June 5, 2015
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- Academics Slam LabourWatch Tactics
- Canadian Government's Civil Service Gay 'Purges'
- Misplaced Optimism of Gender Diversity Targets
- Corporate Crime: How to Avoid Prosecution
- Protecting Whistle-Blowers
- Unionization Rates Falling; Composition Changing
- CBAs: Access to Construction-Related Jobs for Youth, Women, Aboriginals, Veterans and Newcomers to Ontario
- B.C. Labour Deal Promises Labour Stability for Megaproject
- Canadian Retirement Troubles?
- The Toll of the 24/7 Work Culture on Women
- Bonuses and Perks Muscle Out Pay Raises for Workers
- Essays about Work and Class That Caught a College's Eye
- Young Grads Still Face an Uphill Climb
- The Changing Nature of Jobs
Academics Slam LabourWatch Tactics
“A B.C. Conservative MP and a Vancouver-based advocacy group are fighting for a tough union disclosure law using tactics that showed disregard for the very principles the legislation is attempting to entrench, according to a new academic paper.”
“MP Russ Hiebert and the anti-union organization LabourWatch are the key players behind C-377, a bill that would require unions to publicly disclose financial statements and details of all expenses over $5,000 and remuneration to anyone totalling over $100,000.”
“But their effort provides a case study on how Canada’s laws shouldn’t be constructed, the authors argue.”
“The evidence marshaled in this paper shows that the broader campaign to adopt C-377 -- a bill meant to force U.S.-style financial disclosure mechanisms on Canadian unions -- has ironically demonstrated a disregard for transparency and accountability,” according to Andrew Stevens and Sean Tucker, members of the University of Regina’s business faculty.”
“Titled “Working in the Shadows for Transparency: Russ Hiebert, LabourWatch, Nanos Research and the Making of Bill C-377," the authors argue that there was a “‘paradox of transparency’ whereby anti-union lobby groups demand transparency for unions but shun the practice of public openness themselves. The paper appears in Labour/Le Travail, a journal published by the Canadian Committee on Labour History.”
Vancouver Sun, May 24, 2015: “Academics slam tactics of Vancouver group behind anti-union law,” by Peter O'Neil
University of Toronto UTORID link to Labour/Le Travail, Spring 2015: “Working in the Shadows for Transparency: Russ Hiebert, LabourWatch, Nanos Research, and the Making of Bill C-377,” by Andrew Stevens, Sean Tucker
“Said Segal, now the head of Massey College in Toronto: 'C377 was bad legislation, unconstitutional and an undue invasion of individual privacy two years ago, and it is no better this year.'"
Ottawa Citizen, May 12, 2015: “Senators brace for another battle on union finance bill,” by Jordan Press
Listen to the Public Lecture on C-377:
“Private member’s Bill C-377 ‘An Act to amend the Income Tax Act (requirements for labour organizations)’ has generated significant controversy since it was introduced in late-2011. The proposed Act will require trade unions to publicly disclose detailed financial information about their activities as well as information about the proportion of time union leaders engage in political and lobbying activities. This presentation explains the generation of public and political support for C-377 by examining the connection between an influential 2011 LabourWatch-sponsored Nanos Research poll that reported 83% of Canadians supported public disclosure of union financial information, the Conservative government’s anti-union agenda, and the political economy of polling agencies in Canada. We draw on data from Hansard transcripts, individual interviews with key informants, freedom of information requests, personal correspondence between the authors and the parties involved in the LabourWatch-Nanos Research poll, and newspaper reports. We find that the actions of groups and individuals associated with creating, disseminating, and reviewing the LabourWatch-Nanos Research poll show contempt for the principle of transparency.”
“Here is their lecture on Bill C-377 at the University of Regina. A copy of the presentation slides are available here for download.”
Note: Clarifications and corrections to audio recording / lecture can be downloaded here.
Part 1: download C377 part 1 mp3
Part 2: download C377 part 2 mp3
rankandfile.ca, October 14, 2015: “Public lecture on C-377: Working in the shadows for transparency”
Canadian Government's Civil Service Gay 'Purges'
“Between 1958 and 1992, hundreds, if not thousands, of gay and lesbian Canadians were fired from their civil service jobs, interrogated by government officials or spied on by the RCMP.“
“According to [Gary Kinsman, Laurentian University professor and co-author of The Canadian War on Queers], the ... ‘purges’ forced numerous gay Canadians back into the closet at best, or cut short both lives and careers at worst. ’It expelled us from the fabric of the nation,’ he said. ‘And it constructed heterosexuality as the normal, natural, safe and secure sexuality.’”
“The purges continued throughout the 1980s, and only ceased once the Supreme Court ruled the charter prohibited discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation in 1995. Now, 20 years later, the LGBT community is demanding an apology.”
“There are parallels between how LGBT were treated by security officials in the past, and how Muslims are treated today, Kinsman said. He also noted the upcoming Bill C-51 targets groups including environmental activists and Indigenous rights groups like Idle No More.”
“’We need to think more critically about claims regarding national security,’ he said. 'We should always be asking ‘whose security are we trying to defend?’”
Metro News, June 1, 2015: “Group demands apology for Canadian government’s gay ‘purges’,” by Luke Simcoe
Global News, June 2, 2015: "Former Canadian Forces members say they were kicked out for being gay, ask government for apology,” by Vassy Kapelos
YouTube, June 2, 2015: “Press Conference with We Demand An Apology Network,” by Craig Scott
“Less than two months after Bruce Jenner revealed to the world that 'for all intents and purposes, I am a woman,’ during a prime-time TV interview, she donned a white bustier on the cover of Vanity Fair as Caitlyn Jenner.”
“But what’s being presented as a seemingly fairytale story is not the reality for many transgender people .... [W]hile there are increasingly more transgender people who are welcomed by their families and communities, some face systemic transphobia through the denial of health care, difficulty finding a place to live or workplace discrimination.“
A “hidden cost of transitioning is the possible 'domino effect’ of discrimination .... Transgender people often face employment, housing and health-care discrimination ....” Some even face violence, lose their jobs, or are not hired in the first place because of their transition.
“In [a] U.S. survey (228 pages, PDF), respondents were nearly four times more likely than the general population to live in a household bringing in less than $10,000 US annually and were twice as likely to be unemployed.“
CBC News, June 3, 2015: “Caitlyn Jenner’s transition doesn’t represent most transgender experiences,” by Aleksandra Sagan
The Rights of LGBTI People in the European Union
“[D]iscrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) persons persists throughout the EU, taking various forms including verbal abuse and physical violence. Sexual orientation is now recognised in EU law as a ground of discrimination. However, the scope of these provisions is limited and does not cover social protection, healthcare, education and access to goods and services, leaving LGBTI people particularly vulnerable in these areas.“
European Parliamentary Research Service, May 19, 2015: "The rights of LGBTI people in the European Union," by Piotr Bakowski, Marc Lilienkamp and Rosamund Shreeve [download the PDF version, 10 pages, here]
Misplaced Optimism of Gender Diversity Targets
“So how’s the Ontario Security Commission’s new ‘comply or explain’ policy doing in nudging our public companies to put more women on their boards?”
“Well, if the first six months offer any clue, it will take 68 more years before boards will reach gender parity – longer than anyone reading this piece will be alive.”
“The reality is that six months into the new regime, 44 per cent of S&P/TSX companies haven’t yet begun to comply with the OSC rule to create policies to improve gender diversity on their boards.”
“But overriding this number is an even more disturbing one: Of the 243 companies listed on the S&P/TSX, roughly 75 still have no women on their boards.”
“This is maddening. But it isn’t hard to believe. In fact, this corporate foot-dragging is entirely predictable: It’s exactly what happened in Norway, where, since 2006, regulations have required that women fill at least 40 per cent of a company’s board seats. ...[N]ine years after introducing the 40-per-cent quota in Norway, the great debate the law unleashed has died down completely. The quota has been successful and has gained broad acceptance.”
“[And] the quota happened because the multiyear period of voluntary compliance put in place by Norwegian regulators failed utterly.”
“So if Canada’s young new policy of ‘comply or explain’ doesn’t look as if it’s working, why don’t we turn to the model that’s proven over time it works?”
The Globe and Mail, June 2, 2015: “The misplaced optimism of gender diversity targets,” Bob Ramsay
The Globe and Mail, May 31, 2015: “How different countries stack up when it comes to gender diversity on corporate boards” [video, 2:54min.]
Torys LLP, May 31, 2015: “Women in the C-Suite: Can Securities Law Advance Gender Equality?,” by Rima Ramchandani, Glen Johnson and Michele Cousens (8 pages, PDF) [Note: this is a preview of a larger report, the complete Capital Markets Mid-Year Report 2015 will be released June 16]
Corporate Crime: How to Avoid Prosecution
“John Manley has mounted a spirited defense for the one legal recourse that many experts on corporate crime deem to be unlikely to prevent, deter or punish: the deferred prosecution agreement. As Mr. Manley writes, a deferred prosecution allows charges against a corporate defendant to be stayed provided the firm pays a substantial penalty, implements new compliance measures and avoids future wrongdoing. Further, if a company fails to abide by the settlement terms prosecutors can easily revive the charges and press for a conviction.’“
“A more critical perspective would situate the deferred prosecution as the latest incarnation of the historical propensity for governments to allow corporations to avoid criminal prosecution.”
The Globe and Mail, June 2, 2015: “Deferred prosecution won’t put a dent in corporate crime,” by Stephen Schneider
The Globe and Mail, May 29, 2015: “Canada needs new tools to fight corporate wrongdoing,” by John Manley
“And, even when criminal charges are laid, they’re often settled with so-called ‘deferred prosecution agreements,’ where no wrongdoing is admitted. (In Canada, too, there’s a push by the Ontario Securities Commission to have more “no fault” deals in a bid to clear case backlogs.) 'The [dearth] of prosecutions is why people have ‘too big to jail’ concerns,’ says Brandon Garrett, a University of Virginia law professor who wrote a book on the subject. ‘It’s not just about the financial crisis, but a problem across all sorts of corporate prosecutions.’”
Macleans, February 13, 2015: “Why the U.S. has come down easy on white-collar crime,” by Chris Sorensen
“There is little evidence that Wall Street has changed its ways, seven years after the financial crisis that threatened its very existence. Its leading champions still seem content to chalk up repeated instances of rogue behaviour to a few bad apples rather than an industry culture in which greed and arrogance are considered the prerequisites of success.“
The Globe and Mail, May 22, 2015: “Seven years later, is Wall Street too big and brash again,” by Konrad Yakabuski
Protecting Whistle-Blowers
“In a bid to create a safe and secure way for sources and whistle-blowers to communicate with us, The Globe and Mail has become the first Canadian media organization to launch a system known as SecureDrop.”
“Already used by The New Yorker, The Guardian, The Washington Post and more than a dozen other publications, SecureDrop creates a channel for anonymous and encrypted Internet communications that can link potential sources with investigative journalists.”
“Anonymity is built into the system, although people who want to use SecureDrop are cautioned to do so from a computer that is not controlled by an institution.”
“Messages and files that are uploaded are automatically encrypted. They can be decrypted only by a dedicated machine that is under The Globe and Mail’s control. This machine is not connected to any network, including the Internet.”
The Globe and Mail, March 4, 2015: “The Globe adopts encrypted technology in effort to protect whistle-blowers,” by Colin Freeze
SecureDrop at The Globe and Mail [website]
Mashable, October 15, 2013: “SecureDrop: Aaron Swartz’s Platform for Whistleblowers Rebooted," by Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai
Unionization Rates Falling; Composition Changing
“Women are now more likely than men to be unionized -- a big change from pre-1960s unions that were predominantly male -- according to a Statistics Canada report released [on May 28, 2015].”
“‘Today, a union member is slightly more likely to be a woman, and working in an office, school or hospital, while factory workers, miners and other blue-collar trades have seen their union membership fall over the past quarter century,’ the report said.”
“However, the “overall number of unionized workers is dropping, especially among younger men, according to the report, which studied the number of employees who are union members as a proportion of the workforce.”
“'We have already seen the impact of women’s growing presence in the union sectors,’ [said Anne Forrest, professor of women’s studies at the University of Windsor and president of the faculty association].”
“She said more woman have become union leaders -- like her -- and more ‘women’s issues’ have made their way to the bargaining table. That can include maternity leave, personal release days to allow time to care for a sick child, and other family-focused benefits.”
The Windsor Star, May 28, 2015: “Rates of unionized workers falling; more women than men in unions,” by Carolyn Thompson
Statistics Canada, May 28, 2015: “Canadian Megatrends: Unionization rates falling“
CBAs: Access to Construction-Related Jobs for Youth, Women, Aboriginals, Veterans and Newcomers to Ontario
“In a move that could create hundreds of skilled-trade apprenticeships and construction jobs in priority neighbourhoods, Queen’s Park is poised to enact legislation this week that will require contractors to hire apprentices and develop local recruitment programs if they want to bid on large infrastructure contracts, such as transit projects.“
“The new rules, which form part of a legislative package that earmarks $130-billion for infrastructure over the next decade, will establish so-called ‘community benefits agreements’ (CBAs) for all large-scale infrastructure projects. No other state or provincial-level government in North America has this kind of law on the books.”
“The amendments that will be passed in the legislature state that bidders develop recruiting strategies to create better access to construction-related jobs for youth, women, aboriginals, veterans and newcomers to Ontario.“
The Globe and Mail, June 3, 2015: “New rules require Ontario megaproject bidders to set up recruitment programs,” by John Lorinc
Legislative Assembly of Ontario, June 2015: “Bill 6: An Act to enact the Infrastructure for Jobs and Prosperity Act, 2015″
B.C. Labour Deal Promises Labour Stability for Megaproject
“A new labour deal means union and non-union workers as well as independent First Nations’ contractors will build the $9 billion Site C hydroelectric dam in northern British Columbia.”
“The agreement announced Wednesday between BC Hydro and the B.C. and Yukon Territory Building Construction Trades Council is expected to bring labour stability to the project that has already drawn legal challenges from landowners and First Nations.”
“Under the agreement, BC Hydro will place greater weight on project bids that include union members, while unions have waived the practice of signing project labour deals that restrict other non-affiliated groups from working on the site.”
CBC News, May 25, 2015: “Site C labour deal promises labour stability for megaproject,” by Dirk Meissner
“BC Hydro has agreed to give union labour an edge when it chooses the contractors who will build the $8.8-billion Site C dam -- a partial retreat from its “open shop” approach for the project.”
“The Crown corporation has abandoned its long-standing practice of using project labour agreements, which ensured no strikes and no lockouts, and provided standard wages and benefits for workers on the job site. The unions said that approach would bring chaos to the construction site and would favour cheap foreign labour on what is to be the province’s most expensive public-works project in history.”
The Globe and Mail, May 27, 2015: “Unionized construction workers reach deal on B.C.’s Site C dam,” by Justine Hunter
Canadian Retirement Troubles?
“The deputy chief economist at Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce is making an impassioned plea to reform the country’s retirement system as quickly as possible.”
“’Add it all up, and there are some 5.8 million working-age Canadians who will see more than a 20-per-cent drop in their living standards upon retirement,’ Benjamin Tal said in a report.”
“’That’s why the time to act is now.’”
The Globe and Mail, June 2, 2015: “Millions of Canadians risk losing ‘retirement of their dreams,’ study warns,” by Michael Babad
“Tal says people born during the Second World War are on track to maintain ‘virtually all’ of their pre-retirement income — meaning if they found themselves taking in roughly $50,000 per year from various sources before retirement, they’re likely to take in at least that much every year in retirement.”
“But the scale starts sliding quickly after that. For the next generation known as the 'baby boom,’ according to Tal’s numbers, their retirement expectations are ‘only slightly less advantaged.’”
“‘But their children are much less well positioned, given the current trend towards lower savings rates and reduced private pension coverage,’ Tal said.”
“The average person born in the 1980s onwards, who will retire towards the middle of this century, is on track to see only 70 per cent of his or her pre-retirement income, ‘implying a 30 per cent drop in their standard of living.’”
CBC News, June 2, 2015: “Younger workers more likely to see less income in retirement, CIBC says”
CIBC Economics, May 29, 2015: “Weekly Market Insight: Economic Update," by Benjamin Tal (5 pages, PDF)
The C.D. Howe Institute sees the issue differently.
“In short, don’t believe the doom and gloom, says Malcolm Hamilton, an actuary and pension expert. Hamilton is currently a Senior Fellow at the C.D. Howe Institute, a public policy think tank. He concludes in a study published Thursday [June 4, 2015] that we may need less than we think and be better off than we think.”
The Toronto Star, June 4, 2015: “Don’t worry, you’re probably saving enough for retirement, by Adam Mayers
C.D. Howe Institute, June 4, 2015: “Do Canadians Save too Little?,” by Malcom Hamilton (32 pages, PDF)
The Toll of the 24/7 Work Culture on Women
Some researchers are now arguing that the biggest obstacle to women in joining the highest ranks of the business world is no longer a lack of family-friendly policies but rather the surge in hours of work.
“Offering family-friendly policies is too narrow a solution to the problem, recent research argues, and can have unintended consequences. When women cut back at work to cope with long hours, they end up stunting their careers.”
“’These 24/7 work cultures lock gender inequality in place, because the work-family balance problem is recognized as primarily a woman’s problem,’ said Robin Ely, a professor at Harvard Business School who was a co-author of a recent study on the topic. ‘The very well-intentioned answer is to give women benefits, but it actually derails women’s careers. The culture of overwork affects everybody.’”
“The researchers ... concluded that the problem was not women’s competing demands but that ‘two orthodoxies remain unchallenged: the necessity of long work hours and the inescapability of women’s stalled advancement.’”
“The study is being released as part of Harvard Business School’s new gender initiative, led by Ms. Ely, to use empirical evidence to discuss gender issues in business and society.”
The New York Times, May 28, 2015: “The 24/7 Work Culture’s Toll on Families and Gender Equality,” by Claire Cain Miller
The New York Times, May 26, 2015: “When Family-Friendly Policies Backfire,” by Claire Cain Miller
Harvard Business School, Research Symposium Gender & Work: Challenging Conventional Wisdom, 2013: “The Work-Family Narrative as a Social Defense,” by Irene Padavic, Robin J. Ely, and Erin Reid (8 pages, PDF)
Harvard Business School, May 2015: “Life and Leadership After HBS: Findings” (17 pages, PDF)
Harvard Business School Gender Initiative [website]
Bonuses and Perks Muscle Out Pay Raises for Workers
“Yacht-size bonuses for Wall Street big shots and employee-of-the-month plaques for supermarket standouts are nothing new, but companies’ continued efforts to keep costs down have pushed employers to increasingly turn to one-off bonuses and nonmonetary rewards at the expense of annual pay raises. ‘There is a quiet revolution in compensation,’ said Ken Abosch, a partner at Aon Hewitt, a global human resources company. ‘There are not many things in the world of compensation that are all that radical, but this is a drastic shift.’”
“’It affects the C.E.O. all the way down to the guy who sweeps the factory floor,” Mr. Abosch said. Ninety-one percent of the companies surveyed have at least one broad-based reward program, up from 78 percent in 2005 and 47 percent in 1991.”
“Perhaps more surprisingly, the trend now extends to sectors like higher education and agriculture, as well as to the government, which historically resist performance-based rewards because they often rely on subjective judgments.“
“At Squaremouth, a software company in St. Petersburg, Fla., most employees received an annual raise of 0.8 percent for 2015, just enough to match last year’s rise in consumer prices. But staff members have been treated to other sweeteners like new Apple Watches -- preordered with choice of size and color -- a $200 ‘beer’ bonus, birthdays off and the installation of a “hangover couch” for midday snoozes.”
The New York Times, May 25, 2015: “One-Time Bonuses and Perks Muscle Out Pay Raises for Workers,” by Patricia Cohen
Essays about Work and Class That Caught a College's Eye
The very reluctance to write college admissions essay about work is what “makes tackling the topic a risk worth taking at schools where it is hard to stand out from the thousands of other applicants. Financial hardship and triumph, and wants and needs, are the stuff of great literature. Reflecting on them is one excellent way to differentiate yourself in a deeply personal way.”
“Each year, to urge them on, we put out an open call for application essays about these subjects and publish the best essays that we can find.”
“In writing about her father’s search for a job, [Carolina Sosa] described the man named Dave who turned him away.”
"‘Job searching is difficult for everyone, but in a world full of Daves, it’s almost impossible,’ she wrote. 'Daves are people who look at my family and immediately think less of us. They think illegal, poor and uneducated. Daves never allow my dad to pass the first round of job applications. Daves watch like hawks as my brother and I enter stores. Daves inconsiderately correct my mother’s grammar. Because there are Daves in the world, I have become a protector for my family.’"
“In another, Jon Carlo Dominguez of North Bergen, N.J., discusses his choice to turn right out his front door, toward the prep school he attends, instead of left, toward his neighborhood school. When the two schools meet on the football field, he writes, some of his classmates shout, 'That’s all right, that’s O.K., you’ll be working for us someday.’“
The New York Times, May 21, 2015: “Essays About Work and Class That Caught a College’s Eye,” by Ron Lieber
The New York Times, May 21, 2015: “Students and Money, in Their Own Words,” compiled by Ron Lieber
Graduating Words
“Caitlyn Cannon, a recent alumna of Oak Hills High School in California, explained in her yearbook quote why she needs feminism.”
“I need feminism because I intend on marrying rich and I can’t do that if my wife and I are making .75 cent for every dollar a man makes.”
Global News, May 28, 2015: “High school graduate tackles feminism, wage gap in viral yearbook quote,” by Jane Armstrong
And once you’ve been accepted by a college, fought your way through several years of studying, and made it to your graduation, things don’t get any easier.
“Robert De Niro put it bluntly to the graduating class of New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts: ‘You’re fucked.’”
“’On this day of triumphantly graduating, a new door is opening for you: a door to a lifetime of rejection,’ he said, only partially joking.”
Young Grads Still Face an Uphill Climb
This report is part of Raising America’s Pay, a multi-year research and public education initiative of the Economic Policy Institute to make wage growth an urgent national policy priority.
Despite an improving economy “the Class of 2015 still faces real economic challenges, as evidenced by elevated levels of unemployment and underemployment, and a large share of graduates who still remain ‘idled’ by the economy.”
“Key findings include:
- Unemployment and underemployment rates among young graduates are improving but remain substantially higher than before the recession began.
- The high share of unemployed and underemployed young college graduates ... stems from weak demand for goods and services, which makes it unnecessary for employers to significantly ramp up hiring.
- The share of young graduates who are ‘idled’ by the economy -- neither enrolled in further schooling nor employed -- remains elevated in the wake of the Great Recession.
- Wages of young college and high school graduates are performing poorly ...
- The overall unemployment rates, idling rates, and wages of young graduates mask substantial racial and ethnic disparities in these measures.
- Due to young college graduates’ limited job opportunities, stagnating wages, and the rising cost of higher education, college is becoming an increasingly difficult investment.“
Economic Policy Institute, May 27, 2015: “The Class of 2015: Despite an Improving Economy, Young Grads Still Face an Uphill Climb,” by Alyssa Davis, Will Kimball, and Elise Gould [download the PDF here, 36 pages]
“This month Britain’s universities will churn out 350,000 graduates in the class of 2015. But once the end-of-year celebrations are over, almost half of those who manage to find work will be entering jobs that do not formally require a degree (see chart). Economists believe that much of this difficulty lies in matching the supply of graduates to the available jobs.”
The Economist, June 3, 2015: “Mismatch,” by B.D.C
The Changing Nature of Jobs
“Only one quarter of workers worldwide is estimated to have a stable employment relationship, according to a new report by the International Labour Organization (ILO).”
“The World Employment and Social Outlook 2015 (WESO) finds that, among countries with available data (covering 84 per cent of the global workforce), three quarters of workers are employed on temporary or short-term contracts, in informal jobs often without any contract, under own-account arrangements or in unpaid family jobs.”
“The first edition of the new, annual flagship report, entitled The Changing Nature of Jobs, shows that while wage and salaried work is growing worldwide, it still accounts for only half of global employment, with wide variations across regions. For example, in the developed economies and Central and South-Eastern Europe, around eight in ten workers are employees, whereas in South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa the figure is closer to two in ten.”
“Another current trend is the rise in part-time employment, especially among women. In the majority of countries with available information, part-time jobs outpaced gains in full-time jobs between 2009 and 2013.”
ILO, May 18, 2015: “ILO warns of widespread insecurity in the global labour market”
ILO, May 18, 2015: “World Employment and Social Outlook: The Changing Nature of Jobs” [download the full report (155 pages, PDF) or a summary of report (7 pages, PDF)]
ILO’s the changing nature of jobs -- World Employment and Social Outlook 2015 [website]
Book of the Week
The Great Divide: Unequal Societies and What We Can Do About Them, by Joseph E. Stiglitz. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2015. 428 p. ISBN 9780393248579 (hardcover)
From the publisher: "How has America become the most unequal advanced country in the world, and what can we do about it? In The Great Divide, Joseph E. Stiglitz expands on the diagnosis he offered in his best-selling book The Price of Inequality and suggests ways to counter America's growing problem. With his signature blend of clarity and passion, Stiglitz argues that inequality is a choice -- the cumulative result of unjust policies and misguided priorities. Gathering his writings for popular outlets including Vanity Fair and the New York Times, Stiglitz exposes in full America's inequality: its dimensions, its causes, and its consequences for the nation and for the world."
“Economist Joseph Stiglitz and former Labor Secretary Robert Reich reminisce about opposing ‘corporate welfare’ during their days in the Clinton Administration and talk here about problematic trade deals, income inequality and Stiglitz’s new book, The Great Divide: Unequal Societies and What We Can Do About Them. Reich and Stiglitz are presented by the Goldman School of Public Policy at UC Berkeley. Recorded on 04/29/2015.”
YouTube, University of California Television (UCTV), May 22, 2015: “The Great Divide with Joseph Stiglitz and Robert Reich”
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