April 21, 2011
- Recent CIRHR Library Tweets
- You still believe in a free market economy…?
- Battleground Wisconsin: a documentary
- Academic Freedom – a plea for civility
- Polarization of the Labor Market
- The Slate Jobs Map
- Mandatory Retirement at 60 for Ontario Firefighters
- Privacy Rights upheld on Employee Work Computer
- Older Workers More Productive
- Health Conditions of Migrant Workers in Canada
- Social Media – use Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn in your job search
- Recognizing and Rewarding Employees in Canadian Organizations
- Creating a Sustainable Rewards and Talent Management Model
- Country at a Glance--International Labor Comparisons
- DVD of the Week
Recent CIRHR Library Tweets, April 12 – 21, 2011
Air Transat flight attendants seek conciliation: The union re... http://bit.ly/ie1i4d LabourNews LabourNews April 20, 2011
Dispute over pay raises pushes Kelowna toward transit strike http://t.co/vhWDDRR via @globeandmail, April 20, 2011
Ken Georgetti describes CLC's 2011 (Vancouver) convention theme: Good Jobs. Better Lives. Unions make a difference: http://bit.ly/dQTRbK CanadianLabour Canadian Labour, April 21, 2011
Study finds widespread violations of standards for underage workers in Alberta: More than one in five employ... http://bit.ly/gwbNEd LabourNews LabourNews, April 20, 2011
Debt taking shine off Canadians' golden years http://t.co/hwjzVxc /via @globeandmail, April 21, 2011
Air Canada pilots return to talks with carrier http://t.co/5mihn98 /via @globeandmail, April 20, 2011
Federal immigration policies give Ontario fewer skilled workers, McGuinty says http://t.co/XMHkRda/via @globeandmail, April 21, 2011
Looking for entrepreneurs? Screen out MBAs http://t.co/EJeDDuQ /via @globeandmail, April 20, 2011
Forum to keep forestry industry accountable http://t.co/TaGMEyZ /via @globeandmail, April 20, 2011
Pay for top Bombardier executives climbs to $19-million http://t.co/YeUeNcm /via @globeandmail, April 18, 2011
Tentative deal would mean end to labour woes in B.C. ports http://t.co/aS1lHt6 /via @globeandmail, April 18, 2011
Forum to keep forestry industry accountable http://t.co/TaGMEyZ /via @globeandmail, April 20, 2011
Union drive at McGIll - Course lecturers finally getting a union: The ongoing ... http://bit.ly/i4CfqTLabourNews LabourNews, April 19, 2011
Toronto's garbage boss isn't talking trash http://t.co/c4ieq30 /via @globeandmail, April 18, 2011
City of Toronto to privatize half of downtown garbage pickup by 2012 http://t.co/sO2oZgZ /via @globeandmail, April 18, 2011
Cut taxes, create jobs? Not quite http://t.co/JSsDGk0 /via @globeandmail, April 19, 2011
Streetwise Video - What's going on with Air Canada pilots http://t.co/GN0aVfk via @globeandmail, April 18, 2011
Exercise caution when it comes to Facebook marketing http://t.co/cnBhCFR via @globeandmail, April 18, 2011
Not all small businesses deserve a tax break http://t.co/NdnZXIt /via @globeandmail, April 15, 2011
Abolish corporate tax – it has been a worldwide failure http://t.co/fpxO8pH /via @globeandmail, April 17, 2011
Corporate taxes: to cut or not to cut? http://t.co/5A7w6eB /via @globeandmail, April 18, 2011
Air Canada pilots scrap vote http://t.co/dBMydOS /via @globeandmail, April 20, 2011
Walking the line on corporate tax cuts http://t.co/VvQXpi0 via @globeandmail, April 15, 2011
The rise of the virtual job fair http://t.co/7ymETDf /via @globeandmail, April 14, 2011
The age-old old-age question http://t.co/gZM9sD4 /via @globeandmail, April 15, 2011
Multinational mining company surrenders land rights to area which inspired Group of Sevenhttp://t.co/UKAK27D /via @globeandmail, April 15, 2011
'Expect the unexpected': Women on the art of campaigning http://t.co/rTMM7kk /via @globeandmail, April 14, 2011
Air Canada offering extra work for pilots http://t.co/r2QgcFC /via @globeandmail, April 13, 2011
The Sound and the fury: Dark days in Clayoquot http://t.co/TxC9qkE /via @globeandmail, April 13, 2011
Court sides with B.C. teachers on class sizes in bargaining rights http://t.co/9lSXHNB /via @globeandmail, April 13, 2011
Senate panel slams Goldman in scathing crisis report http://t.co/gGNZ9zS /via @globeandmail, April 14, 2011
No work yet in oil patch, but you're hired http://t.co/Gbst1ML /via @globeandmail, April 14, 2011
Ontario lawmakers back TMX-LSE deal http://t.co/hmD7IEV /via @globeandmail, April 14, 2011
Quebec 'certifies' firms for work-life balance http://t.co/480dLnz via @globeandmail, April 13, 2011
The rise of the virtual job fair http://t.co/LI0dU8F via @globeandmail, April 14, 2011
Air Canada takes aim at pensions http://t.co/ynfr9DT /via @globeandmail, April 12, 2011
Air Canada to launch cut-rate carrier http://t.co/xVM5fHq via @globeandmail, April 12, 2011
Reading @canlawmag, the benefits of not being a smug lawyer http://t.co/TV9p1KT April 11, 2011
You still believe in a free market economy…?
“With its revealing accounts of the Wall Street practices that led to the recession of 2008 and 2009, the recent report of the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission (FCIC) is the most comprehensive indictment of the American financial failure that has yet been made. During two years of investigations, the commission accumulated evidence of many hundreds of irresponsible, self-serving, and unethical practices by Wall Street bankers and systematic tolerance of them by regulators.” [NYR April 28, 2011]
This article looks at:
- The Financial Crisis Inquiry Report: Final Report of the National Commission on the Causes of the Financial and Economic Crisis in the United States (662 pages, PDF)
- Inside Job a film directed by Charles Ferguson (see also DVD of the Week below)
- Regulating Wall Street: The Dodd-Frank Act and the New Architecture of Global Finance edited by Viral V. Acharya, Thomas F. Cooley, Matthew P. Richardson, and Ingo Walter, Wiley, 573 pp.
- Reforming US Financial Markets: Reflections Before and Beyond Dodd-Frank by Randall S. Kroszner and Robert J. Shiller, edited and with an introduction by Benjamin M. Friedman, MIT Press, 152 pp.
New York Review of Books, April 28, 2011: The Wall Street Leviathan, Jeff Madrick
Globe and Mail, April 14, 2011: Senate panel slams Goldman in scathing crisis report
Battleground Wisconsin: a documentary
This documentary explores the reasons behind Governor Walker’s budget repair bill that stripped public sector workers of their union rights. It is not surprising that Republican politics, not the proposed Wisconsin state deficit, are at the centre of the maelstrom.
CBC, Sunday Edition, April 17, 2011 podcast: Battleground Wisconsin.
Academic Freedom – a plea for civility
“Indeed, the blog post that started the dispute was not an attack on conservatism but a plea for civility. In it, Cronon examined the American Legislative Exchange Council, a conservative organization that drafts model bills for legislators around the country and which he suggested had helped galvanize Wisconsin’s Republican legislators to attack public service unions. Professor Cronon took characteristic care to describe ALEC as a legitimate political organization. What bothered him was the secrecy with which it operated and the radicalism of the attacks it had fostered on another set of legitimate organizations, the unions. He urged his fellow citizens to work in the open and in a civil manner.
NYR Blog, April 4, 2011: Academic Freedom After the Cronon Controversy
Polarization of the Labor Market
“Technological progress is responsible for fundamental shifts in labor demand over the past quarter century that have favored mainly two types of workers. At one end of the spectrum, employers have sharply increased their demand for highly educated, skilled labor. At the other end of the spectrum, growth in low-skilled, less educated workers has thrived as well.
Occupying the unenviable space in between the two is middle-skilled, middle-paid jobs – everything from factory workers to administrative assistants – which have contracted dramatically. The trend is termed the “polarization” of the labor market, where job growth is occurring only at the polar ends of the skills curve.”[TD Economics]
TD Economics Special Report, April 19, 2011: Caught in the middle: the polarization of Skills in the U.S. Labour Market (8 pages, PDF)
Financial Post, April 21, 2011: Middle-skilled jobs eliminated by technology: TD study; Some workers are pushed down the skills ladder, economist says, By Eric Lam
“We've previously looked at year-over-year data, which corrects for seasonal variations but presents another problem: Things can look overly rosy when compared with the worst months of the recession. The economy may be on the mend, but that doesn't mean it's anywhere close to the good old days. So this map takes the same data and looks at net gains or losses since January of 2008, shortly before Bear Stearns collapsed.”
Slate Magazine, April 19, 2011: The Slate Jobs Map, Part Three by Chris Wilson
Mandatory Retirement at 60 for Ontario Firefighters
“Front-line firefighters will be forced to retire at age 60 under legislation introduced by the Ontario Liberal government Monday. The legislation will only apply to firefighters who, in the words of the province, “are involved in fire suppression.” Unions had been pushing for the legislation, which takes effect in two years.” [Ottawa Citizen]
Ottawa Citizen, April 19, 2011: Mandatory retirement for Ontario firefighters set at 60 By Lee Greenberg, Ottawa April 19, 2011
Legislative Assembly of Ontario, April 19, 2011: webpage for Bill 181, Fire Protection and Prevention Amendment Act, 2011
Bill 181 An Act to amend the Fire Protection and Prevention Act, 1997 (7 pages, PDF)
Privacy Rights upheld on Employee Work Computer
“The precedent-setting decision by a unanimous three-member panel of the Court declared that, in the absence of a clearly worded employer policy, "the appellant had a reasonable expectation of privacy in the personal use of his work laptop”
Lancaster House: labour law online, April 18, 2011: Employees have Charter-based privacy rights over personal information on work computers, court rules
Older Workers More Productive
“A new study has found older workers may not be as strong or agile, but they make up for that with greater experience and their ability to work with others. The study, by researchers from Germany’s University of Mannheim, examined employees on the production lines of a Mercedes-Benz truck factory and found that older workers rarely made serious mistakes.”
Mail Online, April 18, 2011: Why older employees are more productive than young colleagues
The Globe and Mail, April 18, 2011: Hold it, whippersnappers. Study finds older employees more productive by Wency Leung
Mannheim Research Institute, January 19, 2011: Productivity and age: Evidence from work teams at the assembly line, (44 pages, PDF)
Globe and Mail, April 14, 2011: On the job: The age-old old-age question, by Wallace Immen
Health Conditions of Migrant Workers in Canada
Many migrant farm workers who come to Canada every year are not given proper safety training, live in hot and cramped quarters, have no access to clean water and see their health suffer as a result, say two new research papers.” [Globe and Mail]
The Globe and Mail, April 18, 2011: Migrant workers have inadequate health care in Canada, studies show
Vancouver Observe, April 18, 2011: BC's migrant workers suffer ill health, poor conditions: Studies
Canadian Medical Association Journal, April, 18, 2011: Doctors within borders: meeting the health care needs of migrant farm workers in Canada [full text not available]
This study will be available to the University of Toronto Community in the next few weeks and can be accessed here by selecting ProQuest 5000)
Social Media – use Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn in your job search
The results of the study Social Media Use Around the Globe can be accessed by the link below. The study was conducted online among employees aged 18-65, working a minimum of 24 hours a week in a paid job (not self-employed). Minimum sample size is 400 interviews per country. The first wave of 2011 was conducted from February 17 to 27, 2011 in 29 countries.
Randstad Workmonitor Q1, March 2011: click on PDF Complete press report Randstad Workmonitor, wave 1, 2011
Recognizing and Rewarding Employees in Canadian Organizations
“Does your organization’s total rewards strategy include recognition? This Conference Board of Canada report looks at current practices and discusses how a rewards and recognition program adds value to an organization”.
Conference Board of Canada, April 2011: Making It Meaningful: Recognizing and Rewarding Employees in Canadian Organizations, (46 pages, PDF) (available to the University of Toronto community via access to the Conference Board of Canada e-Library)
To read the full article, University of Toronto students, faculty and staff must first create an e-Library account HERE using your "utoronto.ca" email address and follow the registration instructions
Creating a Sustainable Rewards and Talent Management Model
This webinar explores the impact the business climate has had on the supply and demand of talent and companies’ abilities to attract and hire talented employee. Join Canadian Leader of Towers Watson’s Rewards, Talent and Communications business, to learn how best performers design and execute their reward and talent management programs in the new economy.”
The Conference Board of Canada, Webinar, April 2011: Creating a Sustainable Rewards and Talent Management Model (available to the University of Toronto community via access to the Conference Board of Canada e-Library)
[To read the full article, University of Toronto students, faculty and staff must first create an e-Library account HERE using your "utoronto.ca" email address and follow the registration instructions]
Country at a Glance--International Labor Comparisons
The International Labor Comparisons (ILC) program adjusts data to a common conceptual framework because direct comparisons of national statistics across countries can be misleading due to differing concepts and methods. ILC data are used to assess U.S. economic and labor market performance relative to that of other countries and to evaluate the competitive position of the United States in increasingly global markets.
Bureau of labor Statistics, International Comparisons: Country at a Glance (includes 45 countries)
United States, Bureau of Labor Statistics, March 30, 2011: International Comparisons of Annual Labor Force Statistics, Adjusted to U.S. Concepts, 10 Countries, 1970-2010 (52 pages, PDF)
DVD of the Week
Inside Job [videorecording]
Sony Pictures Classics presents ; a Representational Pictures film ; in association with Screen Pass Pictures ; a Charles Ferguson film ; produced by Audrey Marrs, Charles Ferguson ; co-written by Chad Beck & Adam Bolt ; written & directed by Charles Ferguson.
Imprint [Culver City, Calif.] : Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, [2011]
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