Canadian HR Reporter

CANADIAN HR REPORTER June 12, 2017 30 INSIGHT GOING UP? TORONTO — Office dwellers may want to consider taking the stairs more often after the release of new stats from the Technical Stan- dards and Safety Authority. In the past six years, six people have been killed and 1,225 injured — 69 per- manently — in elevator mishaps in Ontario, according to the Canadi- an Press. e number of incidents more than doubled between 2011 and 2016, rising at an average rate of about 14 per cent per year, while se- rious injuries have gone up by eight per cent. Many mishaps are related to levelling issues, when the eleva- tor doesn't stop at the right spot. is leads to people tripping, with noses, toes and thumbs broken, or more serious harm. While faulty maintenance or failure to follow the rules are part of the problem, 75 per cent of the incidents were caused by "user behaviour" such as trying to prevent elevator doors from closing. LEARNING THE HARD WAY NEW HAVEN, CONN. — Social media took another victim recent- ly when a dean at Yale University in New Haven, Conn., was placed on leave after making several inappro- priate online comments. June Chu, dean of the school's Pierson Col- lege, was called out for Yelp reviews in which she called customers at local restaurants "white trash" and "low-class folks," according to the Associated Press. She also called movie theatre employees "barely educated morons." ere were nu- merous "reprehensible" posts that represented a more widespread pattern, damaged trust and were "deeply harmful to the community fabric," said Stephen Davis, head of the college. "No one, especially those in trusted positions of edu- cating young people, should deni- grate or stereotype others, and that extends to any form of discrimina- tion based on class, race, religion, age, disability, gender identity or sexual orientation." BREAKING FREE CHICAGO — Chicago's main jail had to be placed on lockdown recently after more than 200 em- ployees didn't show up for the day shift. e reason? It was Mother's Day. Eighty-six employees at the Cook County Jail called in sick, while 120 took the day off under the Family Medical Leave Act, ac- cording to the Chicago Tribune. About 25 per cent of the staff for the second shift also called in sick. The "extraordinary" number of absent workers puts extra pres- sure on the other jail workers, said a statement from the sheriff 's of- fi ce. "We continue to fi nd ways to curb the absenteeism, but we have very few tools in the toolbox,'' said spokesperson Cara Smith. The same trend was seen last year on Mother's Day, when 20 per cent of the workforce failed to appear. TOO CLOSE FOR COMFORT BRADFORD, U.K. — A BBC pre- senter came under scrutiny re- cently when he appeared to touch a woman's breast in pushing her away. Ben Brown was conduct- ing a live, on-camera interview with another BBC employee when the woman stepped into the shot, looked at the camera and said, "Absolutely fantastic" with a thumbs up. Brown reached out to push the woman away, and ap- peared to target her breast. Look- ing surprised, the woman slapped his arm and walked away, accord- ing to the Guardian. "Unfortu- nate interruption of broadcast in Bradford — just tried to minimize disruption but (very) tricky live on air — completely unintentional," said Brown on his Twitter feed. e BBC didn't confi rm if there had been any complaints about the incident but said it was "clearly an accident" and no further action would be taken against Brown. W EIRD ORKPLACE THE Vol. 30 No. 11 – June 12, 2017 PUBLISHED BY Thomson Reuters Canada Ltd. One Corporate Plaza 2075 Kennedy Rd. Toronto, ON M1T 3V4 ©Copyright 2017 by Thomson Reuters Canada Ltd. All rights reserved. CANADIAN HR REPORTER is published 21 times a year. Publications Mail – Agreement # 40065782 Registration # 9496 – ISSN 0838-228X Director, Media Solutions, Canada: Karen Lorimer - (416) 649-9411 karen.lorimer@thomsonreuters.com EDITORIAL Publisher/Editor in Chief: Todd Humber - (416) 298-5196 todd.humber@thomsonreuters.com Editor/Supervisor: Sarah Dobson - (416) 649-7896 sarah.dobson@thomsonreuters.com News Editor Marcel Vander Wier - (416) 649-7837 marcel.vanderwier@thomsonreuters.com Employment Law Editor: Jeffrey R. 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Address changes and returns: Send changes and undeliverable Canadian addresses to: SUBSCRIBER SERVICES Canadian HR Reporter One Corporate Plaza 2075 Kennedy Rd. Toronto, ON M1T 3V4 CUSTOMER SERVICE Call: (416) 609-3800 (Toronto) (800) 387-5164 (outside Toronto) Fax: (416) 298-5082 (Toronto) (877) 750-9041 (outside Toronto) Email: customersupport. legaltaxcanada@tr.com LETTERS TO THE EDITOR todd.humber@thomsonreuters.com CHRR reserves the right to edit for length and clarity. Todd Humber EDITOR'S NOTES Good HR makes union growth tough H as the megaunion been a megabust? Back in 2012, when the Canadian Auto Workers and the Communica- tions, Energy and Paperworkers merged unions to form Unifor — a 300,000-plus member behe- moth — it genuinely felt like a sea change. Stealing a page from the corpo- rate M&A handbook, the union movement was poised to not only organize new workplaces and in- dustries, but win the hearts and minds of Canadians in the all-im- portant PR war with a public fed up with corporate largesse. But, fi ve years later, there's a whole lot of nothing happening. Despite a reported $50-million war chest to organize precarious workers, and a clearly stated goal to target vulnerable, low-wage workers, there has barely been sound and fury — let alone real change. In the last fi ve years, Unifor's membership has remained static. It currently claims 310,000 mem- bers on its website — meaning today, as in 2012, it represents 1.5 per cent of the Canadian labour force, barely keeping pace with population growth. is isn't an indictment of Unifor, just a reality check on the inability of unions to make inroads. We know the numbers: In 1981, 37.6 per cent of the workforce was unionized. In 1991, it was 34.9 per cent. By 2001, 30.7 per cent. And in 2014, the most recent numbers available from Statistics Canada, the rate was 28.8 per cent. If we separate apples from or- anges, the story in the private sec- tor is even uglier. While the pub- lic sector is still heavily unionized (71.4 per cent in 2012), just 16.4 per cent of workers in the private sector are members of a union. Are we on the eve of another groundshaking moment? Two of the cover stories in this issue outline major overhauls of work- place legislation — Ontario and Alberta are planning signifi cant changes. Among other proposals, On- tario's plan would see easier cer- tifi cation of unions if an employer interferes in a union drive. It also recommends employers be re- quired to distribute contact infor- mation for the union if one out of fi ve prospective bargaining mem- bers are in favour of unionizing. Alberta is looking at a hybrid system of card check and ballot votes, similar to what is done in Manitoba — meaning unions can be automatically certifi ed if more than 65 per cent of employees had verifi ed membership cards. These are labour-friendly moves that, if implemented, could see an increase in the number of workers organizing in those prov- inces. But don't bet on it. The reason? Frankly, it's be- cause of the person reading this publication. Good HR can make the case for unionization incred- ibly hard to make. ere's that old saying: "Organizations get the unions they deserve." If you treat your workers poor- ly, trample on their rights and sub- ject them to poor working condi- tions, they're going to look outside your doors — rightfully so — for help. e worse the management practices, the more militant the union will become. ere are no tears shed for employers like that on these pages. But if you have good HR prac- tices, it's going to be incredibly diffi cult for the labour movement to gain a foothold. It's interesting that the business case for solid hu- man resources — goodies such as work-life balance, generous paid vacation, competitive compensa- tion, benefi ts and a healthy work- place culture — perfectly muffl e the sound of a union organizer knocking on your door. at's not to argue for the end of unions, or to diminish their role. e labour movement has improved working conditions for everyone — arguably creating the middle class — and they continue to admirably push the envelope in advocating for precarious workers. I give them full credit for not picking an easy battle. Organizing workers in industries dominated by young, transient employees was always going to be a steep up- hill climb. While there are pockets of success Unifor can hang its hat on, the sea change in the labour movement has yet to arrive. But they're going to keep fi ght- ing and pushing, clawing tooth and nail for every member. Uni- for president Jerry Dias is a very smart leader — there's no point in underestimating him or any of his counterparts across the country. So we say this, without a touch of arrogance: Changing the rules to make it easier to unionize might strike fear in the hearts of some, but not HR. at's because an engaged, loyal and well-taken- care-of workforce looks a lot like an alligator-fi lled moat to the la- bour movement. FOOL ME ONCE LONDON, U.K. — He may be the Bank of England governor, but Canadian Mark Carney recently fell prey to an email prank, according to Reuters. e hoaxer emailed Carney say- ing the depiction of the novelist Jane Austen on a new British banknote made it look as if the famous writer had just drunk a "bracing martini." inking he was responding to a message from Anthony Habgood, the head of the bank's internal oversight body, Carney replied: "I will drink the martini and order another two. Apparently, that was Eddie George's daily intake… before lunch." (George was a former governor of the Bank of England.) Carney quickly stopped the conversation when the emailer talked about "rather dashing bar ladies" at an event. "Sorry Anthony. Not appropriate at all," said Carney in a fi nal remark, according to a tweet posted by email prankster @Sinon_Reborn. e bank governor has warned of cyber risks facing the international banking system. a woman's breast in pushing her away. Ben Brown was conduct- — He may be the Bank of England governor, but Canadian Mark Carney recently fell prey to an email prank, according to Reuters. e hoaxer emailed Carney say- ing the depiction of the novelist Jane Austen on a new British banknote made it look as if the famous writer had just drunk a "bracing martini." inking he was responding to a message from Anthony Habgood, the head of the bank's internal oversight body, Carney replied: "I will drink the martini and order another two. Apparently, that was Eddie George's daily intake… before lunch." (George was a former governor of the Bank of England.) Carney quickly stopped the conversation when the emailer talked about "rather dashing bar ladies" at an event. "Sorry Anthony. Not appropriate at all," said Carney in a fi nal remark, according to a tweet posted by email prankster @Sinon_Reborn. e bank governor has warned of cyber risks facing Credit: dondesigns (Shutterstock) Changing the rules might strike fear in the hearts of some, but not HR.

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