Wednesday, December 01, 2004
[IWS] CANADA: Weekly Work Report 29 November 2004
IWS Documented News Service
_______________________________
Institute for Workplace Studies Professor Samuel B. Bacharach
School of Industrial & Labor Relations Director, Institute for Workplace Studies
Cornell University
16 East 34th Street, 4th floor Stuart Basefsky
New York, NY 10016 Director, IWS News Bureau
________________________________________________________________________
(The following is courtesy of the Centre for Industrial Relations, University of Toronto).
Weekly Work Report for the Week of November 29, 2004
These highlights of the week's HR/IR news are prepared by the Librarians at the Centre for Industrial Relations for our subscribers, alumni, faculty and students, and are intended for their individual use only. Please visit the CIR website for terms of use and information about organizational subscriptions. This message is composed in MS Outlook Express and contains hyperlinks that require an HTML-enabled email program.
The WWR is protected by Canadian copyright law and should not be reproduced or forwarded without permission. For inquiries or comments, please contact the Editor, elizabeth.perry@utoronto.ca.
----------
WHO IS THE GREATEST CANADIAN? The answer: Tommy Douglas, according to the 1.2 million Canadians who voted in the 6-week CBC contest that ended on November 29. For those too young to remember him, T.C. (Tommy) Douglas is generally known as the father of Canadian medicare, which was established in Saskatchewan during his 18-year tenure as Premier of that province. Douglas government also enacted the Saskatchewan Trade Union Act, which made collective bargaining mandatory and extended the rights of civil servants. The Act was described by Walter Reuther as "the most progressive piece of labour legislation on the continent," according to the website of the Saskatchewan New Democratic Party. Douglas was the leader of the Saskatchewan Canadian Commonwealth Federation (CCF) Party, and the leader of the national New Democratic Party when it was founded in 1961. He died in 1986.
LINKS:
CBC Greatest Canadian website at <http://www.cbc.ca/greatest/>
Saskatchewan New Democratic Party history at <http://www.saskndp.com/history/>http://www.saskndp.com/history/
----------
COURT OF APPEAL RULES ON SAME SEX PENSION BENEFITS UNDER THE CHARTER: On November 26th the Ontario Court of Appeal ruled that the federal government violated the rights of gays and lesbians by denying them survivor pension benefits under the Canada Pension Plan. The federal government, in legislation enacted in 2000, limited survivor benefits to those whose partners had died on or after January 1st, 1998, and allowed benefits to begin only in July of 2000. The Court of Appeal upheld the claim that benefits should begin on the day the Charter of Rights and FreedomÂs equality clause came into effect (April 15th, 1985).
LINKS:
Ontario Court of Appeal decision summary (5 pages, PDF) at <http://www.ontariocourts.on.ca/decisions/2004/november/C41224synopsis.pdf>
and the complete decision (38 pages, PDF) <http://www.ontariocourts.on.ca/decisions/2004/november/C41224.pdf>
Press release from Egale, an advocacy group for gays and lesbians at <http://www.egale.ca/index.asp?lang=E&menu=1&item=1115>
ÂSame-sex couples win pension fight in the Globe and Mail (Nov. 27) at <http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/ArticleNews/TPStory/LAC/20041127/SAMESEX27/TPNational/?query=kirk+makin>
----------
MANITOBA HEALTH CARE WORKERS FIGHT PENSION REDUCTIONS: On November 29, ManitobaÂs Health Minister was presented with a petition signed by 2,400 health care workers who are concerned about upcoming reductions to their pension benefits. Although the member unions of the Manitoba Council of Health Care Unions (MCHCU) indicated last year that they were willing to increase their contributions to the Health Employees Pension Plan (HEPP), the required unanimous consent of all signatories to the Plan has not been reached. As a result, workers are facing reduced pension payouts and a minimum retirement age of 55, effective July 1, 2005. These actions were authorized by the HEPP Board of Trustees in the summer of 2004, in an attempt to deal with a shortfall in the pension plan.
LINKS:
ÂLooming pension shortfall upsets health workers at the CBC Manitoba website at <http://winnipeg.cbc.ca/regionalnews/caches/mb_pension-shortfall20041130.html>
Manitoba Nurses Union (2 pages, PDF) at <http://www.nursesunion.mb.ca/pdf files/October 2004 Dear Member.pdf>
Board of trustees announces changes to health care Employees Pension Plan Benefits for 2005 (2 pages, PDF) at the Health Care Employees Pension Plan (HEPP) website at <http://www.hepp.mb.ca/release_agm.pdf>
----------
DEUTSCHE BANK BID FOR STELCO APPROVED: Mr. Justice James Farley of the Ontario Superior Court approved the Deutsche Bank bid for Stelco on November 29, but noted that the bid and the restructuring process are far from final. With Stelco now showing a profit, other bids are expected, including from giant steel companies OAO Severstal and United States Steel Corporation. The Court extended Stelco's creditor protection to February 11, 2005. In an ÂOpen Letter to Courtney PrattÂ, the United Steelworkers union served notice to Stelco management that they will oppose the Deutsche Bank bid.
LINKS:
ÂDeutsche Bank's takeover bid for Stelco gets court's approval in the Globe and Mail (Nov. 30) at <http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/ArticleNews/TPStory/LAC/20041130/RSTELCO30/TPBusiness/Canadian>
ÂOpen Letter to Courtney Pratt and an archive of United Steelworkers of America documents re Stelco at the new USWA website at <http://www.uswa.ca/program/content/overview_sub.php?modules2_ID=283&modules_ID=283>
----------
NEW YEARÂS HOLIDAY CONFUSION: Results of the annual Holiday Closings Survey by the Toronto Board of Trade reveal that employers are divided on how to handle the holiday situation this year. With Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New YearÂs Day all falling on weekends, employers in Ontario can designate alternate days to provide employees with their statutory holiday. 70% of employers are designating Monday, Dec. 27 and Tuesday, Dec. 28th as holidays for Christmas and Boxing Day. Practice is more divided over New YearÂs Day, with 49% of businesses planning to close on Monday, January 3rd and 43% closing on Friday, December 31st.
LINKS:
2004-2005 Holiday Closings Survey (3 pages, PDF) at <http://www.bot.com/assets/StaticAssets/Documents/PDF/compSurvey/2004-2005 Holiday Closings Results.pdf>
----------
WHO WORKS THE LONGEST HOURS OUTSIDE THE HOME? The Bank of Montreal conducted a telephone survey of 1035 people aged 18 or older in CanadaÂs five largest cities. Released on November 30, the survey reports that the average work week in CanadaÂs five largest cities was around 41 hours a week, with some people working 50 hours or more. Tops were workers in Edmonton, where 28% worked outside the home 50 or more hours; in Calgary, 24% worked as many hours. Toronto ranked third, with 20%, followed by Vancouver at 16%. In Montreal, only 7% of workers reported that they worked 50 hours or more.
LINKS:
BMO press release at <http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/November2004/30/c9310.html>
----------
TURNOVER COSTS AVERAGES $13,355 U.S.: The Employment Policy Foundation in Washington, D.C. has released the results of a study that claims that the average turnover costs for a full-time private-sector employee were $13,355 (U.S.) in 2004. The cost includes recruiting, selection, training, and lost productivity, and generally amounts to about 25 % of the employeeÂs annual salary. The study found that turnover rates varied from 46.4 % in the leisure and hospitality industry to 16.5 % in manufacturing.
LINKS:
A summary of the study on the EPF website at <http://www.epf.org/news/nrelease.asp?nrid=1176>http://www.epf.org/news/nrelease.asp?nrid=1176
Employee turnover is expensive Fact Sheet (2 pages, PDF) at <http://www.epf.org/pubs/newsletters/2004/fs20041022.pdf>
----------
ONTARIO RANKS 13TH IN COMPETITIVENESS STUDY: The Ontario Task Force on Competitiveness, Prosperity and Economic Progress has released its third annual report. The report, which compares Ontario to jurisdictions with similar economies (15 American states and Quebec) found that Ontario ranked 13th in terms of GDP per capita, 7.1 % below the median. Ontario can close the gap by raising productivity; this would involve, among other things, increased investment in equipment and software, integrating new immigrants into the economy more quickly and increasing funding of post secondary education.
LINK:
Summary and the complete report (64 pages, PDF) are linked from <http://www.competeprosper.ca/institute/index.html>
----------
CANADIAN MANUFACTURERS LOOK TO THE FUTURE: Results of the Management Issues Survey for 2004-2005 is now available from the Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters (CME), documenting the concerns expressed during the associationÂs Manufacturing 20/20 discussions. Generally optimistic, the CME members see the growing industrial strength of China as a powerful influence on Canadian business  both as a competitor and as a promising market. Lack of qualified personnel in Canada emerges as one of the most important constraints identified; with colleges, apprenticeships and in-house training programs seen as most effective in meeting skills requirements. Immigration, collaborative training and on-line learning were not seen to be very effective in meeting skills needs.
LINKS:
Conquering challenges: the Management Issues Survey 2004/2005 (56 pages, PDF) at <http://www.cme-mec.ca/pdf/SURVEY FINAL.pdf>
----------
GROWING POLARIZATION OF SKILLED OCCUPATIONS BETWEEN URBAN AND RURAL AREAS: A recent study by Statistics Canada shows that workers in rural areas have different skills from urban workers, even in the same industry. Overall, between 1991 and 2001, the concentration of unskilled workers has increased in rural areas, which results in lower incomes the lower job growth in these areas.
LINKS:
Occupational patterns within industry groups: a rural-urban comparison (Catalogue #21-006-XIE2004006) (16 pages, PDF) at <http://www.statcan.ca/english/freepub/21-006-XIE/21-006-XIE2004006.pdf>
----------
121 St. George St., Toronto Canada M5S 2E8 http://www.chass.utoronto.ca/cir
_____________________________
This information is provided to subscribers, friends, faculty, students and alumni of the School of Industrial & Labor Relations (ILR). It is a service of the Institute for Workplace Studies (IWS) in New York City. Stuart Basefsky is responsible for the selection of the contents which is intended to keep researchers, companies, workers, and governments aware of the latest information related to ILR disciplines as it becomes available for the purposes of research, understanding and debate. The content does not reflect the opinions or positions of Cornell University, the School of Industrial & Labor Relations, or that of Mr. Basefsky and should not be construed as such. The service is unique in that it provides the original source documentation, via links, behind the news and research of the day. Use of the information provided is unrestricted. However, it is requested that users acknowledge that the information was found via the IWS Documented News Service.
Stuart Basefsky *
Director, IWS News Bureau *
Institute for Workplace Studies *
Cornell/ILR School *
16 E. 34th Street, 4th Floor *
New York, NY 10016 *
*
Telephone: (607) 255-2703 *
Fax: (607) 255-9641 *
E-mail: smb6@cornell.edu *
****************************************
_______________________________
Institute for Workplace Studies
School of Industrial & Labor Relations
Cornell University
16 East 34th Street, 4th floor
New York, NY 10016
________________________________________________________________________
(The following is courtesy of the Centre for Industrial Relations, University of Toronto).
Weekly Work Report for the Week of November 29, 2004
These highlights of the week's HR/IR news are prepared by the Librarians at the Centre for Industrial Relations for our subscribers, alumni, faculty and students, and are intended for their individual use only. Please visit the CIR website for terms of use and information about organizational subscriptions. This message is composed in MS Outlook Express and contains hyperlinks that require an HTML-enabled email program.
The WWR is protected by Canadian copyright law and should not be reproduced or forwarded without permission. For inquiries or comments, please contact the Editor, elizabeth.perry@utoronto.ca.
----------
WHO IS THE GREATEST CANADIAN? The answer: Tommy Douglas, according to the 1.2 million Canadians who voted in the 6-week CBC contest that ended on November 29. For those too young to remember him, T.C. (Tommy) Douglas is generally known as the father of Canadian medicare, which was established in Saskatchewan during his 18-year tenure as Premier of that province. Douglas government also enacted the Saskatchewan Trade Union Act, which made collective bargaining mandatory and extended the rights of civil servants. The Act was described by Walter Reuther as "the most progressive piece of labour legislation on the continent," according to the website of the Saskatchewan New Democratic Party. Douglas was the leader of the Saskatchewan Canadian Commonwealth Federation (CCF) Party, and the leader of the national New Democratic Party when it was founded in 1961. He died in 1986.
LINKS:
CBC Greatest Canadian website at <http://www.cbc.ca/greatest/>
Saskatchewan New Democratic Party history at <http://www.saskndp.com/history/>http://www.saskndp.com/history/
----------
COURT OF APPEAL RULES ON SAME SEX PENSION BENEFITS UNDER THE CHARTER: On November 26th the Ontario Court of Appeal ruled that the federal government violated the rights of gays and lesbians by denying them survivor pension benefits under the Canada Pension Plan. The federal government, in legislation enacted in 2000, limited survivor benefits to those whose partners had died on or after January 1st, 1998, and allowed benefits to begin only in July of 2000. The Court of Appeal upheld the claim that benefits should begin on the day the Charter of Rights and FreedomÂs equality clause came into effect (April 15th, 1985).
LINKS:
Ontario Court of Appeal decision summary (5 pages, PDF) at <http://www.ontariocourts.on.ca/decisions/2004/november/C41224synopsis.pdf>
and the complete decision (38 pages, PDF) <http://www.ontariocourts.on.ca/decisions/2004/november/C41224.pdf>
Press release from Egale, an advocacy group for gays and lesbians at <http://www.egale.ca/index.asp?lang=E&menu=1&item=1115>
ÂSame-sex couples win pension fight in the Globe and Mail (Nov. 27) at <http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/ArticleNews/TPStory/LAC/20041127/SAMESEX27/TPNational/?query=kirk+makin>
----------
MANITOBA HEALTH CARE WORKERS FIGHT PENSION REDUCTIONS: On November 29, ManitobaÂs Health Minister was presented with a petition signed by 2,400 health care workers who are concerned about upcoming reductions to their pension benefits. Although the member unions of the Manitoba Council of Health Care Unions (MCHCU) indicated last year that they were willing to increase their contributions to the Health Employees Pension Plan (HEPP), the required unanimous consent of all signatories to the Plan has not been reached. As a result, workers are facing reduced pension payouts and a minimum retirement age of 55, effective July 1, 2005. These actions were authorized by the HEPP Board of Trustees in the summer of 2004, in an attempt to deal with a shortfall in the pension plan.
LINKS:
ÂLooming pension shortfall upsets health workers at the CBC Manitoba website at <http://winnipeg.cbc.ca/regionalnews/caches/mb_pension-shortfall20041130.html>
Manitoba Nurses Union (2 pages, PDF) at <http://www.nursesunion.mb.ca/pdf files/October 2004 Dear Member.pdf>
Board of trustees announces changes to health care Employees Pension Plan Benefits for 2005 (2 pages, PDF) at the Health Care Employees Pension Plan (HEPP) website at <http://www.hepp.mb.ca/release_agm.pdf>
----------
DEUTSCHE BANK BID FOR STELCO APPROVED: Mr. Justice James Farley of the Ontario Superior Court approved the Deutsche Bank bid for Stelco on November 29, but noted that the bid and the restructuring process are far from final. With Stelco now showing a profit, other bids are expected, including from giant steel companies OAO Severstal and United States Steel Corporation. The Court extended Stelco's creditor protection to February 11, 2005. In an ÂOpen Letter to Courtney PrattÂ, the United Steelworkers union served notice to Stelco management that they will oppose the Deutsche Bank bid.
LINKS:
ÂDeutsche Bank's takeover bid for Stelco gets court's approval in the Globe and Mail (Nov. 30) at <http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/ArticleNews/TPStory/LAC/20041130/RSTELCO30/TPBusiness/Canadian>
ÂOpen Letter to Courtney Pratt and an archive of United Steelworkers of America documents re Stelco at the new USWA website at <http://www.uswa.ca/program/content/overview_sub.php?modules2_ID=283&modules_ID=283>
----------
NEW YEARÂS HOLIDAY CONFUSION: Results of the annual Holiday Closings Survey by the Toronto Board of Trade reveal that employers are divided on how to handle the holiday situation this year. With Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New YearÂs Day all falling on weekends, employers in Ontario can designate alternate days to provide employees with their statutory holiday. 70% of employers are designating Monday, Dec. 27 and Tuesday, Dec. 28th as holidays for Christmas and Boxing Day. Practice is more divided over New YearÂs Day, with 49% of businesses planning to close on Monday, January 3rd and 43% closing on Friday, December 31st.
LINKS:
2004-2005 Holiday Closings Survey (3 pages, PDF) at <http://www.bot.com/assets/StaticAssets/Documents/PDF/compSurvey/2004-2005 Holiday Closings Results.pdf>
----------
WHO WORKS THE LONGEST HOURS OUTSIDE THE HOME? The Bank of Montreal conducted a telephone survey of 1035 people aged 18 or older in CanadaÂs five largest cities. Released on November 30, the survey reports that the average work week in CanadaÂs five largest cities was around 41 hours a week, with some people working 50 hours or more. Tops were workers in Edmonton, where 28% worked outside the home 50 or more hours; in Calgary, 24% worked as many hours. Toronto ranked third, with 20%, followed by Vancouver at 16%. In Montreal, only 7% of workers reported that they worked 50 hours or more.
LINKS:
BMO press release at <http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/November2004/30/c9310.html>
----------
TURNOVER COSTS AVERAGES $13,355 U.S.: The Employment Policy Foundation in Washington, D.C. has released the results of a study that claims that the average turnover costs for a full-time private-sector employee were $13,355 (U.S.) in 2004. The cost includes recruiting, selection, training, and lost productivity, and generally amounts to about 25 % of the employeeÂs annual salary. The study found that turnover rates varied from 46.4 % in the leisure and hospitality industry to 16.5 % in manufacturing.
LINKS:
A summary of the study on the EPF website at <http://www.epf.org/news/nrelease.asp?nrid=1176>http://www.epf.org/news/nrelease.asp?nrid=1176
Employee turnover is expensive Fact Sheet (2 pages, PDF) at <http://www.epf.org/pubs/newsletters/2004/fs20041022.pdf>
----------
ONTARIO RANKS 13TH IN COMPETITIVENESS STUDY: The Ontario Task Force on Competitiveness, Prosperity and Economic Progress has released its third annual report. The report, which compares Ontario to jurisdictions with similar economies (15 American states and Quebec) found that Ontario ranked 13th in terms of GDP per capita, 7.1 % below the median. Ontario can close the gap by raising productivity; this would involve, among other things, increased investment in equipment and software, integrating new immigrants into the economy more quickly and increasing funding of post secondary education.
LINK:
Summary and the complete report (64 pages, PDF) are linked from <http://www.competeprosper.ca/institute/index.html>
----------
CANADIAN MANUFACTURERS LOOK TO THE FUTURE: Results of the Management Issues Survey for 2004-2005 is now available from the Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters (CME), documenting the concerns expressed during the associationÂs Manufacturing 20/20 discussions. Generally optimistic, the CME members see the growing industrial strength of China as a powerful influence on Canadian business  both as a competitor and as a promising market. Lack of qualified personnel in Canada emerges as one of the most important constraints identified; with colleges, apprenticeships and in-house training programs seen as most effective in meeting skills requirements. Immigration, collaborative training and on-line learning were not seen to be very effective in meeting skills needs.
LINKS:
Conquering challenges: the Management Issues Survey 2004/2005 (56 pages, PDF) at <http://www.cme-mec.ca/pdf/SURVEY FINAL.pdf>
----------
GROWING POLARIZATION OF SKILLED OCCUPATIONS BETWEEN URBAN AND RURAL AREAS: A recent study by Statistics Canada shows that workers in rural areas have different skills from urban workers, even in the same industry. Overall, between 1991 and 2001, the concentration of unskilled workers has increased in rural areas, which results in lower incomes the lower job growth in these areas.
LINKS:
Occupational patterns within industry groups: a rural-urban comparison (Catalogue #21-006-XIE2004006) (16 pages, PDF) at <http://www.statcan.ca/english/freepub/21-006-XIE/21-006-XIE2004006.pdf>
----------
121 St. George St., Toronto Canada M5S 2E8 http://www.chass.utoronto.ca/cir
_____________________________
This information is provided to subscribers, friends, faculty, students and alumni of the School of Industrial & Labor Relations (ILR). It is a service of the Institute for Workplace Studies (IWS) in New York City. Stuart Basefsky is responsible for the selection of the contents which is intended to keep researchers, companies, workers, and governments aware of the latest information related to ILR disciplines as it becomes available for the purposes of research, understanding and debate. The content does not reflect the opinions or positions of Cornell University, the School of Industrial & Labor Relations, or that of Mr. Basefsky and should not be construed as such. The service is unique in that it provides the original source documentation, via links, behind the news and research of the day. Use of the information provided is unrestricted. However, it is requested that users acknowledge that the information was found via the IWS Documented News Service.
Stuart Basefsky
Director, IWS News Bureau
Institute for Workplace Studies
Cornell/ILR School
16 E. 34th Street, 4th Floor
New York, NY 10016
Telephone: (607) 255-2703
Fax: (607) 255-9641
E-mail: smb6@cornell.edu
****************************************
# posted by SBasefsky : 1:21 PM
