News Briefs

Safety tweets for young workers

Toronto — Students with summer jobs in Ontario can add “WorkinSummer” to their Twitter feeds to get workplace tips. Every week, until Labour Day, Ontario’s Ministry of Labour will tweet tips about on-the-job health and safety and employment standards (such as information on minimum wage, overtime pay and statutory holidays). Each tweet poses a question and links to a section of the ministry’s website for the answer and related information.

Feds won’t bail out GM pensions

Ottawa — Industry Minister Tony Clement said Ottawa will not give any financial assistance to GM Canada’s pension plan. Any taxpayer money used to cover the plan’s estimated $7-billion shortfall will come from the Ontario government’s portion of the $10.5-billion bailout, said Clement. An agreement reached between GM and the Canadian Auto Workers would see the company using savings generated by cost-cutting plus government restructuring loans to reduce the pension deficit by as much as $4 billion. General Motors in the United States filed for bankruptcy protection in a New York City court on June 1. (GM announced it won’t file for bankruptcy in Canada and the filing in the U.S. is not expected to impact Canadian operations.) The U.S. government will take a 60-per-cent stake in the company, with Ottawa and the Ontario government getting a 12-per-cent stake, a United Auto Workers’ trust for health-care expenses getting 17.5 per cent and bondholders getting about 10 per cent.

Private workplaces go smoke-free

Regina — Employees in private workplaces in Saskatchewan can no longer light up on the job, thanks to a smoking ban that came into force on May 31. Amendments to the province’s workplace safety rules expand a 2005 tobacco ban that made it illegal to smoke in bars, restaurants, curling rinks and other indoor public places. Now employees won’t be able to light up in private offices, warehouses and other workplaces such as vehicles. Some exemptions include outdoor workplaces, self-employed businesses, underground mine job sites, casinos and buildings on reserve lands controlled by First Nations. Smoking has long been banned in government-owned facilities.

CPP board cuts exec bonuses

Ottawa — Four top executives of the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) saw their total compensation drop 31 per cent last year after the fund reported an 18.6-per-cent ($24 billion) loss in the 2009 fiscal year. The fund’s board of directors held back the “personal performance” portion of the executives’ annual bonuses and cancelled 2010 base salary increases. That left total pay for CEO David Denison and senior vice-presidents Mark Wiseman, Donald Raymond and Graeme Eadie at $8.5 million in 2009, including $7 million in bonuses, compared to $12.4 million in 2008. The executives’ annual bonuses and long-term incentives are calculated on a rolling four-year average of the fund’s performance, said CPPIB chairman Bob Astley. As a result, the compensation reported for fiscal 2009 was based in part on highly positive returns in 2006 and 2007 as well as losses of 0.3 per cent in 2008 and 18.6 per cent in 2009.

One-fifth of workers afraid to report harassment

Montreal — Almost one-third (31 per cent) of Quebec workers said they have witnessed or been victims of psychological harassment in the workplace, according to a survey by Quebec’s provincial HR association. The survey of 1,000 Quebec workers by the Ordre des conseillers en ressources humaines agréés also found 20 per cent of workers are afraid to file a psychological harassment complaint against an employer, with women more reluctant than men (25 per cent compared to 14 per cent). Women are also more reluctant to file a complaint against a co-worker, at 17 per cent compared to nine per cent of men. People who earn $80,000 or more a year are more afraid to file a complaint than those who earn just $20,000 to $40,000 (25 per cent compared to nine per cent).