January 19, 2012
- Five Reasons to Hire an MIRHR Student this Summer
- Toronto Prepares For Work Stoppages
- Many Retail Workers In The US Have Few Benefits, And Low Hourly Wages
- The Risky Business of Whistleblowing
- Trending in Canada
- People Planning
- A Degree Or A Diploma? What Skills Are Needed For The Jobs Available Now, And In The Future?
- Hard Times in Quebec
- The Impact Of Long Term Unemployment
- A New Year, And New Layoffs In Europe
- Job Losses and Immigrants In The UK Related? The Debate Continues
- Child Labor at Legoland?
- Book of the Week
Five Reasons to Hire an MIRHR Student this Summer
-
Gain access to the top talent in Industrial Relations and Human Resources – MIRHR students are carefully selected, highly motivated, and will bring a positive attitude towards working and learning into your organization.
-
Get help with your special projects or other short-term requirements.
-
Evaluate potential new employees - our graduates are highly sought after and many employers return annually to recruit new graduates. Gain a competitive advantage: recruit once, hire twice.
-
Energize your human resources or labour relations teams by hiring a student who will bring energy, enthusiasm, and a fresh perspective.
-
Promote your organization as one that is committed to developing Industrial Relations and Human Resources professionals.
We invite you to contact Chantal Emond at the Co-op Programs in Management. She will be able to assist you with the entire recruiting process and can answer any questions you may have about the summer work term or its participants. Chantal Emond can be reached by telephone at (416) 287–7361 or via email at emond@utsc.utoronto.ca.
Toronto Prepares For Work Stoppages
Mark Ferguson, president of CUPE Local 416 - representing over 6,000 of the city’s outside workers - wrote a letter to City Council stating that the members of CUPE Local 416 are willing to accept a wage freeze over the next three years, in an effort to help the city cut costs. The city rejected the offer Monday, but offered workers with less than 25 years of employment with the city an end to job security, in return for a lump-sum payment over four years. Ferguson responded saying the offer is “quite dire, and reckless”. The Ontario Minister of Labour issued a no-board report on January 19, making work stoppages an imminent reality.
Toronto Star, January 19, 2012: Toronto union lockout countdown to Feb. 5 begins as minister issues ‘no board’ report
The Globe and Mail, January 16, 2012: City’s latest offer would strip job security from all longest-serving employees, union says
CUPE: Toronto works better together, January 13, 2012: Letter from Mark Ferguson to Toronto City Councillors on the new revenue CUPE has provided them.
The Globe and Mail, January 12, 2012: Labour shutdown a step closer for Toronto
City of Toronto, January 12, 2012: Bargaining with TCEU Local 416 (CUPE) updates
Many Retail Workers In The US Have Few Benefits, And Low Hourly Wages
New York Times, January 16, 2012: Study of Retail Workers Finds $9.50 Median Pay, and just 3 in 10 receive health insurance through their jobs.
City University of New York (CUNY) Murphy Institute and Naoki Fujita, Retail Action Project 2012:Discounted Jobs, How Retailers Sell Workers Short (PDF, 33 pages).
And in Canada.....
Toronto Star, January 1, 2012: Editorial: Allow Retailers to Stay Open on Holidays.
And readers angrily respond: Toronto Star, January 7, 2012: Letters: Working on stat holidays
The Risky Business of Whistleblowing
Retaliation against employee whistleblowers is increasing at an alarming rate, according to a new study by the Ethics Resource Center. From a survey of more than 4,500 employees in the for-profit sector, the “study found that in 2007, 12 percent of whistleblowers experienced retaliation—the definition of which ranges from being given the “cold shoulder,” to overt disciplinary action. That number climbed to 15 percent in 2009 and rose sharply to 22 percent last year. Of those who reported wrongdoing, the survey found that 31 percent experienced physical harm to their person or property as a result of whistleblowing activities.”
Project On Government Oversight, January 6, 2012: Retaliation Against Whistleblowers Jumped in 2011 Says New Study
Ethics Resource Centre, January 2012: 2011 National Business Ethics Survey. (PDF, 62 pages).
Ethics Resource Centre, December 2010: Blowing The Whistle On Workplace Misconduct (PDF, 14 pages)
Wall Street Journal, January 17, 2012: Michael Woodford: Whistleblower Of The Year
United States. Cong. Senate, 2011/12: Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act of 2011
Trending in Canada
Statistics Canada has just released Canadian Social Trends for Winter 2011. Features include:
- Generational change in paid and unpaid work;
- Commuting to work: Results of the 2010 General Social Survey;
- Intergenerational education mobility: University completion in relation to parent’s education level;
- What’s stressing the stressed? Main sources of stress among highly stressed workers, and
- Personal networks and the economic adjustment of immigrants.
(PDF, 76 pages)
People Planning
“Strategic workforce planning (SWP) can be deployed at an enterprise level to ensure that a company has the right people in place to execute business strategy. It can also be deployed at more micro or macro levels, depending on a company’s needs.”
The Conference Board of Canada, January 2012: On the Level: Strategic Workforce Planning from Micro to Macro (PDF, 9 pages)
(Available to the University of Toronto community via your Conference Board of Canada e-library account). MIRHR students – if you do not have a Conference Board of Canada e-Library account, sign up now! - as you may be able to keep it after you graduate.)
Schaefer Center for Public Policy, University of Baltimore, 2007: Seven Steps of Effective Workforce Planning. Human Capital Management Series. (PDF, 74 pages).
A Degree Or A Diploma? What Skills Are Needed For The Jobs Available Now, And In The Future?
The Ontario Colleges Graduates in the Economy: 2011 Environmental Scan examines major trends and issues affecting the college system and explores the colleges' impact on the economy. (PDF, 12 pages).
The “Towards an OECD Skills Strategy” report states that “in a context of high unemployment following the crisis and increased global competition, ensuring an adequate supply of skills, maximising their use and optimising further development of skills in the workforce is key to boosting employment and economic growth, and to promoting social inclusion.”
OECD, 2011. Towards an OECD Skills Strategy. (PDF, 42 pages)
Institute for the Future, 2011: Future work skills 2020. (PDF, 14 pages)
Toronto Star, January 17, 2012: Smart, educated, experienced—and still looking
Toronto Star, January 14, 2012: Opinion: Does Ontario really need three new universities?
Toronto Star, January 13, 2012: Why job growth may favour college grads, apprentices over university students
Toronto Star, January 13, 2012: Health care, IT and skilled trades are the Canadian jobs of the future.
The Globe and Mail, January 12, 2012: The big data revolution’s ‘lovely’ and ‘lousy’ jobs
Financial Post, January 4, 2012: Why the value of an MBA has declined
Hard Times in Quebec
Statistic Canada’s recent Labour Force Survey found that Quebec’s employment rate is on a continuous decline, losing 70 000 position between October and December of 2011. Climbing unemployment in the province is partly the result of the province’s major manufacturing companies’ efforts to reduce labour costs. Cuts have extended beyond manufacturing, with retail, scientific and professional and construction sector workers feeling the economic crunch.
The Globe and Mail, January 13, 2012: Quebeckers feeling the job squeeze
The Globe and Mail, January 12, 2012: Sharp job losses a bad sign for Quebec’s economy
Canadian Labour Reporter, January 12, 2012: Quebec mill workers ask for government intervention
Statistics Canada, January 6, 2012: Latest Release from the Labour Force Survey
Financial Post, January 2, 2012: Quebec in jobs debacle
The Impact Of Long Term Unemployment
Down and Out: Measuring Long-Term Hardship in the Labor Market proposes a shift from a narrow focus on long-term unemployment toward a broader concept of “long-term hardship” in the labor market. The paper suggests “complementing the standard measure of long-term unemployment, which reports the share of the unemployed who have been out of work for six months or more, with an alternative measure, which reports the share of the total labor force that has been unemployed for six months or more.”
Report Summary
Center for Economic and Policy Research, January 2012: Down and Out: Measuring Long-Term Hardship in the Labor Market. (PDF, 14 pages)
Wall Street Journal, January 18, 2012: Interactive Graphic: The Nation’s [U.S.] Long-Term Unemployed
Statistics Canada, January 19, 2012: Maps illustrate the percentage change in the number of people in Canada receiving Employment Insurance regular benefits, by metropolitan areas, November 2010 to November 2011.
A New Year, And New Layoffs In Europe
BBC News, January 12, 2012: Ulster Bank to cut workforce by 950 with 600 redundancies in Republic of Ireland and 350 in Northern Ireland
CBC News, January 12, 2012: Wind firm Vestas to cut 2,335 jobs, mainly in Denmark. Details soon
BBC News, January 12, 2012: Royal Bank of Scotland says it will cut about 3,500 jobs over next three years
BBC News, January 17, 2012: Premier Foods to shed about 600 staff to cut costs.
BBC News, January 17, 2012: Ministry of Defense announces details of 4,200 job cuts
Eurostat, January 13, 2012: The employment rate for persons aged 60-64 increased from 23% in 2000 to 31% in 2010 …and from 50% to 61% for those aged 55-59 (PDF, 2 pages).
But Canada could take advantage of Europe’s financial and employment distress:
Ottawa Citizen, January 12, 2012: Give us your best and brightest: With new or revised immigration programs, Canada could target a wealth of talented, unemployed Europeans.
Job Losses and Immigrants In The UK Related? The Debate Continues
Immigration has been central in recent UK policy debates and has attracted significant concern over its possible adverse effect on labour market outcomes. This paper contributes to the evidence on this issue by presenting initial results on the impact of migration inflows on the claimant count rate using previously unused data on National Insurance Number registrations of foreign nationals. Our results, which appear robust to different specifications, different levels of geographic aggregation, and to a number of tests, seem to confirm the lack of any impact of migration on unemployment in aggregate. We find no association between migrant inflows and claimant unemployment.
National Institute of Economic and Social Research, January 9, 2012: Examining the relationship between immigration and unemployment using national insurance number registration data. (PDF, 15 pages).
The Guardian, January 11, 2012: Migration caps aren't about protecting British workers. Reduce net migration if you must, but don't expect it to improve the lot of the lowest skilled and lowest paid.
BBC News, January 10, 2012: Immigration from outside the EU 'linked to UK jobless'. The government's official advisers on migration say there is a link between immigration from outside the European Union and job losses among UK workers.
Child Labor at Legoland?
A new Legoland near London, England is recruiting a team of kids as hotel concierges. Compensation includes free family stays in a Lego themed room, park tickets, and loads of Lego.
Huffington Post, January 6, 2012: Legoland London Hotel Recruiting Child Concierges
Calling all 8 to 12 year olds! Legoland London Hotel Recruiting Child Concierges
Book of the Week
Diversity, Ethnicity, Migration, and Work: International Perspectives, by Geraldine Healy and Franklin Oikelome. New York : Palgrave Macmillan, 2011. 363 p. ISBN 9780230252189 (hardcover)
Providing a comprehensive picture of diversity, ethnicity, and migration in the health sector, this book analyses the key themes of career and career structures, social processes, segregation, racism and sexism at international, national and local levels.
About the Authors:
GERALDINE HEALY is Professor of Employment Relations in the School of Business and Management at Queen Mary, University of London, UK. Geraldine is Director of the Centre for Research in Equality and Diversity (CRED), a centre that brings together leading academics in the field of equality and diversity. Prior to joining Queen Mary, she held a chair in employment relations at the University of Hertfordshire, where she holds a visiting professorship.
FRANKLIN OIKELOME holds a PhD in Industrial Relations from the London School of Economics and is currently Lecturer in Human Resource Management and Organisational Behaviour at University of Hull Business School, UK. Before joining Hull, He was Research Fellow at the School of Business and Management at Queen Mary University of London and had previously worked at the International Labour Organisation (Geneva) and the United Nations (New York).
Visit the Recent Books at the CIRHR Library blog.
This publication is protected by Canadian copyright laws and may not be copied, posted or forwarded electronically without permission.
Questions or comments: cirhr.library@utoronto.ca
Editors: Claire Wollen and Yasmin Hartung
Designer: Nick Strupat
Copyright © 2012 Centre for Industrial Relations and Human Resources, University of Toronto. All rights reserved.