Workplaces

The Blue-Green jobs that Romney ignores

Oct 292012

The Clean Water Act belies Mitt Romney’s claim that the government doesn’t create jobs.

Forty years ago, the US Clean Water Act went into effect, having been passed by Congress with overwhelming bipartisan support, an outcome that would be unthinkable in today's political climate. Although since weakened in the courts and sapped of funding by Republicans, the Act has dramatically cleaned up a resource that many analysts argue will be more critical than oil in the coming decades: our nation's water.

Understanding western Canada’s high risk of work injury

Oct 282012

Workplaces

Age, education are important factors.

from the Institute on Work and Health

What is driving the higher risk of job injury in western Canada? New research from the Institute for Work & Health suggests it goes beyond the type of work found in the west.

Workers in Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia have about a 30 to 50 percent higher risk of work injury compared to their Ontario-based counterparts. And this higher risk still exists even after taking a wide range of factors into account, including the type of industries in which people work.

Workers in western provinces have a 30 to 50 percent even after taking a wide range of factors into account, including the type of industries in which people work.

This finding comes from new research conducted by the Institute for Work & Health (IWH) and led by IWH Scientist Dr Curtis Breslin. Recently submitted to the Annals of Epidemiology, the research looks at geographic differences in work injuries for all workers in Canada.

The study focuses on the degree to which personal factors (such as age and gender), work characteristics (such as nature of job and industrial sector) and area-level factors (such as a region’s socioeconomic status) are associated with provincial differences in work injury risk. When the researchers learned that these factors do not appear to account for provincial differences, it led them to suggest that something else was affecting workplaces at the jurisdictional level.

“Given that, in Canada, primary responsibility for occupational health and safety falls on the provinces, the finding that important determinants of work injury are potentially operating at a provincial level may be useful to provincial governments in planning prevention strategies,” says IWH Research Operations Coordinator Sara Morassaei, lead author of the submitted journal article. This study cannot say what those “determinants” are, although Morassaei adds that “it raises the possibility that broader elements, such as a jurisdiction’s economic or health and safety policies, act as risk factors.”

Study explores provincial differences

There has long been evidence that workers in Canada’s western provinces have a higher incidence of workers’ compensation claims than workers in Ontario. What has not been clear from the administrative statistics of provincial workers’ compensation boards is why. Traditionally, however, risk of work injury is commonly thought to stem from a mix of personal and workplace-related factors.

For example, it is unclear the degree to which the higher risk among workers in the western provinces is due to the make-up of their workforces or their industry mix. Western provinces have historically had a higher proportion of employment in primary production sectors, such as forestry and oil and gas industries, which pose a higher risk of work injury. Ontario has a higher proportion of employment in financial and insurance services, which pose a lower risk. This study provides some insight into whether factors such as these affect provincial differences in work injury risk.

Using the 2003 and 2005 Canadian Community Health Survey (CCHS), researchers looked at 89,541 Canadians (ages 15 to 75 years) who had worked in the past year. Through the CCHS, these people were asked if they had been injured at work (excluding repetitive strain injuries) in the last 12 months seriously enough to limit their normal activities.

Researchers looked at work injuries by personal and work-related factors (called individual-level factors), as well as area-level factors (determined by census division), and then looked to see how these factors were associated with work injury risk in the provinces in which respondents worked.

Risk factors operate at jurisdictional level

The study revealed that, taking all workers together across Canada, a higher incidence of work injury was associated with the following individual-level factors: being male, being under 55 (and especially between 25 to 34) years of age, not completing post-secondary degree (and especially having less than a secondary school education), being Canadian-born as opposed to an immigrant, working full-time, reporting medium or high job stress levels, and working in agriculture/forestry/mining/utilities, construction or manufacturing.

Area-level factors showed little or no association with work injury risk, according to the study. That is, an area’s socioeconomic status (household income, education levels, etc.) was slightly associated with risk of work injury, but an area’s labour market status (unemployment rate, percentage of permanent jobs, etc.) and workplace characteristics (size of firms, degree of unionization) were not.

Finally, provincial differences in work risk were found, even after taking individual and area-level factors into account, including industry mix. Workers in the western provinces were shown to be at higher risk of work injury compared to those in Ontario. Specifically, Saskatchewan showed 27 percent higher risk compared with Ontario; Alberta, 28 percent; and British Columbia, 49 percent. Workers in Manitoba and Quebec were at comparable risk of work injury; and those in Atlantic Canada at slightly lower risk (by eight percent).

Arguably, the key finding is this: Provincial differences in work injury risk persisted after taking into consideration individual characteristics and industry of employment. This finding of unexplained differences in provincial work injury risk points to the idea that factors affecting work injury are operating at a jurisdictional level.

“We need to look beyond worker characteristics as risk factors to truly understand risk of work injury,” says Breslin. “We need to look at broader factors to assist in planning prevention efforts tailored to provincial needs.”

Source: At Work, Issue 70, Fall 2012: Institute for Work & Health, Toronto

Reprinted with permission from At Work (Fall 2012, Issue 70), the quarterly newsletter of the not-for-profit Institute for Work & Health, which conducts and shares research into workplace injury and disability prevention. To sign up for the newsletter, go to: www.iwh.on.ca/e-alerts

Ontario lays off Employment Standards Officers

Oct 222012

Workplaces

Minister brags about 18 new hires, then lays off experienced staff.

from OPSEU

TORONTO, October 22, 2012 — Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU/NUPGE) members, in Locals 546 and 585, confronted Labour Minister Linda Jeffrey at her constituency office in Brampton to demand she reinstate 19 Employment Standards Officers her ministry laid off on September 20.

The members told the Minister that the lay offs will weaken the enforcement of labour rights for part-time marginalized workers in the province.

Mining jobs for temporary foreign workers only

Oct 212012

Workplaces

Job requirements include Mandarin language skills.

from the United Steelworkers

BURNABY, BC — Postings for new mining jobs in British Columbia reveal the companies involved in operating the mines always intended to hire temporary foreign workers from China — while purposefully excluding BC and Canadian workers — by including Mandarin as a required language.

Crawfish-peeling guestworkers inspired Walmart walkouts

Oct 152012

Workplaces

A few courageous Louisiana workers sparked US-wide demos for Wal-mart workers.

by Cecilia Garza

In the small town of Breaux Bridge, La, Martha Uvalle and her co-workers at CJ's Seafood, a Walmart supplier, faced abuses many Americans imagine only take place in poorer, faraway countries: They were forced to work shifts of up to 24 hours, with no overtime pay; threatened with beatings if their breaks lasted too long; and, on at least two occasions, locked inside the facility to work. Some fell asleep at their workstations from exhaustion.

AECL technicians and technologists to strike

Oct 092012

Workplaces

from the Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada

WINNIPEG, October 5, 2012 – Technicians and Technologists at the Atomic Energy of Canada Limited (AECL) Whiteshell Laboratories voted overwhelmingly to reject the company’s final offer and strike as they pursue a first collective agreement. These employees recently formed the Whiteshell Technical Employees Group (WTEG) and joined the Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada (PIPSC).

Until June 2011, the AECL Whiteshell Technicians and Technologists were not unionized. As a result, they were regularly bypassed for the salary increases and benefits received by their unionized counterparts. Their bargaining objective is to achieve salary and benefits comparable to their colleagues.

On September 13, 2012, without notice AECL tabled a “take-it-or-leave it” offer. If accepted, Whiteshell Technicians and Technologists would continue to have lower salaries, inferior severance and pension protection and significantly lesser maternity and parental benefits.

PIPSC President Gary Corbett said, “It’s unconscionable that the same class of employees working for the same employer would receive significantly different pay and benefits. Pensions and severance should be protected for all, not just some. Until AECL stops treating them as second class employees, there’s going to be push back”.

“After a year of extremely frustrating negotiations, it’s become clear AECL intends to keep pressuring us until we give in. We won’t. We intend to achieve equality with our peers. If the employer continues to flaunt this double standard, we’re ready to do what we have to in order to protect our members’ rights”, said Syd Jones, President of WTEG.

AECL Technicians and Technologists at the Whiteshell Laboratories monitor and maintain safe operation of all nuclear facilities, monitor emissions of potentially radioactive substances to the environment and ensure the protection of the public and the environment.

The Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada represents some 60,000 professionals and scientists across Canada including 800 professional engineers, scientists, technicians and technologists at AECL’s Whiteshell and Chalk River Laboratories.

The virtues of freely reaching a deal

Oct 082012

Workplaces

Collective bargaining should really be bargaining.

by Ken Coran, OSSTF president and Ken Lewenza, CAW president

The labour relations scene in Ontario has been focused recently on two crucial sets of negotiations: education workers and auto workers. The contrast between the two should remind policy-makers of an important, enduring lesson.

When parties are allowed to freely reach a labour agreement, the resulting deal works better for them and for the whole economy. But when they aren’t allowed to freely negotiate, the consequences can be costly, unintended and far-reaching.

Labour news around the world

Oct 022012

Workplaces

Filipinos get raise; Karachi fire victims tallied; Tyson poultry pays $32M back pay.

by Harry Kelber

The European Commission (EU) has withdrawn proposed legislation limiting workers’ right to strike, amid a furor from trade unions and EU lawmakers in Parliament, who waved a "yellow card" to Brussels for stepping over national sovereignty. Lazlo Andor, EU Employment Commissioner announced the decision to abandon the proposal to members of Parliament on September 12.

Survivor syndrome

Oct 012012

Workplaces

Federal government layoffs steep enough to add stress on those still at work.

from the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC)

Following years of staff cuts in the Federal Public Service, the federal budget tabled in March 2012 put the official stamp on another wave of major cuts to the public sector workforce. The government claims the $5.2 billion in spending cuts will mean the loss of 19,200 public service jobs. That could all add up to 35,200 fewer people working over the next three years.

Saskatchewan’s minimum wage falls way behind

Sep 222012

Workplaces

Also, labour law permits below-minimum pay to a "handicapped" person.

By Dave Coles

Saskatchewan now has Canada’s lowest provincial minimum wage. At $9.50 an hour, someone working 40 hours per week earns $19,700 for an entire year, which is below various poverty measurements.

The minimum wage in most provinces is $10-11. Many European countries have a much higher minimum wage. In Australia, the federal minimum wage is $15.51 an hour — and the Canadian and Australian dollar are of similar value.

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