Here is a news release issued yesterday (May 24, 2012) by the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union (CEP) and the Canadian Auto Workers Union (CAW) concerning their efforts to join forces and create a new national union in Canada:

The joint CEP/CAW Proposal Committee has reached an important milestone in creating a new national union, coming to a consensus on a possible structure for the organization featuring a strong regional presence.

The Proposal Committee was established by the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union and the Canadian Auto Workers union to develop a plan for a new national union, which would be the largest private sector union in Canada representing more than 300,000 members.

Following four days of meetings last week in Toronto the Proposal Committee, made up of eight representatives from each union, reached consensus on a plan that establishes a "robust regional presence" and outlines how the new union could be run.  read more »

The Statistics Canada Labour Force Survey for April 2012 is out and contains the following statistics of interest:

British Columbia

• The unemployment rate declined from 7% in March to 6.2% in April 2012. 
• Continuing an upward trend that began in February 2011, employment in British Columbia increased by 20,000 in April.
• Compared with 12 months earlier, employment growth was 2.1%, the third-highest of all provinces.
• Since the unemployment rate peaked at 8.7% in February 2011, it has gradually declined to 6.2% in April.

National  read more »

The Canadian Human Rights Commission issued a news release on March 26, 2012 that "Cautions Employers on Rights of Aging Workers". The release reads:

On December 16, 2011, the Government of Canada repealed the section of the Canadian Human Rights Act that permitted federally regulated employers to impose mandatory retirement in some circumstances.

This measure was included in the Budget Implementation Act, which also stipulated a one-year transition period before the repeal of section 15 (1) (c) of the Canadian Human Rights Act takes effect.

The Canadian Human Rights Commission has received inquiries and is aware of media commentary about employers seeking to take advantage of the transition period to force employees to retire before they are ready to. While there is no evidence that this is taking place, the Commission believes it is prudent to caution any employer that might be considering such action to think again.  read more »

Le Conseil Atlantique du Canada - The Atlantic Council of Canada v. M.N.R., 2012 TCC 13

Statistics Canada issued its April 2011 Labour Force Survey today. Key stats for British Columbia in April (as compared to March) were:

• a gain of 8,900 jobs; 
• a dip in the unemployment rate from 8.1% to 7.9%.

Nationally:

• employment rose by 58,000 in April, mainly in part time. 
• the unemployment rate edged down 0.1 percentage points to 7.6%. 

Today marks the publication of what is being called Canada's first whitepaper to address telworking.

The paper - "WORKshift Canada: the bottom line on telework" - was prepared by Calgary Economic Development, in collaboration with the Telework Research Network.

The April 18, 2011 news release trumpeting the paper's publication sets out the following stats:  read more »

Vancouver based law firm Bull Housser Tupper has published its "Annual List of Top Issues Facing BC Employers" (December 30, 2010). In order, the five issues are:  read more »

The BC government issued another instalment of "The Facts on Wages and Jobs in B.C.". The mini-report, which was issued on October 10, 2010 and is based on Statistics Canada numbers, states that:  read more »

Paul Drager, a lawyer at Macleod Dixon, wrote "Employees Working in Foreign Countries: Personnel Concerns and Other Issues Relating to Expatriates" in 1999.

The paper deserves a fresh bookmark, however, because it appears to be one of the only resources available for lawyers as far as the to be alert to in relation to employees being posted to foreign countries.

The specific issues covered are:  read more »

Two employer surveys released yesterday and reported on by the Vancouver Sun today suggest that the chill is continuing to come off the labour market climate in Canada.

According to the Manpower Employment Outlook Survey of nearly 1,900 Canadian employers:  read more »