News briefs

Quebec firms launch health and wellness push • Canada-wide Francophone training initiative • Ottawa moves to protect employees in bankruptcies • Best workplaces

Quebec firms launch health and wellness push

Montreal
— A group of Quebec employers, including JMJ Aéronautique, Mouvement Desjardins and Garda Canada, have formed GP2S, an organization that will promote injury and illness prevention. GP2S will contact firms across the province to enlist them in workplace health initiatives, such a healthy eating, smoke-free environments, stress management, fitness and weight-loss programs and blood pressure monitoring. GP2S, which seeks to tackle the productivity, financial and human costs of unhealthy workplaces and living, will also work to promote injury prevention.

Canada-wide Francophone training initiative

Ottawa
— Quebec educational institutions are twinning with francophone colleges across Canada in a pilot to boost vocational and technical training in French. The project, which offers support and shares expertise, is run by RCCFC, a network of francophone colleges and CEGEPS, created in 1995 to promote partnerships between French-language institutions.

Ottawa moves to protect employees in bankruptcies

Ottawa
— The federal government is introducing a reform package to protect workers’ earnings when an employer files for bankruptcy. Under the proposed Wage Earner Protection Program, to be administered by the Department of Labour and Housing, employees would be guaranteed $3,000 for wages and vacation pay earned during the six months before their employer declared bankruptcy. The amount would come out of general federal revenue and be recouped from the employer’s estates. The proposed changes would also place employer pension contributions ahead of claims made by secured creditors.

Best workplaces

Kelowna, B.C.
— A new Canadian affiliate of the San Francisco-based Great Place to Work Institute is teaming up with Canadian Business magazine to compile a list of Best Workplaces in Canada due for publication in 2006. Employers nominated will be assessed on the level of trust, pride and camaraderie in the workplace, as measured by a tool developed for Fortune magazine’s list of 100 Best Companies to Work For. The list is open for nominations until July 31. For more information contact www.greatplacetowork.ca.

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