Employment

Friday October 15, 2021

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Friday October 15, 2021

Ford should rethink outdated minimum wage stand

Doug Ford’s minimum-wage policy is the product of minimal thought.

April 29, 2021

Since becoming Ontario’s premier more than three years ago, Ford has rejected any meaningful increase in the baseline wages that employers must by law pay to their workers. After freezing minimum wages during his first 27 months in office, the premier consented to a 25-cent-an-hour increase one year ago then followed up with a paltry 10-cent-an-hour hike on Oct. 1. That brought the current hourly minimum wage to $14.35.

For many of the province’s 500,000 minimum-wage earners, this month’s change felt like a slap in the face instead of a helpful hand up. Those extra 80 cents they have in their pockets after an eight-hour-day’s efforts wouldn’t even cover the cost of their bus ticket to work. Yet Ford stubbornly insists any significant minimum wage increases would shutter businesses and drive higher unemployment.

The problem with this defence is that real-life evidence and real-live economists prove it’s wrong. And if Ford needs an expert second opinion on the matter from a fellow Ontarian, he should consult David Card, the Berkeley university professor who just won the Nobel Prize in economics. The native of Guelph and graduate of Queen’s University, Card was awarded the prestigious honour this week largely for his groundbreaking work into the economic and human impacts that followed minimum-wage increases.

February 1, 2014

Before his research, many economists would have agreed with Ford that boosting wages for some people can make life worse for more by forcing business closures and job losses. If the cost of labour grows too high, the demand for it would drop as many businesses scramble to adapt and some even go bust. Or so went the reasoning — supported for a time by many studies.

But in 1993, Card and the late Alan Krueger challenged conventional theory by looking at what happened to jobs at several New Jersey fast-food restaurants after the state raised its hourly minimum wage from $4.25 (U.S.) to $5.05 (U.S.). After comparing the situation in New Jersey to what was going on at similar fast-food restaurants in neighbouring east Pennsylvania, they concluded the rise in the minimum wage had no effect on the number of people being employed.

In response to skeptical colleagues, Card launched another study in 2000 using new information. His findings were the same. And over time, he won over most of the doubters to his viewpoint. There are still vigorous debates over how governments should manage minimum-wage legislation. But the prevailing opinion of economists is that moderate and gradually introduced wage increments benefit low-wage employees, do not cost jobs and help reduce poverty.

October 18, 2006

In fact, Premier Ford should already know this. After the previous Liberal government raised the hourly minimum wage from $11.60 to $14 in 2018, he railed against what he called “a failed Liberal policy that is driving jobs and investment out of Ontario. It’s equal to the carbon tax when it comes to job killing.” The Ontario Chamber of Commerce was of the same mind and issued dire warnings of economic devastation to come.

Six months after the Liberal minimum-wage hike, however, Ontario’s unemployment rate had dropped to 5.4 per cent, the lowest it had been since 2000. Meanwhile, business profits in the province had risen while its annual inflation rate was running at a modest 2.2 per cent.

Let’s hope the worldwide publicity surrounding Prof. Card’s Nobel Prize will push Ford and the Progressive Conservatives to rethink a minimum wage policy that has so widely been discredited. In its place should be a minimum wage that rises annually and matches wage growth across the provincial workforce. It’s time for a minimum wage based on maximum wisdom. (Hamilton Spectator Editorial) 

 

Wednesday October 13, 2021

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday October 13, 2021

Canada faces wave of terminations as workplace vaccine mandates take effect

Canada is facing a potential wave of terminations tied to mandatory workplace vaccine policies as a growing number of employers require workers to be fully inoculated against COVID-19 – or risk losing their jobs, legal experts say.

September 15, 2021

Governments, institutions and companies have spent months hammering out vaccine mandates in a bid to curb an unrelenting pandemic fuelled by variants.

As employer deadlines to be fully vaccinated approach, unvaccinated workers could soon be placed on unpaid leave or terminated altogether, lawyers say.

“We’ve been contacted by thousands of people from across Canada who all have these ultimatums in front of them saying they have to be vaccinated by a certain date or risk losing their jobs,” employment lawyer Lior Samfiru, a partner with Samfiru Tumarkin LLP, said in an interview.

“We’re going to see the biggest wave of terminations we’ve seen since the pandemic started,” he said, noting that his firm has been contacted by workers in a range of industries including health care, education, banks, construction and restaurants.

“It will be significant.”

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau unveiled Canada’s new mandatory vaccine policy on Wednesday. It requires the core public service, air travel and rail employees to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 by the end of October.

The federal vaccine mandate mirrors provincial policies, such as in Nova Scotia where all school and health-care workers are required to have two doses of a COVID-19 vaccine by the end of November.

Private companies have also developed corporate vaccine mandates, with looming deadlines for staff to be fully vaccinated.

The situation has left legal experts grappling with the tension between protecting the rights of individual workers and ensuring employers meet their health and safety obligations toward staff, clients and the public. (CTV) 

 

Saturday March 28, 2020

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Saturday March 28, 2020

How to Stay Productive (and Sane) While Working from Home

If you’re reading this, you likely find yourself suddenly working from home.

Before the COVID-19 (coronavirus) changed the way we do business in a matter of days, working remotely was something many people imagined as sort of a future-work utopia. Having your home to yourself during the day while your partner or kids are out, sending work emails with your dog cuddled up beside you, having access to your specific brand of coffee — it all sounded like a dream.

That’s probably not how working from home looks for you right now. In reality, you’re likely juggling how to make space in your home for calls and video meetings, keep yourself productive, keep your children occupied and oh yeah — stay sane in the midst of it all.

So let us help you. Like you, my colleagues and I are suddenly working from home indefinitely. For many of us, it’s not our first time working remotely, so I thought I’d reach out to them so I could share their best working from home tips for you. I’ll also share photos of our work-from-home office setups throughout — some as inspiration, and others (like mine) in solidarity with my fellow clutterers.

So let’s dive right in before your spouse, child, or pet arrives with your next home office interruption! And don’t worry — we have a section of this article dedicated to tips for working from home with kids. (Continued: Business 2 Community) 

Graeme MacKay offers some advice for those working from home.

 

Wednesday October 2, 2019

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday October 2, 2019

Andrew Scheer’s experience in the insurance industry: ‘6 or 7 months’ 

Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer has talked for years about his private sector experience as an insurance broker, but under questioning Monday, he admitted he only worked in the industry for “six or seven months.”

September 26, 2019

CBC News asked him exactly how long he’d worked in a Regina insurance office.

“I worked from approximately spring to some time in the fall,” he said, saying he’d have to go back and check his personal records for the exact dates.

CBC News also asked Scheer to clarify exactly what his role was in this office.

He said his job was “supporting the whole team … answering questions from customers and clients and doing preparatory work.” He added that he would also explain and pass on information to people coming into the office.

When CBC News suggested this meant he’d never actually worked as a broker, Scheer said that although he (eventually) received his accreditation under the Canadian Accredited Insurance Broker Program, “at this particular office, the licensed brokers finalized all the transactions.”

Conrad Shenher, who owned the insurance firm where Scheer worked and is now retired, told CBC News in a phone call that he doesn’t remember what Scheer’s duties were because it was so long ago.

May 16, 2012

In response to an earlier question from The Canadian Press, Scheer had said “I left before obtaining the full licence but I did receive that accreditation for general insurance.”

He also said he had many different jobs before being elected, including waiting tables.

When Scheer ran for the leadership of the Conservative Party, the biographical information on his website said he “passed the Canadian Accredited Insurance Broker program and began his working career in the insurance industry in Regina.”

Andrew Scheer Gallery

That’s the opposite order of events Scheer now describes.

Derek Lothian, chief executive officer of the Insurance Brokers Association of Saskatchewan, confirmed that Scheer completed a course with the association “that would form part of the eligibility requirements for licensing.”

As of Monday afternoon, Scheer’s biography on the Conservative Party’s web page continued to say that “before entering public life, Andrew worked in the private sector as an insurance broker.” (CBC) 

 

Saturday April 28, 2018

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Saturday April 28, 2018

Federal program funds summer job to help ‘stop Kinder Morgan pipeline’

As Prime Minister Justin Trudeau continues to vow that the Kinder Morgan pipeline expansion “will be built,” his government’s summer jobs program is funding a position with an activist group working to stop the project.

April 19, 2018

A call for applications for an “organizing assistant,” posted online by the non-profit group Dogwood B.C., says the job involves working to help the group’s network “stop the Kinder Morgan pipeline and tanker project.” It notes the position is funded by the federal Canada Summer Jobs Program.

The temporary full-time job is open to students. It pays $15 per hour for 9 to 12 weeks of work and is based in Vancouver.

But according to the organization receiving the funding, this kind of political push-and-pull is nothing new.

Dogwood B.C. said it has received funding for such positions since 2010, under both the Trudeau and Stephen Harper governments. The organization even got the funding when it was fighting the Enbridge Northern Gateway project, which Harper supported.

Kai Nagata, Dogwood’s communications director, said the group isn’t certain yet how many students it will hire with the help of federal funding this year. He said that in past years, students have worked on other projects as well, including one to prevent U.S. thermal coal exports from moving through Vancouver.

“The federal government has never thought to impose its political agenda on kids canvassing in B.C. on environmental issues,” said Nagata, who previously worked as a reporter for both CBC and CTV. (Source: CBC) 

 

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