November 24, 2011
- A Union for Mounties: the Latest Round
- Freedom of Expression and the Occupy Movement
- SCC Decision in Canada Post Pay Equity Dispute
- Required Readings: More Government Please and Broken Britain
- Tough Times in Toronto – Bargaining will not be for Beginners
- Rave on John…
- Unionization 2011 and Regional Economic Shocks and Migration
- Not All Articling Positions are Created Equal
- Stressed Out? In BC Workers get Expanded Benefits
- There is a Positive Side to Cyberslacking
- To Work or Not to Work
- Bad Management
- Employee Value Proposition
- Extending Unemployment Benefits has Indirect Benefits
- Book of the Week
A Union for Mounties: the Latest Round
“For a little while at least a 2009 Ontario Superior Court of Justice ruling seemed to spell victory for groups of RCMP members who had long sought access to unionization. However, quickly changing legal and labour law landscapes – the Fraser decision and unexpected Federal election in Spring 2011 – have delayed, if not foiled, this latest attempt.”
“Meanwhile, the RCMP remains the only major police force in Canada that is not unionized.” [link below to a backgrounder on this dispute by Professor Sara Slinn, Osgoode Hall Law School]
Conversations on Work & Labour, November 24, 2011: A Union for Mounties: the Latest Round, by SSlinn
Worth repeating: a Woody-esque moment...
"Crown counsel Kathryn Hucal told the Ontario Court of Appeal on Tuesday that freedom of association guarantees under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms give workers only the right to make representations to their employer and to have them considered in good faith." "It doesn’t necessarily entitle them to voice their concerns through a vehicle independent of management, she argued.
“Wow,” said Justice David Doherty. “That sounds like a Woody Allen movie.” “Employees generally get to choose who represents them. The employer doesn’t say ‘Here’s your association (with which) to negotiate with us.’ ” [Toronto Star]
Toronto Star, November 22, 2011: Mounties have no right to union, appeal court told
Vancouver Sun, November 22, 2011: RCMP fights for right to form union: Feds say there's no guarantee
Windsor Star, November 22, 2011: RCMP has no obligation to recognize union, Ont. court hears
Freedom of Expression and the Occupy Movement
The Superior Court of Ontario’s Justice David Brown decided Monday that the City of Toronto is not prohibited by the Charter of Rights and Freedoms from issuing trespass orders to Occupy Toronto protestors sleeping in St. James Park. The Court’s decision is seen as a failure to uphold the Charter’s principle of “equal benefit of the law” to all, and freedom of expression, writes law professor Peter Rosenthal.
The Law Union of Ontario would agree with Rosenthal. The Union has made a submission to the United Nations’ High Commissioner for Human Rights in response to Canadian municipalities’ move to remove the protestors. They write that while government officials in Canada have asked foreign governments to “respect the human rights of protestors and uphold their commitment to freedom of speech and the right to assembly”, they remain silent as municipal governments remove protestors from municipal parks.
National Public Radio, November 21, 2011: “Casually Pepper Spraying Cop’ Meme Takes Off”, by Mark Memmott. This blog post shows the meme created of campus police officer Lt. John Pike, who casually pepper sprayed Occupy protestors at the University of California
Globe and Mail, November 22, 2011: “It wasn’t necessary to order Occupy Toronto to fold its tents”, by Peter Rosenthal
Law Union of Ontario, November 16, 2011: Submission to the United Nations, Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (PDF, 17 pages)
Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, November 16, 2011: “An Inconvenient Occupation”, by Christopher Majka
Globe and Mail, November 22, 2011: In pictures: Gallery: Occupy around Canada Update
CBC, November 22, 2011: interactive map of The Occupy Canada movement
SCC Decision in Canada Post Pay Equity Dispute
After twenty-eight years of comparing wages between men and women working at Canada Post, and hundreds of human rights hearings, the Supreme Court of Canada has decided in favor of the Public Service Alliance. The case began in 1983 when PSAC claimed that women employed with Canada Post were being discriminated against as they were paid less than men working in comparable jobs.
It is estimated that the back pay and interest will cost Canada Post $150 million.
Supreme Court of Canada, November 17, 2011: “Public Service Alliance of Canada v. Canada Post Corporation, 2011 SCC 57”, (PDF, 3 pages)
Globe and Mail, November 17, 2011: “Unions win decades-old pay equity case against Canada Post”, by The Canadian Press
CBC, November 17, 2011: Postal workers win 28-year pay equity fight Canada Post says it will respect Supreme Court ruling
CBC News – CBC site provided these links: Canadian Human Rights Commission's brief to Supreme Court ( 64 pages, PDF) and Canada Post's submissions to Supreme Court (124 pages)
Required Readings: More Government, Please! and Broken Britain
More Government, Please!
“In the present climate, it would probably be easier to round up a congressional majority for a declaration of war on Greece than it would be to get funding for a new federal works program.
These days, we don’t paint new murals for official buildings; we tear the old ones down because they offend the free-market convictions of sensitive men like the governor of Maine. We don’t build new highways and bridges; we sell off the existing ones to private companies that operate them for a profit, in the manner of the Indiana Toll Road or the Chicago Skyway.
We don’t add to government payrolls; our state-level leaders are using the Great Recession as an opportunity to lay people off, to attack unions, and to holler with outrage about the generous pensions that public workers receive.
Harpers Magazine, December 2011: More Government, please! How Washington Should Put Us Back to Work, By Thomas Frank (full text available to the University of Toronto Community upon request)
Broken Britain
“Exactly how and why Britain has decomposed into a more rotten country than it was two or three decades ago is hard to gauge, but some answers can, I think, be found in the destruction of an industrial society and the loss of the cohesion and community afforded by the manufacturing base.
The devastation of manufacturing and its social fabric occurred, during the 1980s and ’90s, in parallel with an extreme form of privatization of infrastructure, utilities, and services that were (and in continental Western Europe largely still are) seen as public and civic functions, not merely opportunities to make money.
Traditional industries were replaced by retail and “service” industries, and one in particular—financial services—so that the economy came to rest on the whims and needs of supranational banking.”
Harpers Magazine, November 2011: Broken Britain: Nothing is left of the family silver , by Ed Vulliamy (full text available to the University of Toronto Community upon request)
Tough Times in Toronto – Bargaining will not be for Beginners
From the City of Toronto website:
November 16, 2011: The collective agreements between the City and CUPE Locals 416, 79 and 2998 expire on December 31, 2011. The Employee and Labour Relations Committee has given staff a mandate to seek a negotiated settlement with its unions. The goal is to provide efficient and cost effective services.
Read more… and more and more...
A response from CUPE Local 79: November 10, 2011: City Stonewalling to blame for bargaining delays, says CUPE 79 President Ann Dembinski: “We have repeatedly asked them to provide us with necessary financial information. Time and again, the Employer has refused to do so”
Rave on John…
“Welcome to the age of the boring and the bland:
In these times, there is a fear of engagement, a fear of controversy and an impulse toward conformist culture. Rob Ford fleeing Mary Walsh from 22 Minutes was about a fear of engaging with comedy.
In Ottawa, the majority government essentially declines to engage with the opposition, cutting off debate, ramming legislation through Parliament. That context explains the noise over NDP MP Pat Martin’s expletive-filled tweet last week. A swear word was a scream of frustration.
The unwillingness to engage, to risk argument, to risk fun is everywhere. Conform or shut up is the theme. What happens in these circumstances is a withdrawal to the bland and innocuous. The government doesn’t have to twist anyone’s arm on this.
Simply by flexing its majority muscle, it deflates opposition of all kinds and simply by acting like it defines all things Canadian, it does actually help to focus that definition – including that of the popular culture. Hence the bland.” [John Doyle]
Globe and Mail, November 22, 2011: Welcome to the age of the boring and the bland, by John Doyle
Unionization 2011 and Regional Economic Shocks and Migration
Unionization 2011
In Canada approximately 4.2 million employees or 29.5 percent belonged to a union in 2010 and another 293,000 or 2 percent covered by a collective agreement .
The public sector, which consisted of government, Crown corporations, and publicly funded schools or hospitals, had 71.4 percent of its employees belonging to a union. This was more than four times the rate for the private sector at 16 percent.
Statistics Canada, Perspectives on Labour and Income, October 26, 2011: Unionization 2011, by Sharanjit Uppal (12 pages, PDF)
Regional Economic Shocks and Migration
There are advantages to migrating from one region of the country to another. For example, people who were laid off and would otherwise be unemployed may find work in regions experiencing labour shortages. In such cases, migration serves as a market-adjustment mechanism
Statistics Canada, Perspectives on labour and Income< November 23, 2011: Regional Economic Shocks and Migration, by André Bernard (15 pages, PDF)
Not All Articling Positions are Created Equal
The Law Society of Upper Canada reports that 12.1 per cent of students seeking articling positions in 2010-2011 were unable to find a placement. In response to the articling shortage an articling task force was set up and a panel held at the University of Ottawa’s law school. Panel moderator, Suzanne Bouclin, and panelist and law professor David Wiseman, both argue that the problem is not so much a shortage of articling positions, but a lack of articling positions related to social justice. Those firms or sole practitioners providing legal services to marginalized communities need “creative strategies” in order to overcome the resource barriers stopping them from hiring articling students, says the panel.
Law Society of Upper Canada, May 2011: “Professional Development and Competence Department Resource and Program Report”, by Diana C. Miles (PDF, 33 pages)
Canadian Lawyer Magazine, October 31, 2011: “Lack of articling placements an access-to-justice issue”, by Devanne O’Brien
The Law Society of Upper Canada: “The Geography of Civil Legal Services in Ontario, November, 2011.” This is the second and final report of the Law Society of Upper Canada’s Ontario Civil Legal Needs (OCLN) Project (PDF, 110 pages)
Stressed Out? In BC Workers get Expanded Benefits
“According to Towers Watson’s current Staying@Work survey, a quarter of Canadian employers are planning to offer some type of financial reward in 2012 to individuals who participate in their health management programs… mental health conditions continue to be the most common reason for disability claims in Canada.
Canadian respondents cited excessive workloads, lack of work/life balance, unclear or conflicting job expectations and inadequate staffing as the top sources of workplace stress. The survey results indicate that the prevalence of each of these stressors has risen significantly over the last two years.”
November 22, 2011: Towers Watson Study: Investing in Workforce Health Generates Higher Productivity: Workplace Stress is at Crisis Levels
Staying@Work Survey: here is the survey questionnaire (19 pages, PDF)
CBC, November 4, 2011: Stressed-out B.C. workers to get expanded benefits: “B.C. will join Alberta, Saskatchewan, Quebec, Yukon, Nunavut and Northwest Territories, who have already expanded their eligibility for workplace stress benefits.”
There is a Positive Side to Cyberslacking
Is surfing the Internet whilst at work ‘time theft’? According to a newly released study in the journal ofNew Technology,Work and Employment, surfing the Internet for “personal reasons” can actually have a positive effect on worker productivity. The study’s author, lecturer Brent Coker, notes that while web surfing can positively affect productivity, it is only the case if surfing does not take up more than 12 per cent of work time.
Coker, Brent L.S. (2011) Freedom to surf: the positive effects of workplace Internet leisure browsing.New Technology,Work and Employment, 26(3). click here for online access available to the University of Toronto community.
YouTube: “WILB ‘Workplace Internet Leisure Browsing’ Dr Brent Coker”, news clip on the WILB study, includes an interview with the author of the study, Brent Coker.
Globe and Mail, September 8, 2011: “Does surfing the Internet at work qualify as ‘time theft’?” by Paul Waldie
To Work or Not to Work
“For too many women who try to juggle family and a full-time job, traditional employment seems rigged as an either/or proposition—you are committed either to your career or your kids, but not both. To help address this disconnection, the Working Mother Research Institute in the United States commissioned What Moms Choose: The Working Mother Report, a new survey of 3,781 women that investigates factors shaping women’s work life decisions.
We looked at women’s family histories, sources of stress and schedules, and we asked them to rank the workplace benefits they consider crucial.”
Working Mother Research Institute, November 2011: What Moms Choose:The Working Mother Report, Earnst & Young, (28 pages, PDF)
Working Mother 100 Best Companies 2011 (24 pages PDF)
The Working Mother Research Institute is home to more than 25 years of data and studies targeting the key concerns impacting working mothers today.
Bad Management
“It's a truism that "nothing is certain in this world except death, taxes and bad management." But why? Why does bad management remain so pervasive, even after decades of MBA courses, millions of management books, and billions spent on management training?
The root of the problem lies in five basic management concepts that became popular in the 20th century and continue to propagate stupidity. As long as the business world kowtows to these obsolete management concepts, we'll be plagued by managers who screw up.”
Sales Machine December 27, 2010: The 5 Dumbest Management Concepts of All Time, By Geoffrey James :
Dumb Concept #3: "Human Resources": What better way to let people know that they're expendable commodities than calling them "resources"? Indeed, the entire concept of HR is designed to make the process of dealing with real live people as bloodless as dealing with electricity or shipments of iron ore.
Employee Value Proposition
“By articulating and documenting their employee value proposition (EVP) and their total rewards strategy, and then applying the three key principles of integration, segmentation and agility to their reward and talent management model, organizations can significantly improve their human capital risk management and the return on their investment in talent.”
Towers Watson, October 31, 2011: The Talent Management and Rewards Imperative for 2012: Leading Through Uncertain Times – click on Download and join to access this 28 page document
The 2011/2012 Talent Management and Rewards Study, North America: Overview
Extending Unemployment Benefits has Indirect Benefits
“Debates over the merits of UI benefit extensions focus on the program costs – which include both the dollar value of extra benefits distributed to those eligible and the efficiency cost of job search disincentives17 – and the direct benefits to UI recipients without alternative income sources. This brief suggests that these debates miss an important indirect benefit of UI extensions: increased efficiency due to delayed, and perhaps averted, disability benefits.”
Centre for Retirement Research at Boston College, November 2011: Disability Insurance: Does Extending Unemployment Benefits Help? By Matthew S. Rutledge
Book of the Week
Why Marx Was Right, by Terry Eagleton. New Haven : Yale University Press, 2011. 258 p. ISBN 9780300169430 (hardcover)
In this combative, controversial book, Terry Eagleton takes issue with the prejudice that Marxism is dead and done with. Taking ten of the most common objections to Marxism—that it leads to political tyranny, that it reduces everything to the economic, that it is a form of historical determinism, and so on—he demonstrates in each case what a woeful travesty of Marx's own thought these assumptions are. In a world in which capitalism has been shaken to its roots by some major crises, Why Marx Was Right is as urgent and timely as it is brave and candid. Written with Eagleton's familiar wit, humor, and clarity, it will attract an audience far beyond the confines of academia.
About the Author:
Terry Eagleton is currently Distinguished Professor of English Literature at the University of Lancaster, England, and Professor of Cultural Theory at the National University of Ireland, Galway. He lives in Dublin.
Review: from Owen Hatherley,The Guardian, Saturday 21 May 2011
"Marx and Lenin both liked a joke. So they would have appreciated the irony that, since the ongoing financial crisis began, their analyses of unstable, destructive capitalism has been spectacularly confirmed at the same time that the movement they ostensibly inspired (and for a time, involuntarily gave their names to) lies powerless and moribund." more...
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