable Canada to benefit from growing global demand for dairy products.”

The Globe and Mail, November 26, 2015: “A web of regulations hinders internal trade in Canada: report,” by Barrie McKenna

The Fraser Institute, November 26, 2015: “Toward Free Trade in Canada: Five Things the Federal Government Can Do To Open our Internal Market,” by Laura Dawson (14 pages, PDF)

Fraser Institute Misses the Mark?

“It’s widely agreed that removing barriers to labour mobility is central to building a well-functioning labour market. The key question is this: What are the real barriers to labour mobility?”

“Unfortunately, the Fraser Institute takes a narrow approach to this question. Their focus is on reducing regulatory barriers i.e. harmonizing certification standards and licensing requirements. However, by focusing solely on regulatory barriers the Fraser Institute misses the bigger picture.”

“If you were willing to pack up your family and move to another region in the country for a job, what would be your top priorities and concerns?”

“Not enough good jobs. Shrinking pension coverage. Soaring housing prices. And a lack of affordable child-care spaces. These are just a few of the real barriers that Canadians face when they consider moving to another part of the country for work.”

rabble.ca, December 1, 2015: “Fraser Institute misses the mark on real barriers to labour mobility in Canada,” by Mike Luff

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Market Power (Not Tech Change) is Killing Income Equality

“In short, a technological account of rising inequality is looking ever less plausible, and the notion that increasing workers’ skills can reverse the trend is looking less plausible still. But in that case, what is going on?”

“Suppose that we hypothesize that rising market power, rather than the ineluctable logic of modern technology, is driving the rise in inequality. How does this help make sense of what we see?”

“... [F]orms of market power that benefit large numbers of workers as opposed to small numbers of plutocrats have declined, again thanks in large part to political decisions. We tend to think of the drastic decline in unions as an inevitable consequence of technological change and globalization, but one need look no further than Canada to see that this isn’t true. Once upon a time, around a third of workers in both the US and Canada were union members; today, US unionization is down to 11 percent, while it’s still 27 percent north of the border. The difference was politics: US policy turned hostile toward unions in the 1980s, while Canadian policy didn’t follow suit. And the decline in unions seems to have major impacts beyond the direct effect on members’ wages: researchers at the International Monetary Fund have found a close association between falling unionization and a rising share of income going to the top one percent, suggesting that a strong union movement helps limit the forces causing high concentration of income at the top.”

“Following his schema, Reich argues that unions aren’t so much a source of market power as an example of ‘countervailing power’ (a term he borrows from John Kenneth Galbraith) that limits the depredations of monopolists and others. If unions are not subject to restrictions, they may do so by collective bargaining not only for wages but for working conditions. In any case, the causes and consequences of union decline, like the causes and consequences of rising monopoly power, are a very good illustration of the role of politics in increasing inequality.”

“But why has politics gone in this direction? Like a number of other commentators, Reich argues that there’s a feedback loop between political and market power. Rising wealth at the top buys growing political influence, via campaign contributions, lobbying, and the rewards of the revolving door. Political influence in turn is used to rewrite the rules of the game -- antitrust laws, deregulation, changes in contract law, union-busting -- in a way that reinforces income concentration. The result is a sort of spiral, a vicious circle of oligarchy. That, Reich suggests, is the story of America over the past generation. And I’m afraid that he’s right. So what can turn it around?”

The New York Review of Books, December 2015: “Challenging the Oligarchy,” by Paul Krugman

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Proof That Positive Work Cultures Are More Productive

“Too many companies bet on having a cut-throat, high-pressure, take-no-prisoners culture to drive their financial success. But a large and growing body of research on positive organizational psychology demonstrates that not only is a cut-throat environment harmful to productivity over time, but that a positive environment will lead to dramatic benefits for employers, employees, and the bottom line.”

“First, health care expenditures at high-pressure companies are nearly 50% greater than at other organizations. The stress of belonging to hierarchies itself is linked to disease and death.”

“Second is the cost of disengagement. Engagement in work -- which is associated with feeling valued, secure, supported, and respected -- is generally negatively associated with a high-stress, cut-throat culture. And disengagement is costly.”

“Lack of loyalty is a third cost. Research shows that workplace stress leads to an increase of almost 50% in voluntary turnover.”

“Wellbeing comes from one place, and one place only -- a positive culture. ... [T]he qualities of a positive workplace culture boils down to six essential characteristics:

  • Caring for, being interested in, and maintaining responsibility for colleagues as friends.
  • Providing support for one another, including offering kindness and compassion when others are struggling.
  • Avoiding blame and forgive mistakes.
  • Inspiring one another at work.
  • Emphasizing the meaningfulness of the work.
  • Treating one another with respect, gratitude, trust, and integrity.”

“As a boss, how can you foster these principles? The research points to four steps to try:” 1. Foster social connections 2. Show empathy 3. Go out of your way to help 4. Encourage people to talk to you -- especially about their problems.

Harvard Business Review, December 1, 2015: “Proof That Positive Work Cultures Are More Productive,” by Emma Seppala and Kim Cameron

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Organizational Sabatoge the CIA Way

“Now declassified and freely available on the CIA’s website, the manual the agency describes as ‘surprisingly relevant’ was once distributed to OSS officers abroad to assist them in training ‘citizen-saboteurs’ in occupied countries like Norway and France. Such people, writes Rebecca Onion at Slate, ‘might already be sabotaging materials, machinery, or operations of their own initiative,’ but may have lacked the devious talent for sowing chaos that only an intelligence agency can properly master.”

“You can read and download the full document here. To get a sense of just how ‘timeless’ -- according to the CIA itself -- such instructions remain, see the abridged list below, courtesy of Business Insider. You will laugh ruefully, then maybe shudder a little as you recognize how much your own workplace, and many others, resemble the kind of dysfunctional mess the OSS meticulously planned during World War II.”

“Organizations and Conferences

  • Insist on doing everything through ‘channels.’ Never permit short-cuts to be taken in order to expedite decisions.
  • Make ‘speeches.’ Talk as frequently as possible and at great length. Illustrate your ‘points’ by long anecdotes and accounts of personal experiences.
  • When possible, refer all matters to committees, for ‘further study and consideration.’ Attempt to make the committee as large as possible -- never less than five.
  • Bring up irrelevant issues as frequently as possible.
  • Haggle over precise wordings of communications, minutes, resolutions.
  • Refer back to matters decided upon at the last meeting and attempt to re-open the question of the advisability of that decision.
  • Advocate ‘caution.’ Be ‘reasonable’ and urge your fellow-conferees to be ‘reasonable’ and avoid haste which might result in embarrassments or difficulties later on.”

“Managers

  • In making work assignments, always sign out the unimportant jobs first. See that important jobs are assigned to inefficient workers.
  • Insist on perfect work in relatively unimportant products; send back for refinishing those which have the least flaw.
  • To lower morale and with it, production, be pleasant to inefficient workers; give them undeserved promotions.
  • Hold conferences when there is more critical work to be done.
  • Multiply the procedures and clearances involved in issuing instructions, pay checks, and so on. See that three people have to approve everything where one would do.”

“Employees

  • Work slowly.
  • Contrive as many interruptions to your work as you can.
  • Do your work poorly and blame it on bad tools, machinery, or equipment. Complain that these things are preventing you from doing your job right.
  • Never pass on your skill and experience to a new or less skillful worker.”

Open Culture, December 1, 2015: “Read the CIA’s Simple Sabotage Field Manual: A Timeless, Kafkaesque Guide to Subverting Any Organization with ‘Purposeful Stupidity’” 

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Why the Paris Climate Talks are Doomed to Failure, Like all the Others

“Even if the world celebrates a Paris climate deal on December 11 [2015], the process will still have to be regarded as failure. Let me explain why.”

“The basic reason is that the unequal distribution of carbon emissions is not even on its agenda. The historical responsibility of the West is not on the table, nor is a method of national carbon accounting that looks at how the emissions a country consumes rather than produces. Instead, what is on the table are expanded and new mechanisms that will allow the rich, Western countries to outsource their emission cuts so they can paint themselves green.”

“So there are more than 300 years of massive fossil fuel burning by the so-called West to account for. And while this historical responsibility still played a significant role at Kyoto in 1997 -- resulting in emissions cuts that were only legally binding for industrialised countries -- it has gradually been pushed into the background."

“Nothing significant has changed since Rio 1992 or Kyoto 1997. Paris 2015 will be no different. The talking will continue until we realise climate change is a failure of a system, which -- on the back of fossil fuel -- is geared towards exponential economic growth. Nobody who sits at the negotiation table in Paris has the mandate nor inclination to ask fundamental, systemic questions of the logic of the dominant economic system and the way we consume the resources of this planet.“

The Conversation, December 1, 2015: “Why the Paris climate talks are doomed to failure, like all the others,” by Steffen Bohm      

What Worries the World’s Most Famous Climate Scientist?

“[Scientist James] Hansen worries politicians still don’t get the urgency. He also worries that U.S. President Barack Obama and others will sell our children and theirs ‘down the river’ in Paris with more promises and no action.”

“He worries, too, that Big Green, a plethora of well-funded non-government organizations, have got their priorities all wrong. They mostly think the world can copy Germany’s renewable revolution and be blissful ever after.”

“In a recent and worrisome communique posted on his website, Hansen details his concerns by highlighting a few facts about climate change that the mainstream media often ignore.”

The Tyee, December 2, 2015: “What Worries the World’s Most Famous Climate Scientist?” by Andrew Nikiforuk

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Women Behind Bars in the US, the UK, and Canada

“Men account for more than 90 percent of those behind bars. But the number of female inmates, most of whom are mothers, has been growing at an even faster rate than the overall prison population. In 1980 there were just over 15,000 women in state prisons. By 2010 there were nearly 113,000. When jail inmates are added in, there are about 206,000 women currently serving time [in the United States] -- nearly one-third of all female prisoners in the world.”

“This soaring population is largely a result of the war on drugs; the vast majority of the women behind bars were convicted of low-level drug or property crimes, rather than violent crimes.”

”The burdens of incarceration to women are particularly heavy. A large percentage of female prisoners have experienced physical and sexual abuse in their lives ... [and p]regnant women face their own gantlet of humiliation behind bars. In 28 states, women may be shackled during labor and delivery, and while caring for their newborns -- a ‘barbaric’ practice that continues despite the lack of any evidence that they pose a threat. Most of the newborns are immediately separated from their mothers after birth.”

“And then there is the destructive impact on families. Two-thirds of women entering prison have children. If those children are lucky, they get placed with their grandparents or other stable, long-term caregivers. But many are shipped off to foster homes and bounced for years among temporary housing situations, which only makes their path to a successful adulthood more difficult.”

The New York Times, November 30, 2015: “Women Behind Bars”

Prison Policy, 2015: “States of Women’s Incarceration: The Global Context," by Aleks Kajstura and Russ Immarigeon

Recommendations for Prison Reforms for Women in the UK

“There are echoes of the US situation in the UK too. For a start, the female prison population almost trebled between 1993 and 2005. There have been some signs of a reversal but as of May this year there were still almost 4,000 women in English and Welsh prisons. Meanwhile, despite moves to build yet more jails and savage cuts to prisons and probation (with yet more intense pressure on departmental budgets via Wednesday’s spending review), reformist moves are nevertheless in the air, with Michael Gove planning to implement a range of changes such as early release.”

“There has been a shift of focus towards gender aspects of imprisonment too. One significant legal move was the Offender Rehabilitation Act 2014, where Section 10 stipulates that women’s needs 'must be identified and addressed'. On Wednesday the Prison Reform Trust (PRT) will publish a new briefing paper that lays out recommendations for reforms aimed at aiding women and mothers in particular, including alternatives to custody. Earlier this year the organisation launched a major campaign to reduce women’s imprisonment.”

The Guardian, November 27, 2015: “We must reduce the number of women in prisons,” by Mary O'Hara

Prison Reform Trust, December 2015: “Sentencing Mothers,” by Shona Minson, Rebecca Nadin and Jenny Earle (28 pages, PDF)

Prison Reform Trust [website]

Mother-Baby Program for Incarcerated Women in B.C. Canada

“An unlikely initiative at a B.C. correctional facility was doing wonders for incarcerated women. So why has it stopped? Metro investigates in the first of a three-part series.”

“Alouette staff and outside observers say the mother-baby program is safe and effective. They note the positive impacts of keeping mothers and babies together: babies reap the health benefits of breastfeeding and bonding with their mothers, and the mothers are inspired to get clean and stay out of jail.” 

“So it came as a shock when, in 2008, B.C. Corrections quietly shut down the mother-baby program, citing concerns for the babies’ safety, despite there being no known instance of harm to any child who participated in the program. Two inmates challenged the closure and in 2013, the B.C. Supreme Court ordered the program reinstated. The court held that cancelling the program discriminated against incarcerated women, particularly indigenous women, who are over represented in Canada’s correctional system, and violated the charter rights of mothers and babies to be together.”

“On June 16, 2014, B.C.’s Ministry of Justice proudly announced the opening of the newly renovated mother-baby unit at Alouette, but since then not one baby has been allowed to live at the jail. And not for want of pregnant inmates. In all, 26 babies have been born to provincially incarcerated women in B.C. since 2008. Two inmates gave birth this summer.”

Metro, December 1, 2015: Part 1: “Broken Bonds: How living with babies in jail changed inmates’ lives” 

Metro, December 2, 2015: Part 2: “Broken Bonds: Why a jail’s nursery is empty after its last mom left"

Metro, December 3, 2015: Part 3 “Broken Bonds: What jails must do to help women and their babies”

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Advancing Women's Equality in India

“McKinsey Global Institute has released a new report, The Power of Parity: Advancing Women’s Equality in India, with data showing poor levels of gender parity in Indian society. India’s global Gender Parity Score or GPS is 0.48, where a score of 1 would be ideal. India’s score represents an ‘extremely high’ level of gender inequality, which compares poorly with 0.71 for Western Europe and 0.74 for North America and Oceania.”

“The flip side to the abysmal ranking, the report suggests, is that a focus on improving gender parity can help India reap rich rewards of economic growth. ‘India could boost its GDP by $ 0.7 trillion in 2025, the largest relative boost of all 10 regions analysed by MGI. This translates into 1.4 per cent per year of incremental GDP growth for India,’ it says.”

“So how can things be improved? The key takeaway from the analysis is that there are no countries in the world with high gender equality in society but low gender equality in work. In other words, the two go hand-in-hand. Even Indian states, when mapped over these two variables, show strong linkage between gender equality in society and at work. Clearly, India must ensure that issues like the lack of female education and financial inclusion, and health and protection from violence, etc. are addressed.”

Indian Express, November 4, 2015: “How India ranks on gender parity -- and why,” by Udit Misra

McKinsey Global Institute, November 2015: “The power of parity: Advancing women’s equality in India,” byJonathan Woetzel, Anu Madgavkar, Rajat Gupta, James Manyika, Kweilin Ellingrud, Shishir Gupta, Mekala Krishnan

Download Full Report (36 pages, PDF)

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From Pocket Lining to Jeans, a Niche Means Survival in LA Fashion

This story is part of NPR’s More From American Made: The New Manufacturing Landscape series. To read and hear more stories from this series, click here.

“Los Angeles is a region better known for Hollywood, but it actually has more manufacturing jobs than any other metro area in the U.S. Of the more than half-million manufacturing jobs in the region, about 50,000 of them are in the garment industry.”

“Fashion is a big part of LA’s identity, and you feel it in the Fashion District downtown. It has changed a lot since the late 1980s, when plain beige towers called California Mart bustled with all things related to the garment industry.”

“The fashion industry here has been bleeding jobs for years. A lot of low-end work has moved overseas. Decades ago, you could work here and raise a family -- getting paid per garment -- even though it was difficult work. Back in the 1980s, when business was booming, Esperanza Monterrosa came to LA from El Salvador. She raised four kids on income she earned sewing pieces at home. She told NPR last year that her manager would drop off the material to sew along with diapers for her kids so that she wouldn’t have to leave the house.”

“By the mid-‘90s, the garment industry was changing, and some big factories closed and sent work overseas. Economists say that when factories go overseas, it forces wages for unskilled work down. While the garment industry has helped keep LA as a manufacturing city for longer than other American cities, economists agree this industry is not the way of the future.”

NPR, December 1, 2015: “From Pocket Lining To Jeans, A Niche Means Survival In LA Fashion,” by David Greene and Kelly McEvers

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A Look Inside America's Oldest Hat Factory

“Nestled inside the quaint borough of Adamstown, PA is the Bollman Hat Company, America’s oldest hat factory.”

Kottke.org, December 2015: "Video: A look inside America’s oldest hat factory"

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Learn to Code with Harvard's Popular Intro to Computer Science Course: The 2015 Edition

“Briefly noted: This fall, Harvard has been rolling out videos from the 2015 edition of Computer Science 50 (CS50), the university’s introductory coding course designed for majors and non-majors alike. Taught by David Malan, a perennially popular professor (you’ll immediately see why), the one-semester course (taught mostly in C) combines courses typically known elsewhere as ‘CS1’ and ‘CS2.’”

“Even if you’re not a Harvard student, you’re welcome to follow CS50 online by heading over to the This is CS50 website, or this alternative site here. There you will find video lectures (stream them all above or access them individually here), problem sets, quizzes, and other useful course materials. Once you’ve mastered the material covered in CS50, you can start branching out into new areas of coding by perusing our big collection of Free Online Computer Science Courses, a subset of our larger collection, 1150 Free Online Courses from Top Universities.”

Open Culture, December 2015: “Learn to Code with Harvard’s Popular Intro to Computer Science Course: The 2015 Edition”

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Book of the Week

All Day Long: a Portrait of Britain at Work, by Joanna Biggs. London: Serpent's Tail, 2015. 285 p. ISBN 9781781251874 (hardcover)

From the publisher: "Nearly all of us have to work, but how much do we really know about what other people do all day? What is it like to be a fishmonger, a sex worker or an Orthodox rabbi? Or a banker, a research scientist or a carer? How do our jobs affect our lives, beliefs and happiness? And what happens when we don't work? Joanna Biggs has travelled the country to find the answers, talking to interns and bosses, professionals and entrepreneurs, thinkers and doers. She takes us from Westminster to the Outer Hebrides, from a hospital in Wales to the industrial Midlands, introducing us to different worlds of work and the people who inhabit them.Rich with the voices of the wealthy and poor, native and immigrant, women and men of the UK in the twenty-first century, All Day Long shows us who we are through what we do."

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