60-HOUR WEEK LAW CITED FOR WALKOUT
Windsor, Ont. — A strike at a Windsor, Ont. food-oil processing plant is in response to new labour laws that permit a 60-hour work week, according to the CAW. Changes to the Employment Standards Act, introduced last year, make a 60-hour week possible if employees consent. Workers at ADM Agri-Industries walked off the job before Christmas, the first strike in 15 years, when the company demanded during contract negotiations that employees agree to longer hours.
QUEBEC SUBSIDIZES HIRING
Montreal — Computer Sciences Corp, the world’s third-largest computer-services company, is taking advantage of a Quebec government subsidy and will hire 485 high-tech workers and move into the 18-storey E-Commerce Place in downtown Montreal. Businesses moving into the new facility are eligible for a tax credit equivalent to 35 per cent of the salaries of eligible employees, up to a maximum of $12,500 per person.
NEW HR DATA PROTOCOLS
Raleigh, N.C. — The HR-XML Consortium, which is creating international standards for HR data, has released five new specifications for e-HR transactions. The new protocols are: TimeCard Configuration, Payroll Benefits Contributions, Worksite and Environment, Contact Method, and Job and Position Header. For more information on these and previously released standards or to access CHRR’s in-depth look at the HR-XML project in the Jan. 28 issue, visit www.hrreporter.com, select “search” and enter article # 1662.
TEACHERS THE FIRST TO RETIRE
Ottawa — Canada will face a dramatic shortage of teachers in the next decade as baby boomers retire, according to a recent study which found the average age of secondary school teachers is 45 or older where the average age across the workforce is 38. And while most Canadians retire in their 60s, for teachers the average age of retirement is 55 which means the education sector will be the first to feel the effects of the coming retirement surge.
CALL FOR NEW CORPORATE ETHICS
Toronto — A new report on corporate social responsibility (CSR) calls on Canadian governments to introduce whistleblower laws to protect employees who accuse their employers of criminal or fraudulent activity. The final report of the Canadian Democracy and Corporate Accountability Commission released late last month also calls for governments to force employers to meet basic standards on social responsibility, face mandatory third-party audits to verify claims of corporate social responsibility and courses on CSR should be a requirement for all business and business-related degrees.
SHOW US THE PENSION MONEY
Edmonton — A group of Telus workers has filed two lawsuits against their employer, seeking more than $460 million in damages and forcing the telecommunications giant to disclose information about two of its active pension funds. The employees, members of the Telecommunications Workers Union, want to know the funds’ value. It’s expected they’ll use the information to negotiate with Telus. The damage claims are an estimate of the pension surplus.
TOUGHER WORKERS’ COMP IN P.E.I.
Charlottetown — Unions and injured workers groups in Prince Edward Island are angry about changes to the Workers’ Compensation Act introduced just before Christmas. Among the changes: a clarification that chronic pain, like fribromyalgia, is not compensable; the denial of any compensation for stress, except in cases where it is an acute reaction to a traumatic event; and the responsibility placed on both employers and injured workers to co-operate on early return-to-work programs. Most of the new provisions take effect April 1.
SAVINGS THROUGH EARLY RETIREMENTS
Sault Ste. Marie, Ont. — As part of its restructuring program to emerge from creditor protection, Algoma Steel Inc., announced it will save more than $10 million through an early retirement program. About 600 employees took the offer which allows workers aged 55 and older with 30 years’ service to collect an early pension while continuing to work for one to three years at 80 per cent of the collective agreement’s new wage scale. Some employees ineligible for the program were upset but supporters of the program said that without it other cuts would have been made and younger workers laid off.
Windsor, Ont. — A strike at a Windsor, Ont. food-oil processing plant is in response to new labour laws that permit a 60-hour work week, according to the CAW. Changes to the Employment Standards Act, introduced last year, make a 60-hour week possible if employees consent. Workers at ADM Agri-Industries walked off the job before Christmas, the first strike in 15 years, when the company demanded during contract negotiations that employees agree to longer hours.
QUEBEC SUBSIDIZES HIRING
Montreal — Computer Sciences Corp, the world’s third-largest computer-services company, is taking advantage of a Quebec government subsidy and will hire 485 high-tech workers and move into the 18-storey E-Commerce Place in downtown Montreal. Businesses moving into the new facility are eligible for a tax credit equivalent to 35 per cent of the salaries of eligible employees, up to a maximum of $12,500 per person.
NEW HR DATA PROTOCOLS
Raleigh, N.C. — The HR-XML Consortium, which is creating international standards for HR data, has released five new specifications for e-HR transactions. The new protocols are: TimeCard Configuration, Payroll Benefits Contributions, Worksite and Environment, Contact Method, and Job and Position Header. For more information on these and previously released standards or to access CHRR’s in-depth look at the HR-XML project in the Jan. 28 issue, visit www.hrreporter.com, select “search” and enter article # 1662.
TEACHERS THE FIRST TO RETIRE
Ottawa — Canada will face a dramatic shortage of teachers in the next decade as baby boomers retire, according to a recent study which found the average age of secondary school teachers is 45 or older where the average age across the workforce is 38. And while most Canadians retire in their 60s, for teachers the average age of retirement is 55 which means the education sector will be the first to feel the effects of the coming retirement surge.
CALL FOR NEW CORPORATE ETHICS
Toronto — A new report on corporate social responsibility (CSR) calls on Canadian governments to introduce whistleblower laws to protect employees who accuse their employers of criminal or fraudulent activity. The final report of the Canadian Democracy and Corporate Accountability Commission released late last month also calls for governments to force employers to meet basic standards on social responsibility, face mandatory third-party audits to verify claims of corporate social responsibility and courses on CSR should be a requirement for all business and business-related degrees.
SHOW US THE PENSION MONEY
Edmonton — A group of Telus workers has filed two lawsuits against their employer, seeking more than $460 million in damages and forcing the telecommunications giant to disclose information about two of its active pension funds. The employees, members of the Telecommunications Workers Union, want to know the funds’ value. It’s expected they’ll use the information to negotiate with Telus. The damage claims are an estimate of the pension surplus.
TOUGHER WORKERS’ COMP IN P.E.I.
Charlottetown — Unions and injured workers groups in Prince Edward Island are angry about changes to the Workers’ Compensation Act introduced just before Christmas. Among the changes: a clarification that chronic pain, like fribromyalgia, is not compensable; the denial of any compensation for stress, except in cases where it is an acute reaction to a traumatic event; and the responsibility placed on both employers and injured workers to co-operate on early return-to-work programs. Most of the new provisions take effect April 1.
SAVINGS THROUGH EARLY RETIREMENTS
Sault Ste. Marie, Ont. — As part of its restructuring program to emerge from creditor protection, Algoma Steel Inc., announced it will save more than $10 million through an early retirement program. About 600 employees took the offer which allows workers aged 55 and older with 30 years’ service to collect an early pension while continuing to work for one to three years at 80 per cent of the collective agreement’s new wage scale. Some employees ineligible for the program were upset but supporters of the program said that without it other cuts would have been made and younger workers laid off.
