CAW READY TO LEAVE CLC
Ottawa — Buzz Hargrove, Canadian Auto Workers (CAW) president said the union is prepared to leave the 2.3-million member national labour body, the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC), over the principle of democracy. The CAW is facing sanctions, including possible expulsion, because it attracted 30,000 members of the U.S.-based Service Employee International Union, and was found guilty of raiding by the CLC. Stealing dues-paying members from another CLC member is forbidden by the body’s constitution.
OTTAWA TO REDRAW EI MAP
Ottawa — Human Resources Minister Jane Stewart recently began redrawing the Employment Insurance (EI) map which could lead to high EI benefits in some of the areas with high unemployment, and lower benefits in areas right next to them. Turf wars are anticipated between MPs from poorer parts of the country. HRDC is proposing to increase the number of EI zones to 58 from the current 54, and changes hit most provinces except Newfoundland, P.E.I and Manitoba.
CHILDCARE WORKERS FLEEING
Ottawa — Canada’s child-care industry is suffering an
exodus of training staff who are defeated by low wages, shows a massive report, You Bet I Care, on wages and conditions at 848 childcare centres across Canada. Full-time teachers in centres collect an average income of $22,717, only slightly higher than the national average for parking lot attendants. It also found that one in five daycare workers left their jobs in the previous year, nearly 40 per cent of those turning to different, more lucrative careers.
MILLION-DOLLAR SETTLEMENT
Vancouver — B.C. Hydro
has agreed to pay almost $1 million to a former executive who claimed he was fired as a sacrificial lamb to defuse a political scandal. In 1996, former premier Glen Clark fired former B.C. Hydro president John Sheehan a day after allegations surfaced that Sheehan had an insider’s arrangement to buy shares in a company that was involved in a multi-million dollar project (partly owned by B.C. Hydro) in Pakistan. Clark was minister responsible for B.C. Hydro, and about to be sworn in as premier.
MANDATORY PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
Toronto — All Ontario teachers will be required to attend mandatory professional development programs in their time off, and undergo a recertification process every five years, said Education Minister Janet Ecker. This new process “will remove incompetent teachers from the classroom” and decertify them if they subsequently fail to meet professional standards, she said. Earlier, Ecker announced that principals will be given the authority to assign extracurricular duties before and after regular school hours to teachers who do not volunteer for them.
WORLD PENSION ASSOCIATION
Madrid, Spain — An effort is underway to create a World Pension Association. Canadian representatives from the Association of Canadian Pension Management and Pension Investment Association of Canada were on hand at the spring meeting of South American pension organizations and the International Federation of Pension Fund Administrators in Madrid, Spain. Participants gathered to discuss common global pension concerns. No formal agreement was signed, but they agreed to go ahead with the effort to create a global pension organization and will meet again next March in Chile.
BANNING WEIGHT, HEIGHT BIAS
San Francisco, Calif. — San Francisco may join a handful of jurisdictions across the United States to ban discrimination based on weight and height. The Board of Supervisors’ Finance Committee has approved an ordinance that would add height and weight to the anti-discrimination codes. The proposed law would ban discrimination in housing, employment and accommodation.
BUTTING IN
Berkeley, Calif. — Research from the School of Public Health at the University of California at Berkeley has found that tough anti-smoking laws prompt one in four smokers to kick the habit within six months. In workplaces where smoking is not allowed, about 19 per cent of employees quit.
Ottawa — Buzz Hargrove, Canadian Auto Workers (CAW) president said the union is prepared to leave the 2.3-million member national labour body, the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC), over the principle of democracy. The CAW is facing sanctions, including possible expulsion, because it attracted 30,000 members of the U.S.-based Service Employee International Union, and was found guilty of raiding by the CLC. Stealing dues-paying members from another CLC member is forbidden by the body’s constitution.
OTTAWA TO REDRAW EI MAP
Ottawa — Human Resources Minister Jane Stewart recently began redrawing the Employment Insurance (EI) map which could lead to high EI benefits in some of the areas with high unemployment, and lower benefits in areas right next to them. Turf wars are anticipated between MPs from poorer parts of the country. HRDC is proposing to increase the number of EI zones to 58 from the current 54, and changes hit most provinces except Newfoundland, P.E.I and Manitoba.
CHILDCARE WORKERS FLEEING
Ottawa — Canada’s child-care industry is suffering an
exodus of training staff who are defeated by low wages, shows a massive report, You Bet I Care, on wages and conditions at 848 childcare centres across Canada. Full-time teachers in centres collect an average income of $22,717, only slightly higher than the national average for parking lot attendants. It also found that one in five daycare workers left their jobs in the previous year, nearly 40 per cent of those turning to different, more lucrative careers.
MILLION-DOLLAR SETTLEMENT
Vancouver — B.C. Hydro
has agreed to pay almost $1 million to a former executive who claimed he was fired as a sacrificial lamb to defuse a political scandal. In 1996, former premier Glen Clark fired former B.C. Hydro president John Sheehan a day after allegations surfaced that Sheehan had an insider’s arrangement to buy shares in a company that was involved in a multi-million dollar project (partly owned by B.C. Hydro) in Pakistan. Clark was minister responsible for B.C. Hydro, and about to be sworn in as premier.
MANDATORY PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
Toronto — All Ontario teachers will be required to attend mandatory professional development programs in their time off, and undergo a recertification process every five years, said Education Minister Janet Ecker. This new process “will remove incompetent teachers from the classroom” and decertify them if they subsequently fail to meet professional standards, she said. Earlier, Ecker announced that principals will be given the authority to assign extracurricular duties before and after regular school hours to teachers who do not volunteer for them.
WORLD PENSION ASSOCIATION
Madrid, Spain — An effort is underway to create a World Pension Association. Canadian representatives from the Association of Canadian Pension Management and Pension Investment Association of Canada were on hand at the spring meeting of South American pension organizations and the International Federation of Pension Fund Administrators in Madrid, Spain. Participants gathered to discuss common global pension concerns. No formal agreement was signed, but they agreed to go ahead with the effort to create a global pension organization and will meet again next March in Chile.
BANNING WEIGHT, HEIGHT BIAS
San Francisco, Calif. — San Francisco may join a handful of jurisdictions across the United States to ban discrimination based on weight and height. The Board of Supervisors’ Finance Committee has approved an ordinance that would add height and weight to the anti-discrimination codes. The proposed law would ban discrimination in housing, employment and accommodation.
BUTTING IN
Berkeley, Calif. — Research from the School of Public Health at the University of California at Berkeley has found that tough anti-smoking laws prompt one in four smokers to kick the habit within six months. In workplaces where smoking is not allowed, about 19 per cent of employees quit.
