Improve EI and guarantee severance: auto workers; Ontario launches safety blitz on MSD injuries; Alberta hit hard; Court lets Nortel pay bonuses
Improve EI and guarantee severance: auto workers
Ontario launches safety blitz on MSD injuries
Toronto — Ontario is launching a workplace safety blitz that will focus on musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) this month. The blitz will target workplaces in the construction, health-care, industrial and mining sectors. Inspectors will concentrate on tasks that require workers to exert force in lifting, pushing or carrying items and tasks that put them in awkward postures or are repetitive. MSDs are injuries and disorders of the muscles, tendons and nerves that can develop as a result of continued exposure to repetitive work and awkward postures. In 2007, more than 35,000, or 43 per cent, of all lost–time injuries involved MSDs.
Alberta hit hard Edmonton — Alberta’s formerly booming economy is beginning to feel the effects of the recession, with projected salary increases dropping to 2.5 per cent, according to HR consulting firm Hewitt Associates. When Hewitt conducted its annual salary increase survey last May, Alberta employers were projecting average salary increases of 5.13 per cent. By October, that figure had dropped to 3.96 per cent. The latest survey has Alberta employers forecasting average increases of two to 2.5 per cent. Of the 52 Alberta organizations that responded to the survey, 60 per cent were from the energy/utilities industry.
Court lets Nortel pay bonuses
