November 22, 2012
- Canada’s Past Matters
- Wal-Mart Employees Protest and Wal-Mart goes for an Injunction
- Exotic Dancers Win Employee Status
- Transforming Articling
- Public Pension Pooling in Ontario: Morneau Report Released
- Conservative Path to Retirement Security?
- Best Practices Strike Again
- Talent Management Leads the Charge
- Employee Engagement Follows
- Shared Value: Business takes Advantage
- ... the Onion on Social Media gets the Last Word
- How Can a Warm Man Understand A Cold Man?
- The American Dream Tied Up in Tax Policy
- Mark Kingwell on Democracy
- Book of the Week
Canada’s Past Matters
The Canadian Association of University Teachers (CAUT) has initiated the Canada’s Past Matterscampaign highlighting how federal funding cuts and policy changes are putting the survival of libraries, archives, museums and historical sites across the country at risk. The campaign website defines the problems and gives us the opportunity to take action.
The IR/HR community is greatly affected by this as the Human Resources and Skills Development (HRSDC) Libraries include the largest collection of books in Canada on the social sciences. The libraries’ physical collections will be entirely phased out by March 31, 2013. Let’s take Action!
Five aspects of the campaign and what actions you can take to save our heritage:
Save Library & Archives Canada
Preserve Canada’s Historical Sites
Protect Canada’s Public Libraries
Restore Canada’s Local Archives
Retain the Canadian Museum of Civilization
Wal-Mart Employees Protest and Wal-Mart Goes for an Injunction
“A group of Wal-Mart employees is planning protests and walkouts at hundreds of stores on Friday. The demonstrators are objecting to what they describe as retaliation against employees who have agitated for better wages, regular hours and affordable health care.” [Globe and Mail]
“Angela B. Cornell, director of the labor law clinic at Cornell Law School, says the company probably knows that the labor board usually takes weeks or months to act, making it unlikely that Wal-Mart could obtain an injunction by Friday. She said she suspected the filing was more likely aimed at warning employees about engaging in what the company maintained was illegal picketing. A letter to the union from Wal-Mart uses the word “illegal” three times, though she said a one-time walkout like this was generally protected under the National Labor Relations Act.”[New York Times]
New York Times, November 18, 2012: “Protests Backed by Union Get Wal-Mart’s Attention,” by Steven Greenhouse and Stephanie Clifford
The Globe and Mail, November 22, 2012: “Wal-Mart’s Black Friday to see bargains – and protests,” by Joanna Slater
UFCW, November 20, 2012: Strikes and Protests by Walmart Workers, Supporters Spread
Exotic Dancers Win Employee Status
“The words "labor dispute" make a lot of people imagine big men on a picket line. This, despite the fact that the high-profile workers' struggles of the past year happened in jobs dominated by women stuck with low wages and little respect: from domestic workers securing benefits in New York state, to Chicago's teachers' strikes, to this week's Black Friday actions organized across the country against Wal-Mart. There's another group of women we should add to this list, women who have been continually fighting for their rights at work, who are met with disbelief and retaliation when they stand up, and smirking headlines and punny scorn even when they win.”
“Judge Phillips ruled that within 30 days Spearmint Rhino must stop charging dancers what are known as "stage fees" for the right to work. Phillips also ruled that the chain is required to grant all dancers in their clubs employee status within six months, ending the illegal practice of classifying dancers as independent contractors while also placing workplace demands on them that far exceed that legal status.”
The Atlantic, November 19, 1012: Organized Labor's Newest Heroes: Strippers: Exotic dancers are fighting back against unfair wages, and last week they scored a landmark victory, by Melissa Gira Grant
We wanted to create a resource to provide legal and know-your-rights information, health and safety tips, financial advice, and resources for dancers. So we created this website: WeAreDancersNYC.com. And now we want to share this information directly with dancers all over the city.
We Are Dancers: We Are Dancers is a resource and outreach project by and for exotic dancers in New York City.
Transforming Articling
“The Law Society’s governing body today approved a three-year pilot project that will allow lawyer licensing candidates to either article or complete a Law Practice Program, starting in the 2014-15 licensing year.“
“This project addresses the reality of the articling placement shortage and that the articling requirement should not be a barrier to licensing to eligible, competent candidates.”
“Under the pilot project, candidates may either complete the traditional 10-month articling term, with enhanced documentation, or an approximately four-month long LPP, which will also include an additional four-month co-operative work placement.”
Law Society of Upper Canada News, November 22, 2012: Articling Debate: New licensing programs approved
Public Pension Pooling in Ontario: Morneau Report Released
“The report, released on Friday, recommends that the new pension fund manage at least $50-billion in assets. “There is strong evidence to suggest that large pension funds outperform smaller and medium-sized funds,” says the report, written by William Morneau, executive chairman of consulting firm Morneau Shepell.” [The Globe and Mail]
The Globe and Mail, November 16, 2012: Pooling pension assets of public-sector workers in Ontario urged Karen Howlett
Ontario Ministry of Finance, November 16, 2012: Facilitating Pooled Asset Management for Ontario’s Public-Sector Institutions Report from the Pension Investment Advisor to the Deputy Premier and Minister of Finance (34 pages, PDF) released November 16, 2012 dated October 2012.
Blakes, November 19, 2012: Morneau Report: Facilitating Pooled Asset Management for Ontario’s Public Sector Institutions – summary without commentary
Commentary:
The single study referenced by Ontario (from the International Centre for Pension Management) (the “Rotman Study”) is not an adequate basis, by itself, upon which to base public policy from OCUFA’s Submission to Mr. Bill Morneau
OCUFA, November 16, 2012: Government pension advisor Bill Morneau releases pooled asset pension recommendations
Conservative Path to Retirement Security?
In a recent Conservative party white paper Tim Hudak offers Ontario workers a ‘secure’ retirement with defined contribution plans. But as a paper from the BMO Retirement Institute points out,“in the aftermath of recent market turmoil and historically low interest rates, it is hard to understand the appeal of capital accumulation plans for employees.”
“Capital Accumulation plans like Defined Contribution pensions or group RRSPs… shift investment risk from the shoulders of employers to that of workers. As the report puts it, the role of employers offering Capital Accumulation plans moves from being an Income Guarantor to a “Interested Bystander” who merely collects or sometimes matches contributions from workers, then wishes them well “from the sidelines.”” [Financial Post]
PC Party White Paper, November 2012: Paths to Prosperity: sustainable retirement security (20 pages, PDF)
Financial Post, January 31, 2012: “Job seekers should look for employers with DB pensions,” by Jonathan Chevreau
Short Comings of Defined Contribution Plans
“Traditional DB plans offer employers greater control over workforce retirement patterns. This is becoming more of an issue today, as the financial crisis and sluggish recovery have highlighted the shortcomings of a DC-only approach and many older workers are delaying retirement. Account-based plans generally make employees more responsible for their own retirement saving and planning, and result in less predictable retirement patterns.”
Towers Watson, October 2012: Retirement Plan Types of Fortune 100 Companies in 2012
Best Practices Strike Again
Today’s human capital professionals have yet to move from being reactive to proactive and predictive. This report identifies the metrics and best practices that can lead to rapid development and deployment of a sound human capital analytics function.
The Conference Board, November 2012: Human Capital Analytics: A Primer Report, by Jac Fitz-enz, Patti P. Phillips, Rebecca L. Ray (48 pages, PDF) this paper can be downloaded by the University of Toronto community using your UToronto email address once you have registered for a Conference Board of Canada e-Library account.
Talent Management Leads the Charge
This publication is designed for the busy human capital executive who values selected and thoughtfully summarized article reviews of what is happening in the area of talent management.
The Conference Board, November 2012: The Conference Board Human Capital in Review: Focus on Talent Management Report, by Amy Abel, Yolanda Lannquist (Vol. 2, No. 3, 2012) (18 pages, PDF) this paper can be downloaded by the University of Toronto community using your UToronto email address once you have registered for a Conference Board of Canada e-Library account.
Employee Engagement Follows
This publication is designed for the busy human capital executive who values selected and thoughtfully summarized article reviews of what is happening in the area of employee engagement.
The Conference Board, November 2012: The Conference Board Human Capital in Review: Focus on Employee Engagement Report, by Amy Abel, Yolanda Lannquist, Rebecca L. Ray, Thomas Rizzacasa (Vol. 1, No. 3, 2012) (18 pages, PDF) this paper can be downloaded by the University of Toronto community using your UToronto email address once you have registered for a Conference Board of Canada e-Library account.
Shared Value: Business takes Advantage
“Measuring shared value allows companies to maximize opportunities for innovation, growth, and social impact at scale. This article explains the specific purpose of shared value measurement and offers a step-by-step process and pragmatic approaches to measurement with examples from leading companies.”
FSG, October 2012: Measuring Shared Value How to Unlock Value by Linking Social and Business Results (24 pages, PDF)
FSG, Creating Shared Value Blog
... the Onion on Social Media gets the Last Word
“Our firm was hired to expand SpeedStick deodorant's Twitter footprint. But they already had a Twitter feed -- and we of course had no original ideas. So we hired a separate company to create thousands of fake Twitter accounts designed only to follow SpeedStick. We were able to increase the number of accounts following SpeedStick from 300 to 900,000 in less than a week. And the best part is, all of these accounts were robots -- so we didn't have to tweet anything, because nobody was reading it.”
The Atlantic, November 21, 2012: “The Onion's Pitch-Perfect Parody of Social Media 'Gurus' Using your brains to think of an idea and your skills to implement it? That's the old model." (video)
Oops…not quite: Visionary Entrepreneurs – bullseye!
The Atlantic, October 22, 2012: “The Onion's TED Talk Spoof: I'll Be Your Visionary and You Do the Things I Come Up With,” by Alexis C. Madrigal (video)
How Can a Warm Man Understand A Cold Man?
Just watch it – only 5 minutes.
TVO, October 16, 2012: Why Poverty Ontario Short Documentaries: “How Can A Warm Man Understand A Cold Man
The Globe and Mail, November 19, 2012: Poverty is all around, so how does it go unseen by us? By John Doyle
The American Dream Tied Up in Tax Policy
"How should programs intended to support children in low-income families be designed if parents don’t always act in the best interests of their children?"
Economics for Public Policy, Miles Corak writes on economics that matters, November 11, 2012: The US Senate wonders about tax policy for the American Dream: here is the homework they gave me
Economics for Public Policy, Miles Corak writes on economics that matters, November 18, 2012: The US Senate wonders about tax policy for the American Dream: Do parents act in the best interests of their children?
Mark Kingwell on Democracy
Mark Kingwell is a University of Toronto philosophy professor. He is a contributing editor to Harper's Magazine and was interviewed recently by Harper’s about his recent book, Unruly Voices: Essays On Democracy, Civility and the Human Imagination.
“I’ll be honest: I go back and forth on the odds for success in this most important of democratic projects. But we’ve got to try. For one thing, there is no other option. I mean, what else are we going to do? After all, to quote The Skinhead Hamlet, an awesome parody of Shakespeare’s original that I discuss briefly in one of the book’s essays on civility: “The rest is fucking silence.”
Harper’s Magazine: The Stream Blog, November 14, 2012: Six Questions — Unruly Voices: Essays On Democracy, Civility and the Human Imagination: Mark Kingwell on fugitive democracy, the cultural role of philosophers, and hockey-borne Canadian anti-intellectualism.
Book of the Week
Rethinking Leadership: a New Look at Old Leadership questions, by Donna Ladkin. Cheltenham : Edward Elgar, 2011. 202 p. ISBN 9780857931313 (pbk.)
A must-read for serious leadership studies scholars, Rethinking Leadership offers a radical reconceptualisation of leadership as a contextually embedded, physically embodied phenomenon. The book arrives at original and surprising answers to perennial questions such as ‘What is leadership?’ and ‘How do leaders lead change?’, by addressing them from a philosophical, rather than psychological or sociological standpoint
About the Authors:
Donna Ladkin is Professor of Leadership and Ethics at Cranfield School of Management in the UK.
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