Tuesday, August 31, 2004
Tweet[IWS] CANADA: Weekly Work Report, 30 August 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 August 30, 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 <http://www.chass.utoronto.ca/cir/library/wwreport/weeklyworkreport.html> 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, <mailto:elizabeth.perry@utoronto.ca>.
----------
THE NEXT ISSUE OF WEEKLY WORK REPORT WILL BE SENT ON WEDNESDAY
SEPTEMBER 8, TO ALLOW FOR THE LABOUR DAY HOLIDAY.
----------
ROSALIE ABELLA AND LOUISE CHARRON APPOINTED TO CANADA'S SUPREME COURT: The Honourable Louise V. Charron and the Honourable Rosalie Silberman Abella were appointed as Justices of the Supreme Court of Canada on August 30. Madam Justice Abella brings impressive experience in the areas of employment and human rights, having chaired the Ontario Labour Relations Board and served as a member of the Ontario Human Rights Commission and the Ontario Public Service Labour Relations Tribunal. She is perhaps best known in her role as sole Commissioner of the 1984 Royal Commission on Equality in Employment, from which she is credited with originating the term "employment equity". In 2004, she was awarded the Walter S. Tarnopolsky Award for Human Rights. Their appointments followed a new process whereby the candidates were nominated by the federal Minister of Justice and the nominations reviewed and confirmed by an ad hoc committee of Members of Parliament and legal experts.
LINKS:
Biography of Rosalie Abella from the Ontario Court of Appeal website at <http://www.ontariocourts.on.ca/court_of_appeal/judges/bio/abella.htm>
Prime Minister's office press release (including brief biographies both appointees) at <http://www.pm.gc.ca/eng/news.asp?id=249>
----------
FEMINIZATION OF LABOUR UNIONS IN CANADA: A study released by Statistics Canada on August 31 presents statistics about union membership in Canada between 1977 and 2003 and identifies 3 major trends: feminization of the membership; growth of public sector unions, and the decline of international unions. Union membership has grown by 43% from 2.8 million in 1977 to just over 4 million in 2003, but since this growth has not kept pace with employment growth, the unionization rate in Canada has actually declined from 32.6% in 1977 to between 30% and 31% over most of the past decade. According to the analysis, "the biggest and most profound transformation in membership occurred in the mix of men and women." Between 1977 and 2003, the percentage of union members who are women has grown from 12% to 48% .
LINKS:
Summary of "The union movement in transition" in The Daily, August 31 at <http://www.statcan.ca/Daily/English/040831/d040831b.htm> or order the complete issue of online Perspectives on Labour and Income, August 2004 issue (PDF) for $6 from Statistics Canada at
<http://www.statcan.ca:8096/bsolc/english/bsolc?catno=75-001-X&CHROPG=1>
----------
MERGER OF IWA AND USWA RATIFIED: On August 27, the tentative results from a national ratification vote by members of the Industrial Wood and Allied Workers union indicated approval of the merger agreement with the United Steelworkers of America. According to the IWA press release, the merged union will be the largest private sector union in Canada, with approximately 250,000 members. Effective September 1, 2004, the IWA will exist as the IWA Council, affiliated to the USWA.
LINKS:
Press release at the IWA website (1 page, PDF) at <http://www.iwa.ca/news/media/nr-27august04.pdf>
United Steelworkers of America website at <http://www.uswa.ca/>
Highlights of the proposed IWA Steelworkers merger (31 pages, PDF) at <http://www.iwa.ca/news/media/mergerhighlightspdf.pdf>
----------
BACK-TO- SCHOOL MAY BRING WORK-TO-RULE: Teachers and support staff in Ontario stand poised to begin work-to-rule campaigns as Labour Day approaches. In Toronto, the Canadian Union of Public Employees Local 4400 will announce details of a work-to-rule campaign by custodians, educational assistants and clerical staff at 2 p.m. on August 31. With contracts expiring on August 31, Ontario's teachers are also dissatisfied. The Elementary Teachers' Federation of Ontario has rejected a 2% wage increase and is seeking an increase to 200 minutes of preparation time per week. The Ontario Secondary School Teachers Federation President Rhonda Kimberley-Young is quoted in the Toronto Star as rejecting a 2% wage increase and a 3-year contract term, arguing that the uncertainty of school board funding makes such a lengthy term impossible.
In Alberta, a 10 year contract duration was under negotiation. In return for the labour stability of a 10-year agreement, the province had offered to assume the cost of the unfunded liability in the teachers' pension plan. Talks between the Alberta Teachers Association and the Alberta School Boards Association broke off earlier in the summer, but teachers in Edmonton, Calgary, and Sturgeon County have reached tentative agreements through local bargaining. Ratification results will not be known until after Labour Day.
LINKS:
"Support workers eye work-to-rule action at public schools" in the Globe and Mail (August 31) at <http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/ArticleNews/TPStory/LAC/20040831/SCHOOL31/?query=TEACHERS+union>
Ontario Secondary School Teachers Federation Leadership Conference reports at <http://www.osstf.on.ca/www/abosstf/summerworksp04/index.html>
Elementary Teachers Federation of Ontario Collective Bargaining documents at <http://www.etfo.on.ca/browse_categories.htm?ETFO_token=:ETFO_token&step=2&catid=133&iscat=1>
Deal dead as dodo at the Alberta Teachers Association website at <http://www.teachers.ab.ca/what/media/index.cfm?p_ID=7044&p_Year=2004>
Edmonton teachers latest group to reach tentative contract agreement (Yahoo news, August 27) at <http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/cpress/20040827/ca_pr_on_na/alta_teachers_1>
----------
ARBITRATION AWARDS NOVA SCOTIA HEALTH CARE WORKERS 15.96% INCREASE: On August 18th, an arbitration board awarded the health care workers in the Capital Health District Authority in Nova Scotia a maximum compounded wage increase of 15.96 % over 3 years. The increase comprises a 2.9 % economic increase in each of 3 years and a 2.1 % catch-up increase in each year for those in job classifications that do not rank first in wages in Atlantic Canada. The board stated that the CHDA operates the leading medical facilities in Atlantic Canada and employees should be compensated accordingly. The employees are represented by the Nova Scotia Government and General Employees Union (NSGEU).
LINKS:
NSGEU news release with links to the decision at <http://action.web.ca/home/nsgeu/news.shtml?x=61820&AA_EX_Session=f55d4a80a7ce335ccd5d53145f879907>
Interest Arbitation decision between Capital District Health Authority and the Nova Scotia Government and General Employees Union ( 5 pages, HTML) at <http://nsgeu.ns.ca/local42/NovaScotiaAward.html>
----------
FEDERAL MEDIATOR BRINGS PARTIES TOGETHER IN ALIANT DISPUTE : For the first time since mid-July, representatives from Aliant and its unions met on August 30th under the guidance of federally appointed mediator Elizabeth MacPherson. The strike at the telecommunications company began on April 23 and has involved 4,300 telephone operators, technicians and clerical staff represented by the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union (CEP) in New Brunswick, PEI and Newfoundland and the Atlantic Communication and Technical Workers Union in Nova Scotia.
LINKS:
ACTWU strike information archive at <http://www.actwu.ns.ca/strike/>
CEP Atlantic website at <http://www.cep.ca/reg_atlantic/files/aliant/aliant_e.html>
CBC story at <http://www.cbc.ca/stories/2004/08/27/aliant_040827>
"Aliant mediator named" in the Halifax Herald (August 27) at <http://www.herald.ns.ca/stories/2004/08/27/f135.raw.html>
----------
GAP'S CANDOUR AN EXAMPLE OF CORPORATE COURAGE: The theme of the September 2004 issue of Fast Company is courage, with examples from the personal and corporate world. One of the case studies, that of Gap Inc., hails a new corporate willingness to make fuller disclosure of working conditions.
LINKS:
Table of contents, with links to articles in Fast Company online September 2004 issue at <http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/86/>
"Gap's new look: the see through" in Fast Company online September 2004 issue <http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/86/gap.html>
----------
NEW DISPUTE RESOLUTION PROCEDURES FOR THE U.K.: In October 2004 the new disciplinary and grievance procedures set out in the Employment Act 2002 will come into effect in the United Kingdom. The legislation is intended to improve communication in the workplace and reduce litigation over employment issues by requiring minimum dispute resolution procedures in all workplaces. It is hoped that as well as improving employees' rights to access formal dispute resolution procedures, the legislation will reduce the recourse to employment tribunals by encouraging the resolution of disputes in the workplace.
LINK:
New statutory workplace dispute resolution procedures outlined ( 4 pages, HTML) at the European Industrial Relations Observatory On-line website at <http://www.eiro.eurofound.eu.int/2004/08/feature/uk0408102f.html>
----------
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 August 30, 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 <http://www.chass.utoronto.ca/cir/library/wwreport/weeklyworkreport.html> 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, <mailto:elizabeth.perry@utoronto.ca>.
----------
THE NEXT ISSUE OF WEEKLY WORK REPORT WILL BE SENT ON WEDNESDAY
SEPTEMBER 8, TO ALLOW FOR THE LABOUR DAY HOLIDAY.
----------
ROSALIE ABELLA AND LOUISE CHARRON APPOINTED TO CANADA'S SUPREME COURT: The Honourable Louise V. Charron and the Honourable Rosalie Silberman Abella were appointed as Justices of the Supreme Court of Canada on August 30. Madam Justice Abella brings impressive experience in the areas of employment and human rights, having chaired the Ontario Labour Relations Board and served as a member of the Ontario Human Rights Commission and the Ontario Public Service Labour Relations Tribunal. She is perhaps best known in her role as sole Commissioner of the 1984 Royal Commission on Equality in Employment, from which she is credited with originating the term "employment equity". In 2004, she was awarded the Walter S. Tarnopolsky Award for Human Rights. Their appointments followed a new process whereby the candidates were nominated by the federal Minister of Justice and the nominations reviewed and confirmed by an ad hoc committee of Members of Parliament and legal experts.
LINKS:
Biography of Rosalie Abella from the Ontario Court of Appeal website at <http://www.ontariocourts.on.ca/court_of_appeal/judges/bio/abella.htm>
Prime Minister's office press release (including brief biographies both appointees) at <http://www.pm.gc.ca/eng/news.asp?id=249>
----------
FEMINIZATION OF LABOUR UNIONS IN CANADA: A study released by Statistics Canada on August 31 presents statistics about union membership in Canada between 1977 and 2003 and identifies 3 major trends: feminization of the membership; growth of public sector unions, and the decline of international unions. Union membership has grown by 43% from 2.8 million in 1977 to just over 4 million in 2003, but since this growth has not kept pace with employment growth, the unionization rate in Canada has actually declined from 32.6% in 1977 to between 30% and 31% over most of the past decade. According to the analysis, "the biggest and most profound transformation in membership occurred in the mix of men and women." Between 1977 and 2003, the percentage of union members who are women has grown from 12% to 48% .
LINKS:
Summary of "The union movement in transition" in The Daily, August 31 at <http://www.statcan.ca/Daily/English/040831/d040831b.htm> or order the complete issue of online Perspectives on Labour and Income, August 2004 issue (PDF) for $6 from Statistics Canada at
<http://www.statcan.ca:8096/bsolc/english/bsolc?catno=75-001-X&CHROPG=1>
----------
MERGER OF IWA AND USWA RATIFIED: On August 27, the tentative results from a national ratification vote by members of the Industrial Wood and Allied Workers union indicated approval of the merger agreement with the United Steelworkers of America. According to the IWA press release, the merged union will be the largest private sector union in Canada, with approximately 250,000 members. Effective September 1, 2004, the IWA will exist as the IWA Council, affiliated to the USWA.
LINKS:
Press release at the IWA website (1 page, PDF) at <http://www.iwa.ca/news/media/nr-27august04.pdf>
United Steelworkers of America website at <http://www.uswa.ca/>
Highlights of the proposed IWA Steelworkers merger (31 pages, PDF) at <http://www.iwa.ca/news/media/mergerhighlightspdf.pdf>
----------
BACK-TO- SCHOOL MAY BRING WORK-TO-RULE: Teachers and support staff in Ontario stand poised to begin work-to-rule campaigns as Labour Day approaches. In Toronto, the Canadian Union of Public Employees Local 4400 will announce details of a work-to-rule campaign by custodians, educational assistants and clerical staff at 2 p.m. on August 31. With contracts expiring on August 31, Ontario's teachers are also dissatisfied. The Elementary Teachers' Federation of Ontario has rejected a 2% wage increase and is seeking an increase to 200 minutes of preparation time per week. The Ontario Secondary School Teachers Federation President Rhonda Kimberley-Young is quoted in the Toronto Star as rejecting a 2% wage increase and a 3-year contract term, arguing that the uncertainty of school board funding makes such a lengthy term impossible.
In Alberta, a 10 year contract duration was under negotiation. In return for the labour stability of a 10-year agreement, the province had offered to assume the cost of the unfunded liability in the teachers' pension plan. Talks between the Alberta Teachers Association and the Alberta School Boards Association broke off earlier in the summer, but teachers in Edmonton, Calgary, and Sturgeon County have reached tentative agreements through local bargaining. Ratification results will not be known until after Labour Day.
LINKS:
"Support workers eye work-to-rule action at public schools" in the Globe and Mail (August 31) at <http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/ArticleNews/TPStory/LAC/20040831/SCHOOL31/?query=TEACHERS+union>
Ontario Secondary School Teachers Federation Leadership Conference reports at <http://www.osstf.on.ca/www/abosstf/summerworksp04/index.html>
Elementary Teachers Federation of Ontario Collective Bargaining documents at <http://www.etfo.on.ca/browse_categories.htm?ETFO_token=:ETFO_token&step=2&catid=133&iscat=1>
Deal dead as dodo at the Alberta Teachers Association website at <http://www.teachers.ab.ca/what/media/index.cfm?p_ID=7044&p_Year=2004>
Edmonton teachers latest group to reach tentative contract agreement (Yahoo news, August 27) at <http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/cpress/20040827/ca_pr_on_na/alta_teachers_1>
----------
ARBITRATION AWARDS NOVA SCOTIA HEALTH CARE WORKERS 15.96% INCREASE: On August 18th, an arbitration board awarded the health care workers in the Capital Health District Authority in Nova Scotia a maximum compounded wage increase of 15.96 % over 3 years. The increase comprises a 2.9 % economic increase in each of 3 years and a 2.1 % catch-up increase in each year for those in job classifications that do not rank first in wages in Atlantic Canada. The board stated that the CHDA operates the leading medical facilities in Atlantic Canada and employees should be compensated accordingly. The employees are represented by the Nova Scotia Government and General Employees Union (NSGEU).
LINKS:
NSGEU news release with links to the decision at <http://action.web.ca/home/nsgeu/news.shtml?x=61820&AA_EX_Session=f55d4a80a7ce335ccd5d53145f879907>
Interest Arbitation decision between Capital District Health Authority and the Nova Scotia Government and General Employees Union ( 5 pages, HTML) at <http://nsgeu.ns.ca/local42/NovaScotiaAward.html>
----------
FEDERAL MEDIATOR BRINGS PARTIES TOGETHER IN ALIANT DISPUTE : For the first time since mid-July, representatives from Aliant and its unions met on August 30th under the guidance of federally appointed mediator Elizabeth MacPherson. The strike at the telecommunications company began on April 23 and has involved 4,300 telephone operators, technicians and clerical staff represented by the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union (CEP) in New Brunswick, PEI and Newfoundland and the Atlantic Communication and Technical Workers Union in Nova Scotia.
LINKS:
ACTWU strike information archive at <http://www.actwu.ns.ca/strike/>
CEP Atlantic website at <http://www.cep.ca/reg_atlantic/files/aliant/aliant_e.html>
CBC story at <http://www.cbc.ca/stories/2004/08/27/aliant_040827>
"Aliant mediator named" in the Halifax Herald (August 27) at <http://www.herald.ns.ca/stories/2004/08/27/f135.raw.html>
----------
GAP'S CANDOUR AN EXAMPLE OF CORPORATE COURAGE: The theme of the September 2004 issue of Fast Company is courage, with examples from the personal and corporate world. One of the case studies, that of Gap Inc., hails a new corporate willingness to make fuller disclosure of working conditions.
LINKS:
Table of contents, with links to articles in Fast Company online September 2004 issue at <http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/86/>
"Gap's new look: the see through" in Fast Company online September 2004 issue <http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/86/gap.html>
----------
NEW DISPUTE RESOLUTION PROCEDURES FOR THE U.K.: In October 2004 the new disciplinary and grievance procedures set out in the Employment Act 2002 will come into effect in the United Kingdom. The legislation is intended to improve communication in the workplace and reduce litigation over employment issues by requiring minimum dispute resolution procedures in all workplaces. It is hoped that as well as improving employees' rights to access formal dispute resolution procedures, the legislation will reduce the recourse to employment tribunals by encouraging the resolution of disputes in the workplace.
LINK:
New statutory workplace dispute resolution procedures outlined ( 4 pages, HTML) at the European Industrial Relations Observatory On-line website at <http://www.eiro.eurofound.eu.int/2004/08/feature/uk0408102f.html>
----------
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 : 5:37 PM
