Perry Work Report for the week of January 10, 2013

Perry Work Report, January 10, 2013

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Morley Gunderson Prize:  Nominations Now Open / 2013 Sefton Memorial Lecture on March 7th

The Morley Gunderson Prize was established in 1997 as a tribute to Morley’s extraordinary commitment to the Centre for Industrial Relations and Human Resources at the University of Toronto.  It recognizes a current student or graduate of the Centre who combines outstanding professional achievement with dedicated and significant service to the Centre. 

Nominations may be submitted by current students, graduates, faculty and staff to the Director, Anil Verma, by January 24, 2013. The selection committee considers all nominations, and the presentation of the award is a highlight of the annual Sefton Lecture, co-sponsored by the Centre and Woodsworth College of the University of Toronto. 

Nominations for the Morley Gunderson Prize should be sent to: director.cirhr@utoronto.ca

2013 Annual Sefton Memorial Lecture

 2013 Annual Sefton Memorial Lecture featuring Professor Nelson Lichtenstein with a panel on Labour's Response to Globalization.

Where: University of Toronto, Woodsworth College, Kruger Hall 119 St. George St. Toronto, ON

When: March 7, 2012 at 3:05 pm

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Daphne Taras one of Financial Post’s Top 100 Most Powerful Women in Canada

The Financial Post has put together a list of the 100 Most Powerful Women in Canada for 2012. “The notions about what it takes to lead in today’s business environment are shifting and they are pointing directly to the traits and characteristics most often demonstrated by women. We are celebrating a decade of leadership at a time when the world seems to be catching up to the message we have been driving home since day one: Women are natural leaders.”

One of the leaders included in the Public Sector list is Daphne Taras, the Dean of the Edwards School of Business at the University of Saskatchewan. She “specializes in bringing multiple disciplines together on important labour market and workplace issues. She has mediated labour disputes, facilitated union-management committees, and provided training in conflict resolution, in addition to publishing more than 50 journal articles and book chapters.

She was an expert advisor to the Federal Labour Standards Commission from 2004 to 2006 and was awarded the U.S.-based Labor and Employment Relations Association’s Excellence in Education Award in 2006. Prior to joining the University of Saskatchewan, she was a professor at the University of Calgary’s Haskayne School of Business, and associate dean and director of the PhD program.

Taras has a degree from York University and master’s from Duke University in political science. She earned her MBA and PhD from the University of Calgary, and her master of laws in labour and employment law from York University’s Osgoode Hall.” [Financial Post]

Financial Post, December 4, 2012: Top 100 Most Powerful Women in Canada: Public Sector Leaders

Financial Post, December 4, 2012: Canada’s Top 100 Most Powerful Women by Pamela Jeffery (includes links to other lists in the Top 100 Most Powerful Women in Canada series)

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2012 Clawbies: The Canadian Law Blog Awards and the 6th Annual ABA Journal Blawg 100

David Doorey strikes again with Doorey’s Workplace Law Blog, which has won this year’s Fodden Award for Best Canadian Law Blog at the 2012 Clawbies. Dr. David Doorey has an M.I.R from the University of Toronto and is an Associate Professor of Labour and Employment law at York University’s School of Human Resource Management. For the 2012-13 academic year, Professor Doorey is Visiting Scholar at the University of Toronto, Faculty of Law and the Centre for Industrial Relations and Human Resources.

The Canadian Law Blog Awards, a.k.a. the Clawbies, are a project started back in 2006 with the goal of highlighting great blogs published by the Canadian legal industry. The final results are released each year on New Year’s Eve.

Clawbies: Canadian Law Blog Awards published by the Canadian legal industry (here you will find a list of all law blogs which you can browse by subject to find all 35 Canadian Labour & Employment Blogs

Please take a look at the other winners of the Clawbies and blogs that are not award winners -- as you know from the Academy Awards your favourites don’t always win…

Other winners of note:  (MIRHR students you will be studying wrongful dismissal)
Best New Blog:

Kelly Santini LLP’s Employment Law Blog for the Suddenly Unemployed, by Sean Bawden of Kelly Santini in Ottawa, makes wrongful dismissal and other employment law case comments accessible and enjoyable, while winning hands-down 2012’s “Best Blog Name” award.

Best Legal Technology Blog:

“Slaw.ca might be retired from Clawbies competition, but that doesn’t have to include its affiliate sites. Accordingly, we want to recognize Slaw Tips, an outstanding compendium of useful advice and suggestions about technology for lawyers, legal research and practice management.  Each of these blog subjects regularly touches on navigating one’s way around technological barriers, in our view making Slaw Tips Technology required reading in the legal technology category.”

One example is the Supreme Court of Canada & Lexum website for SCC decisions: SlawTips, December 26, 2012: Supreme Court of Canada Decisions

And in the United States (6th Annual ABA Journal Blawg 100) this blog title is a real winner:  

Screw You Guys, I'm Going Home: What You Need To Know Before You Scream “I Quit,” Get Fired, Or Decide to Sue the Bastards

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Who’s Afraid of a Faculty Union?

“It’s natural for an administrator to aggregate as much power as they can. That’s just the way a large bureaucratic institution will function, and the question is, is somebody going to push back? And we didn’t push back.”

McGill Daily, November 26, 2012: “Who’s afraid of a faculty union? McGill exceptionalism and its discontents,” by Michael Lee-Murphy

“What are professors? Are they collegians, with administrators as colleagues? Or are they workers, with bosses, like almost everyone else? What say should they have in the way McGill is run in the future?”
“McGill is the only university in the city of Montreal without a union representing its professors. Concordia, Université de Montréal (UdeM), and Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM) all have them. In fact, Concordia has two: one for full-time profs and another for part-timers.”

So what is it about McGill’s culture that prevents faculty unionization? And how might it change? There is a belief that McGill is in some way different and better than the universities that surround it. We are the Harvard of the North. We were founded in the Edenic epoch of the 1820s. We have old stone buildings. Fuck you, bumblebees. Trite as it may sound, it is clear that this mode of thought affects governance and academic labour here.”

[While 80% of Canadian faculty are unionized, both the University of Toronto and McGill faculty are not unionized and also appear to share the "Harvard of the North" syndrome]

“Upper administration acts as if it’s an honour to be here,” East Asian Studies professor Thomas Lamarre told me. Lamarre no longer finds that notion as compelling as it once was. One retired professor who spent forty years here said that there’s a sense that “unions are for the people who clean the toilets.”

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Walmart and Labour

Josh Eildson offers a look back at the union activism and labour tensions surrounding Walmart, including last year’s Black Friday walkouts. “Labor strife at Walmart is nothing new. But in the retail giant’s half-century of existence, it’s never looked like this. On the heels of a series of failed organizing campaigns, unions and their allies are mounting the strongest-ever North American challenge to Walmart. The new campaign faces daunting odds and extreme versions of the hurdles facing US workers everywhere: employers on the warpath and labor laws tilted against employees. But with a new organizing strategy and a savvy focus on Walmart’s supply chain vulnerability, this attempt has come closer than any at forcing change from the dominant player in our economy—a necessary task if there’s ever to be a robust future for the US labor movement.” [The Nation]

The Nation, December 19, 2012: “The Great Walmart Walkout,” by Josh Eildson

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Safety vs. Privacy in Oil Sands Drug & Alcohol Testing

Both Alberta’s Suncor Energy and New Brunswick’s Irving Pulp and Paper are attempting to introduce random drug and alcohol testing for employees, with opposition by the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union. The Globe and Mail reports, “Suncor’s battle comes as the Supreme Court of Canada mulls arguments it heard last month about a random alcohol-testing policy imposed at an Irving Pulp and Paper Ltd. mill in Saint John. Legal observers say the Supreme Court’s decision in that case, expected sometime this year, could redraw the battle lines over drug and alcohol testing for the entire country.”

There are legal differences between random alcohol and drug testing in the United States, where it is widely practiced, and Canada. “The Canadian Human Rights Commission, which is appointed by Parliament, says in a policy paper… that, ‘drug and alcohol testing are prima facie discriminatory.’ Alcohol or drug dependence, whether past or current, is considered a disability. Canadian law prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability.” [CBC News]

The Globe and Mail, Jan 2, 2013: “Oil sands drug-testing battle reaches critical stage” by Jeff Gray

CBC News, Dec 10, 2012: “Companies push for random drug, alcohol testing” by Daniel Schwartz

And in the United States prescription drugs are showing up in more workplace drug tests …

Wall Street Journal, January 8, 2013:  “Wanted: Drug-Free Workers Amphetamine, Pain-Killer Use Is Hiring Hurdle in Appalachia's Oil-and-Gas Boom”

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Bill C-377: The Cost of Tax Reforms to Suppress Labour Unions

“The latest victory of business-funded politics was recorded last week when the Harper Conservatives passed Bill C-377 aimed at hobbling the ability of trade unions to participate in public life,” writes Duncan Cameron for Rabble.

“With its legislation (technically an amendment to the Income Tax Act), the Harper government is imposing new financial regulations that will add steep compliance costs and time-consuming administrative requirements to the normal activities of representing trade unionists.”

“The degree of “red tape” this bill creates, and detailed reporting required will pull resources from the legitimate and important work unions and labour organizations are established to do for their members: bargaining fair wages, delivering decent pensions, ensuring health and safety standards, ensuring workers are fairly treated, contributing to local economy and advocating the interest of their members in myriad ways,” underlined CUPE National Secretary-Treasurer Charles Fleury. [CUPE]

Rabble.ca, December 18, 2012: Harper goes after trade unions with Bill C-377 by Duncan Cameron

CUPE, November 15, 2012: Bill C-377 is a Conservative attempt to silence unions, says CUPE to Finance Committee (CUPE’s Submission, 15 pages, PDF)

A look at Canada Revenue Agency estimate of their costs associated with Bill-377: [fromOpenParliment: House of Commons Hansard #186 of the 41st Parliament, 1st Session, November 27, 2012]

“I would like to close by sharing some information obtained from the agency that says a lot about the new and distinct costs associated with Bill C-377. As it is now worded, the bill requires the implementation of an entire system that includes electronic processing, validations and automatic posting to the Canada Revenue Agency's website. The estimated incremental cost for the Canada Revenue Agency is $10.6 million for the first two years, including 91 full-time employees, and $2.1 million for each consecutive year, including 21 full-time employees. These costs are attributable mainly to information cross-referencing requirements.

It is important to note that these are the estimated costs for 1,000 respondents, but Bill C-377 is written in such a way that it includes all labour organizations and trusts, which represents close to 25,000 tax filers. The costs incurred would therefore be 25 times higher than these estimates.” [Sadia Groguhé Saint-Lambert, QC]

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2012 Employment Figures for US & Canada

The Atlantic reports that 2012 saw a gain of 1.84 million jobs in the United States – the same number of new job gains as 2011. “[While] those figures might change slightly as the BLS adjusts its November and newly released December reports in the coming months, but the fact remains that our job market now has locked into a slow rhythm, producing roughly the same number of jobs in roughly the same sectors of the economy two years running. And it's not nearly enough to heal the damage done by the recession.”

Dissent’s article on unemployment figures includes a graph measuring the trajectory of postwar recessions back to 1948, illustrating the extent of the economic downturn since 2007. Using figures from the Economic Policy Institute, they estimate that it will take 8 years to fully recover from the jobs deficit.

Looking at Statistics Canada’s employment numbers for December 2012, Miles Corak finds that 
“Compared to Greece, Spain, and the United States, this is a story of robust growth. But Canadians live in Canada, and the working age population has been steadily increasing. This has left the fraction of the population without a job still below its pre-recession high, and virtually unchanged since 2009.”

The Atlantic, January 4, 2013: 1.8 Million New Jobs in 2012: Where Did They Come From? by Jordan Weissmann

Dissent Magazine, January 4, 2013: Unemployment Number: The Long View by Colin Gordon

Economics for Public Policy, January 4, 2013: Secure jobs on the rise in Canada, but the young are still shut out of the jobs market by Miles Corak

Statistics Canada, January 4, 2013: Labour Force Survey, December 2012 (9 pages, PDF) (HTML release)

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CanadaWorks 2025 Deloitte’s Human Capital Practice 

In CanadaWorks 2025 Deloitte’s Human Capital Practice and the Human Resource Professionals Association (HRPA) examine the fundamental drivers of change to help us safeguard a healthy and prosperous Canadian workplace in 2025.

Deloitte & HRPA, April 2012: The Lost Decade, Unsustainable Prosperity or the Northern Tiger? CanadaWorks2025

Executive summary - 12 pages   

Full report - 60 pages

Mobile friendly version of report - 21 pages

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Retirement Planning

Planning to retire in your 60s? Start saving now, say today’s retirees [what else can they say after losing their money to the stock market and the banks?]

TD Financial Group, News release, January 8, 2013: Planning to retire in your 60’s? Start saving now, says today’s retirees

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Improvement in Defined-Benefit Pensions

“The solvency of Canadian defined benefit pension plans improved in 2012, according to a new Mercer study. The consultant said Wednesday that its Pension Health Index stood at 82 per cent on Dec. 31, up two percentage points for the fourth quarter and up six percentage points for the year. However, the global pension, health and investment consultancy said economic factors were largely a non-factor. Most of the improvement was due to increased employer contributions to fund deficits.” [The Globe and Mail]

In the United States, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that “Private industry employers now spend more per employee hour worked for defined contribution retirement plans (retirement plans that specify the level of employer contributions and place those contributions into individual employee accounts) than for defined benefit retirement plans (plans that provide employees with guaranteed retirement benefits that are based on a benefit formula).”

Mercer, January 2, 2013: 2012 Spares Battered Canadian Pension Plans

The Globe and Mail, January 2, 2013: Defined-benefit pension plans healthier in 2012: Mercer

Bureau of Labor Statistics, December 26, 2012: Employer costs for defined benefit and defined contribution retirement plans

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Income Disparity Tops Global Risks for 2013

“The single most likely risk in the next decade is severe income disparity, according to the study, based on a survey of more than 1,000 experts in industry, government, academics and civil society who were asked to assess 50 global risks. Chronic fiscal imbalances are the second-most likely threat, followed by rising greenhouse gas emissions, water supply crises and mismanagement of an aging population.” [The Globe and Mail]

World Economic Forum, January 9, 2013: Global Risks 2013, Eighth Edition

Figure 6: Top Five Global Risks in Terms of Impact and Likelihood, 2007-2013

The Globe and Mail, January 9, 2013: “Income disparity poses biggest threat to global economy” by Tavia Grant.

… and from The Economist’s Economic Intelligence Unit, January 9, 2013: Global economy: key issues in 2013

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The “New Normal” of Collective Bargaining in Canada

Conference Board of Canada, December 14, 2012: Industrial Relations Outlook 2013: Embracing the “New Normal”. (available free to the University of Toronto community by setting up a Conference Board of Canada e-Library account)

"The “new normal” of collective bargaining in Canada—modest economic prospects matched by modest expectations—may provide a degree of certainty not seen in several years, The Conference Board of Canada concludes in its Industrial Relations Outlook 2013: Embracing the “New Normal”.

Average base wage increases for unionized workers in 2013 are projected to be 1.8 per cent in the public sector and 2.1 per cent for the private sector.

Public Sector: Even after budgets are balanced, public sector employment and compensation (where more than 70 per cent of workers are unionized) will be subject to increasing restraint.

Private sector bargaining outcomes will likely mirror the agreements reached in the auto industry in 2012, with reduced wages and increasing use of two-tier wage structures to make companies more competitive. At the very least, the results of bargaining in the auto industry will put downward pressure on wages in manufacturing and related industries."

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Vote for the Worst Company of the Year!

Online polls for Public Eye People’s Awards 2013 now open!

Fighting corporate crime with the help of business ethicists, an ex-bank regulator and ad parodies

During the World Economic Forum in Davos at the end of January, the Berne Declaration and Greenpeace Switzerland will present the dreaded Public Eye Awards for the worst cases of corporate human rights abuses and environmental misdeeds. The polls for the Public Eye People’s Award open today at www.publiceye.ch  and the site features a number of caustic ad parodies to mark the occasion. The nominees for this ignominious award include seven companies from four continents. At the press conference for the awards presentation in Davos the well-known ex-banking regulator William K. Black will talk about the criminal energy of corporations and the oligarchy in the finance industry.

Online voting for the worst offender of the year runs from today until midday January 23, 2013. This year’s shortlist features the seven most egregious cases of corporate crime selected by our newly conceived jury of internationally known business ethicists from 20 expert reports about potentially deserving candidates. The reports were compiled by the Institute for Business Ethics at the University of St. Gall. More than 50 NGOs from all over the globe nominated companies.

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Book of the Week

Pursuing the Good Life: 100 Reflections on Positive Psychology, by Christopher Peterson. New York : Oxford University Press, 2013. 341 p. ISBN 9780199916351 (hardcover)

In Pursuing the Good Life, one of the founders of positive psychology, Christopher Peterson, offers one hundred bite-sized reflections exploring the many sides of this exciting new field. With the humor, warmth, and wisdom that has made him an award-winning teacher, Peterson takes readers on a lively tour of the sunny side of the psychological street. What are the roles played by positive emotions and happiness, by strengths of character, by optimism, and by good relationships with others? How can we pursue the good life in families, workplaces, schools, and sports, no matter who we are or where we live? With titles such as "You May Now Kiss the Bride--And Would You Like Fries With That?" and "How Can You Tell If Someone from France is Happy?" Peterson good-humoredly explores these questions and many others, including such diverse topics as the difference between employment and work, the value of doing the right thing, and why books matter, among other subjects. 

Throughout, Peterson shows that happiness is not simply the result of a fortunate spin of the genetic wheel. There are things that people can learn to do to lead happier lives. Pursuing the Good Life is both an enjoyable read and an invaluable guide to making the good life part of your everyday existence.

About the Author:

Christopher Peterson was Professor of Psychology at the University of Michigan. One of the world's most highly cited research psychologists and a founder of the field of positive psychology, Peterson was best-known for his studies of optimism and character strengths and their relationship to psychological and physical well-being. He was a frequent blogger for Psychology Today, where many of these short essays first appeared.

UTLibraries link to catalogue record: http://go.utlib.ca/cat/8684586

Visit the Recent Books at the CIRHR Library blog.

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Questions or comments: cirhr.library@utoronto.ca

Editor: Vicki Skeltonand Melody Tacit
Designer: Nick Strupat

Copyright © 2010 Centre for Industrial Relations and Human Resources, University of Toronto. All rights reserved.

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