November 1, 2010
- Work-Life Balance: a Globe and Mail Series
- University of Western Ontario: possible faculty and administrative staff strikes
- Unionization Rates in Canada 2010
- Building Union-Management Partnerships Conference
- Aon Hewitt Best Employers of 2011
- Equity for LGBT: 2010 Out & Equal Workplace Survey
- Why Women are Losing Ground on Wall Street and Job Market’s Impact on Millennials
- Potash takeover resistance
- Pension Benefits Guarantee Fund Final Report
- Survey of Labour and Income Dynamics (SLID) user’s guide
- International Monetary Fund Report on Canada
- Challenging Issues, Challenging Times: Complexities Facing Global Employers in an Uncertain Economy
- Book of the Week
Work-Life Balance: a Globe and Mail Series
“Why your boss should care: Our inability to balance jobs and home life is costing corporate Canada as much as $10-billion a year”
To read the whole series just click on the link below and scroll down to the individual articles – more are being added each day! Globe and Mail, November 1, 2010: Series: Work-life balance
The Globe and Mail is on Facebook: If Work Doesn’t Kill you the Guilt Will
The links below will take you directly to many of the individual articles -- but for the rest of this week you should click on the series link above:
“Companies are getting rid of people, but they’re not getting rid of work. It’s work intensification,” explains Prof. Duxbury, who along with Prof. Higgins, is conducting a third major national study of work-life balance involving as many as 100,000 workers. From theGlobe and Mail, November 1, 2010: Work-life balance: Why your boss should care by Barrie McKenna
Globe and Mail, November 1, 2010: How to bring up balance with the boss
Globe and Mail, October 29, 2010: Editorial: New ideas needed to balance work and life demands
Globe and Mail, November 1, 2010: How one company is balancing spreadsheets - and lives
Globe and Mail, November 1, 2010: Whaddya know? Some bosses do listen: Examples of companies that are taking steps to help employees, with perks such as onsite daycare, flex time and free trips KPMG has offered a grab-bag of benefits and programs to improve their 5,000 employees’ flexibility
Globe and Mail, November 1, 2010: How the movers and shakers handle work-life balance A look at how politicians and CEOs have managed business and personal responsibilities
Globe and Mail, October 31, 2010: Users admit it: Blackberry increases productivity
Globe and Mail, November 1, 2010: Join our Balance Challenge Are you ready to put yourself first?Participate in The Globe's daily work-life challenge
Globe and Mail, October 29, 2010: How stress affects the human body: Stress isn't just in your head. From hypertension to sexual dysfunction, it takes a physical toll
Globe and Mail, October 31, 2010: Tell us: How do you juggle it all? A Globe reporter asks: From one working parent to another - have you figured out how to make life easier? Share your tips and advice
Globe and Mail, October 29, 2010: Why stress happens: Understanding the conditions that trigger a physical reaction in our brains comes down to a simple acronym
Globe and Mail, October 29, 2010: Stress: public-health enemy No. 1? Across the country, people are experiencing increasing levels of stress. Experts say our health will suffer
Globe and Mail, November 1, 2010: Is stress a national health-care crisis? Dr. Bruce McEwen and Globe reporter Siri Agrell discuss the impact of stress on Canadians - and our health-care system
Links to Canadian research on Work-Life Balance:
Work-Life Conflict in Canada in the New Millennium [Duxbury & Higgins]
Work-Life Conflict in Canada in the New Millennium Key Findings and Recommendations From The 2001 National Work-Life Conflict Study, Report Six, January 2009 [click here for links to Reports 1-5and scroll down to bottom of page]
HRSDC: Labour: Work-Life Balance in Canadian Workplaces (2009) – provides links to Canadian studies current to 2009
University of Western Ontario: possible faculty and administrative staff strikes
There are a number of unresolved issues at the table. These include a series of linked articles that would institute "performance management" techniques governing Academic Responsibilities, Conflict of Interest and Conflict of Commitment, Annual Performance Evaluation, Sabbatical Leave, and Discipline. One consequence of these proposals is the institution of a post-tenure review leading to possible dismissal. The Administration has also finally tabled an opening compensation package proposing 0, 0, 0.5, 0.5 percent in scale increases for the four-year period 2010-2014. As well the University of Western Ontario Staff Association has a strike deadline of 12:01 a.m. on Thursday November 4, 2010. [from UWOFA Bargaining Bulletin Volume 4, Number 10, October 14, 2010]
Globe and Mail, November 1, 2010: Mediator called in as strike deadlines loom for University of Western Ontario, by James Bradshaw
Bargaining Update, November 2nd, 2010: UWOFA Strike Preparation Continues: Picket Duties Still Being Assigned
Bargaining Bulletin – Faculty: Bargaining Bulletins pertaining to the 2010-2012 Collective Agreement
UWOFA: Faculty Association, University of Western Ontario website
Unionization Rates in Canada 2010
This update provides unionization rates for 2009 and the first half of 2010. It also includes data on earnings, wage settlements, inflation, and strikes and lockouts.
On average, just over 4.2 million employees belonged to a union in Canada during the first half of 2010, up 64,000 from the same period last year.
Union membership rose at a slightly faster pace than total employment. As a result, the nation's unionization rate edged up from 29.5% in 2009 to 29.6% in 2010.
The average number of paid employees during the first half of 2010 reached 14.3 million, up by 171,000 over the same period last year.
Statistics Canada, The Daily, October 29, 2010: Unionization 2010
Perspectives on Labour and Income, Statistics Canada, October 29, 2010: Unionization 2010 (10 pages, PDF)
Perspectives on Labour and Income, Statistics Canada, October 29, 2010: Unionization 2010 HTML
Building Union-Management Partnerships Conference
Sponsored by Federated Press this conference will look at union-management collaborations during: trying economic times; organizational change; training redesign; closure and lay-offs; discipline and termination issues; periods of rapid change; training staff on respect in the workplace; the development of a violence prevention program.
Participating organizations include the University of Toronto – presenting Interest-based and Mutual Gains Bargaining at the University of Toronto by Mary Ann McConkey, Senior Director, Labour Relations ; and McMaster University.
Program & registration: 12th Building Union-Management Partnerships Conference: Practical Solutions for Improving Union-Management Relationships in Trying Economic Times, January 26, 27 & 28, 2011Toronto, (8 pages PDF)
Aon Hewitt Best Employers of 2011
"The end of last year’s economic downturn appears to have brought employee engagement back to the forefront for many Canadian organizations,", according to the 2011 Best Employers studies, conducted by Aon Hewitt in conjunction with the Queen’s University School of Business.
Aon Hewitt, October 28, 2010: Aon Hewitt Research Identifies Canada’s Best Employers of 2011 Canadian Organizations Re-Focus on Employee Engagement as Recession Ends
News release, October 28, 2010
Macleans.ca, October 27, 2010: Canada’s Best 50 Employers: Some of the perks, programs and policies that help to make the 50 organizations on this year’s list so engaging
Macleans.ca, October 28, 2010: Who’s whistling the loudest while they work? How Canadian organizations stack up against the rest of the world in terms of employee engagement
Macleans.ca, October 28, 2010: Head of their classOf Canada’s small- and medium-sized employers—organizations with 50 to 399 employees—these are the that proved the most engaging
Equity for LGBT: 2010 Out & Equal Workplace Survey
According to the 2010 Out & Equal Workplace Survey 78% of heterosexual adults agree that how an employee performs at his or her job should be the standard for judging an employee, not their sexual orientation. Also, 62% of heterosexual adults agree that regardless of their sexual orientation, all employees are entitled to equal benefits on the job, such as health insurance for their partners or spouses.
Out & Equal Workplace Advocates, Harris Poll, October 4, 2010: Out & Equal Workplace Survey (12 pages, PDF)
Out & Equal Workplace Advocates Resources (scroll down)
Why Women are Losing Ground on Wall Street and Job Market’s Impact on Millennials
Two articles from Knowledge@Wharton -- Human Resources website – Peter Capelli, Director, Center for Human Resources
The number of women employed in Wall Street has declined in the past 10 years while more men work in the finance sector. This article examines some of the reasons that challenge women to gain more employment opportunities and recognition at the Wall Street.
Knowledge@Wharton, October 27, 2010: You've Come a Long Way, Baby ... or Maybe Not: Why Women are Losing Ground on Wall Street (4 pages, PDF)
Generation Y faces a national unemployment rate of 9.6%, and many cannot find jobs.
Knowledge@Wharton, October 27, 2010: Not a Lost Generation, but a 'Disappointed' One: The Job Market's Impact on Millennials (3 pages, PDF)
Potash takeover resistance
Globe and Mail, November 1, 2010: Business cools on foreign deals, by Jacquie Mcnish
From the Globe and Mail, July 2, 2007: Whoa, Canada; More must be done to protect companies from foreign takeovers. The country's place in the world depends on it by Roger Martin -- the dean of the of the Rotman School of Management and an expert in global competitiveness and Gordon Nixon -- chief executive officer of Royal Bank of Canada
Vancouver Sun, November 2, 2010: Potash and the Canadian corporate elite By Murray Dobbin “Canadian labour-management relations while not exactly cozy are relatively civilized. But when a foreign giant takes over – like Vale corporation of Brazil which bought Inco -it brings its attitude towards it workers with it and the results are often nasty.”
Pension Benefits Guarantee Fund Final Report
The Pension Benefits Guarantee Fund (PBGF) provides protection to Ontario members and beneficiaries of privately sponsored single-employer defined benefit pension plans in the event of plan sponsor insolvency. The report that follows describes the PBGF projection study developed by Eckler Ltd. for the Ministry of Finance, to be used to evaluate the sustainability of the PBGF.
Looking Ahead: projecting Ontario’s pension benefits guarantee fund, Eckler Ltd (91 pages, PDF)or inHTML
Globe and Mail, October 29, 2010: Ontario report calls for boost to pensions by Janet McFarland
Pension and Retirement Income System Reform (Ontario) website
Survey of Labour and Income Dynamics (SLID) user’s guide
Statistics Canada, October 28, 2010: User's guide for cross-sectional public-use microdata file Survey of Labour and Income Dynamics (SLID) Reference year 2008.
International Monetary Fund Report on Canada
“Canada has emerged rapidly from the global recession, thanks to a strong policy response and a resilient financial system. However, the pace of recovery has slowed in recent months, and near-term external risks have increased. We see as a key priority for policies to remain focused on supporting the recovery while dealing with long-term challenges. Domestic and external risks warrant continued vigilance, and readiness to respond if tail risks are realized.”
IMF, October 27, 2010: Canada—2010 Article IV Mission Concluding Statement
Challenging Issues, Challenging Times: Complexities Facing Global Employers in an Uncertain Economy
A Program Co-Sponsored by The Cornell ILR Labor and Employment Law Program and Ius Laboris | The Global Alliance of Leading Employment Law Practices, November 12, 2010, The Cornell Club—New York, 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.; 5:30 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. Cocktails and Networking
Agenda includes: International Framework Agreements — Union Pressure Points for Multinational Corporations panelists: Chris Engels, Claeys & Engels (Brussels, Belgium) Brian Burkett, Heenan Blaikie (Toronto, Canada) Patricia Burke, Vice President — Associate Relations, Servicemaster (Memphis, Tn) moderator: Stefan Marculewicz, Littler Mendelson (Washington, D.C.).
Agenda, Friday November 12, 2010
Link to registration information
Book of the Week
There is Power in a Union: the Epic Story of Labor in America, by Philip Dray. New York : Doubleday, 2010. 772 p. ill. ISBN 9780385526296
From the textile mills of Lowell, Massachusetts, the first real factories in America, to the triumph of unions in the twentieth century and their waning influence today, the contest between labor and capital for their share of American bounty has shaped our national experience. Philip Dray’s ambition is to show us the vital accomplishments of organized labor in that time and illuminate its central role in our social, political, economic, and cultural evolution. There Is Power in a Union is an epic, character-driven narrative that locates this struggle for security and dignity in all its various settings: on picket lines and in union halls, jails, assembly lines, corporate boardrooms, the courts, the halls of Congress, and the White House. The author demonstrates, viscerally and dramatically, the urgency of the fight for fairness and economic democracy—a struggle that remains especially urgent today, when ordinary Americans are so anxious and beset by economic woes.
About the Authors:
PHILIP DRAY is the author of At the Hands of Persons Unknown: The Lynching of Black America, which won the Robert F. Kennedy Book Award and made him a Pulitzer Prize finalist, and Stealing God’s Thunder: Benjamin Franklin’s Lightning Rod and the Invention of America, and the coauthor of the New York Times Notable Book We Are Not Afraid: The Story of Goodman, Schwerner, and Chaney, and the Civil Rights Campaign for Mississippi. He lives in Brooklyn.
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