December 6, 2010
- Crispo Public Policy Forum @ Rotman
- PSAC - Public Service Alliance of Canada bargaining
- HRSDC Labour Program celebrates its 110th birthday
- TTC-- an Essential Service?
- United States Supreme Court to rule on Wal-Mart class action
- Cornell University Library Guides
- Ontario Academic Librarians Concerned About Severe Budget Cuts
- Employee space – make it fun!
- Looks are … everything
- Canadian Health Index – we need to exercise
- Canadian Social trends and Working at Home
- Number of physicians in Canada increasing
- Federal cash for jobs – did it work?
- Industry Competency models and Fighting brain drain in South Africa
Crispo Public Policy Forum @ Rotman
John Crispo was Dean of the Rotman School of Management; Professor Emeritus of Economics and Founding Director of the Centre for Industrial Relations at the University of Toronto. The Crispo Public Policy Forum discusses issues and challenges related to Canada’s trade and labor policies.
Registration check-in will be available from 1:30 to 2:00pm; 2:00 to 5:30pm panel discussions; 5:30 to 6:30pm reception; 6:30 to 8:00pm buffet dinner
Trade Policy Panel will consider the challenges and opportunities in the bilateral relationship two decades later.
MODERATOR: Wendy Dobson, Co-Director, Institute for International Business and Professor of Business Economics, Rotman School of Management
PANELISTS:
Tom d'Aquino, Chairman and Chief Executive, Intercounsel Ltd. and former Chief Executive and President, Canadian Council of Chief Executives (1981-2009)
Richard Lipsey, Professor Emeritus of Economics, Simon Fraser University
Michael H. Wilson, Chairman, Barclays Capital Canada and Former Canadian Ambassador to the United States, Government of Canada
Labour Policy Panel will address contemporary policy concerns drawing on historical developments as well as the challenges of a global economy.
MODERATOR: Anil Verma, Professor of Industrial Relations and Human Resource Management, Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto
PANELISTS:
Buzz Hargrove, Former President, Canadian Auto Workers
Rick MacDowell, former Chair, Ontario Labour Relations Board
Bob Rae, Member of Parliament for Toronto Centre and Former Premier of Ontario
PLACE: Fleck Atrium (Ground Floor), Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto, 105 St. George Street, Toronto
FEE: $125 + HST per person; $100 + HST for Rotman or UofToronto Alumni (fee includes Forum, reception and dinner)
TO REGISTER: Click Here
POLICY: Cancellations received in writing prior to 5:00pm on January 17 will receive a refund less a $10.00 administration fee per person. If we do not receive written notice of your cancellation, you will be charged the full amount for this session. Substitutions are always welcome.
QUESTIONS: events@rotman.utoronto.ca or call 416-978-4193
PSAC - Public Service Alliance of Canada bargaining
Members of Canada’s largest federal union gave lukewarm support to a highly controversial deal for public servants to give up severance pay as part of 5.3-per-cent wage increase over three years.
The Ottawa Citizen December 2, 2010: PSAC accepts deal — barely: Just over half vote to give up severance in trade for pay raise by Kathryn May
PSAC: Treasury Board Bargaining: Ratified Treasury Board agreements: What happens now?
Following the recent ratification of new agreements by the PA, SV and EB Treasury Board groups, the following steps will be taken: 1. Re-open current agreements to include some non-monetary improvements 2. Signing of new collective agreements 3. Implementation of wage and special monetary increases 4. Implementation of voluntary severance cash out options
The monetary provisions such as wages, severance and allowance cannot be implemented immediately because of the Expenditure Restraint Act.
HRSDC Labour Program celebrates its 110th birthday
Labour Focus Newsletter: Volume 1, Issue 5 Fall 2010: This year, the Labour Program celebrates its 110th birthday
TTC-- an Essential Service?
Globe and Mail, Monday December 6, 2010: Ford faces tight vote on designating TTC essential, by Kelly Grant — City Hall Bureau Chief
C.D. Howe Institute e-brief, September 11, 2008: No Free Ride: The Cost of Essential Services Designation by Benjamin Dachis (6 pages, PDF)
Toronto Star, Editorial, December 6, 2010: Declare TTC essential service
YouTube, February 26, 2010: Should the TTC be an essential service? Rob Ford with Oakley on AM 640
Amalgamated Transit Union, Local 13 website: try the reader polls on the right sidebar
United States Supreme Court to rule on Wal-Mart class action
The U.S. Supreme Court will be reviewing an earlier decision by a federal appeals court which claimed that Wal-Mart pays women less than men and that women are promoted less frequently.
Globe and Mail, December 7, 2010: Washington — The Associated Press: A U.S. high court to hear sex bias suit v. Wal-Mart by Mark Sherman
Questions presented: 10-277 WAL-MART STORES, INC. V. DUKES
Dukes v. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (From Wikipedia) – a complete chronology of the case with links to the original opinion and the revised opinion included in the references
Cornell University Library Guides
Libraries, including UTLibraries, are now creating online guides to information resources in specific subject areas. The CIRHR Library will be working on a guide for Canadian industrial relations, collective bargaining and labour union information resources available on the web – including freely available resources and U of T licensed resources. The Cornell University Library has created an excellent guide to Collective Bargaining, Labor Relations, and Labor Unions. As well, there is a list of all ILR School, Catherwood Library Guides by subject – use the tabs at the top of the Guides to explore the resources – subject areas include: Human Resources and the Internet (This online guide provides links to freely available web resources relevant for students and practitioners of human resources and personnel management) ; organizational behavior
Ontario Academic Librarians Concerned About Severe Budget Cuts
“The Ontario Confederation of University Faculty Associations (OCUFA) invited academic librarians at Ontario universities to respond to an on-line questionnaire. The questionnaire asked about a range of issues affecting university libraries, including organizational restructuring, the impact of budget cuts, and service changes. More than 200 responses, representing a response rate in excess of 30 per cent, from all Ontario universities, were received between September 13 and October 12, 2010.”[OCUFA]
OCUFA, December 6, 2010: Full Report: Ontario academic librarians concerned about severe budget cuts (5 pages, PDF)
Press release: OCUFA, December 6, 2010: Ontario academic librarians concerned about severe budget cuts: New report points to reduced staffing, neglected collections, technology delays (2 pages, PDF)
Employee space – make it fun!
“Three Story slide at Corus Quay is proving to be a popular way for employees to get down from the upper levels”
Globe and Mail, December 7, 2010: The wisdom behind whimsy: Many companies have realized 'un-programmed' office space can boost productivity and collaboration
Three story slide in atrium level at Corus Quay (scroll down for picture)
Globe and Mail, November 29, 2010: Dull office space kills productivity, Mark Evans
Looks are … everything
News@ the University of Toronto, December 1, 2010: Facial features predictor of future success, says U of T researcher College yearbook photos show that appearance matters By Sean Bettam, posted Wednesday, December 1, 2010
“Judgments of Power From College Yearbook Photos and Later Career Success,” by Nicholas O. Rule and Nalini Ambady in Social Psychological and Personality Science, 1948550610385473, first published on October 4, 2010 full text available on-line to the U of T community.
Canadian Health Index – we need to exercise
Canadian Health Index respondents said their biggest barriers to adopting a healthier lifestyle are:
Lack of willpower - 61% Lack of time – 46% Lack of money – 39%
Sun Life Financial, December 2010: Employee Health Matters: Breaking down barriers to reap the rewards of a healthy workforce (2 pages, PDF)
Here are the Results from the first Sun Life Canadian health Index
Globe Editorial: A simple way to stave off infirmity: “Taking a pill would be easier. But exercise, at least for the foreseeable future, is a far more practical route to compressed aging. And that is a good reason for our society to give far more serious thought to fostering exercise – in all ages – than it has ever done before.”
Canadian Social trends and Working at Home
The Winter2010 issue of Canadian Social Trends features articles on foreign nationals working in Canada and Canadian emigration to the United States.
Statistics Canada, Winter 2010: Canadian Social Trends (108 pages, PDF)
Working at Home
“A number of factors came together resulting in the increasing popularity of working at home over the last decade: a greater number of jobs requiring computer use, more willingness by some employers to allow working at home (particularly in the public sector), increasing public awareness about work–life balance. However, although the working-at-home expansion has been observed to some extent among self-employed workers, the same cannot be said for employees.” [see source below]
Canadian Social Trends, December 7, 2010: Working at home: An update by Martin Turcotte (11 pages, PDF) or (html)
Number of physicians in Canada increasing
“Canada’s physician workforce grew by 4.1 per cent in 2009, the single biggest yearly increase in three decades. The net addition of 2,700 new doctors – bringing the national total to 68,101 – was the result of a combination of factors, including larger graduating classes from medical schools, the hiring of more foreign-trained doctors and the return of Canadian physicians from the U.S., according to a report published Thursday by the Canadian Institute for Health Information.”[Globe and Mail]
Globe and Mail, December 2, 2010: Canada’s doctor workforce surges André Picard — Public Health Reporter
Canadian Institute for Health Information, December 2, 2010: Supply, Distribution and Migration of Canadian Physicians (212 pages, PDF)
Federal cash for jobs – did it work?
“The survey reinvigorates an unresolved debate that has long pitted the free-market disciples of classic liberal economic thinking against the post-Great Depression view popularized by British economist John Maynard Keynes that government intervention and deficits in hard times work.” [Globe and Mail]
Globe and Mail, December 1, 2010: Stimulus cash didn’t create many jobs, budget watchdog concludes
Office of the Parliamentary Budget Officer, December 1, 2010: Update - Infrastructure Stimulus Fund Ottawa, Canada.
Industry Competency models and Fighting brain drain in South Africa
The Employment and Training Administration is working with business leaders, educators, and others to create comprehensive and readily accessible industry competency models that document the foundational and technical skills and competencies required for workplace success in economically important industries. Industry competency models provide a resource for the development of curriculum, certifications, and the tests that assess work-related competencies.
U.S. Department of Labor, Careeronestop: Industry Competency Models Clearing House
Industry Competency Models: promote an understanding of the skill sets and competencies that are essential to educate and train a globally competitive workforce.
Fighting brain drain in South Africa
Fast Company, November 29, 2010: How the African Leadership Academy Is Fighting the Continent’s Education Exodus: A South African academy aims to teach the continent's brightest -- and fight widespread brain drain. By: Nate Berg November 29, 2010
Book of the Week
Freelancing Expertise: Contract Professionals in the New Economy, by Debra Osnowitz.
Ithaca : ILR Press, 2010. 260 p. ISBN 9780801476563 (pbk.)
Contract work is more important than ever—for better or for worse, depending on one's perspective. The security once implied by a full-time job with a stable employer is becoming rarer, thereby erasing one of the major distinctions between "freelance work" and a "steady gig." Why hang on to a regular job for the sake of security if security can no longer be assumed? Instead, contractors, hired temporarily for specific knowledge and skills, market their expertise as they move from project to project. Even though their employment is precarious, a great many consider freelancing preferable to holding a "regular" job: the control they feel over their time and careers is well worth the risks that come with relatively uncertain cash flow.
Freelancing Expertise is a qualitative study of decision making, work practices, and occupational processes among writers and editors who work in print and Web communications and programmers and engineers who work in software and systems development. Debra Osnowitz conducted sixty-eight extended interviews with representatives of both groups and twelve interviews with managers and recruiters, observed four different work settings in which contractors work alongside employees, and monitored blogs and online discussions among contractors. As a result, she provides a unique and sensitive assessment of a cultural shift in occupations and organizations. Osnowitz calls for a reconfiguration of the employer/employee relationship that accepts more variation and flexibility: just as "freelancing" has, over time, taken on many traits considered characteristic of traditional career paths, so might regular jobs make themselves more appealing to today's workforce by mimicking some of the positive aspects of transactions between clients and contract workers.
About the Authors:
Debra Osnowitz is Assistant Professor of Sociology at Clark University.
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