To fight against catastrophic climate change, Canada needs to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions to near zero by mid-century at the latest. This amounts to a new, green industrial revolution that will have transformative impacts on the nature of work. In addition, there are important employment implications as to how we respond or adapt to climate change itself.
Employment and labour
Hennessy's Index is a monthly listing of numbers, written by the CCPA's Trish Hennessy, about Canada and its place in the world. For other months, visit: http://policyalternatives.ca/index
This report analyzes data from the government's 2012-13 Reports on Plans and Priorities (RPP), as well as the 2012 federal budget in order to assess the impact of several rounds of spending cuts on federal employment. The report's analysis finds that the total number of federal core public service job losses over the next three years will be 29,600—far more than the 19,200 estimate that is now commonly cited.
OTTAWA—The total number of federal core public service job losses over the next three years will be 29,600—far more than the 19,200 estimate that is now commonly cited, says a new analysis by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA).
Given a word-association test, the response of most Canadians to the word “union” would be “strikes.”
How else could they be expected to react? The only time they read about unions in the newspapers or hear about them on TV or radio is when their members are walking the picket lines. The understandable assumption is that all unions ever do is go on strike.
In fact, the average union member is on the job 96.4% of his or her working life. Since unions negotiate 97 out of every 100 collective agreements at the bargaining table, a strike is an exceptional event.
From the Living Wage for Families Campaign
(Vancouver) For families with young children, the costs of basic necessities like food, rent and child care quickly add up. Even with full-time work year round, both parents in a family of four must earn at least $19.14 to escape severe financial stress in Metro Vancouver.
Please note: The updated 2019 Living Wage report is now available.
As more and more raw, unprocessed logs leave British Columbia’s coast in ocean freighters bound for the far side of the world, a common refrain from some in our forest industry is that we have no choice.
Because workers in mills in China are paid so little, log buyers there can afford to pay more for our logs than domestic buyers pay. The result, we’re told, is that we have no alternative but to sell our logs overseas.
But there’s much to suggest that such a defeatist argument doesn’t hold water, and that the real problem is a lack of investment in mills here at home.
(Vancouver) A new study reviews the economic case for the Enbridge Northern Gateway Pipeline (NGP) and casts serious doubt on claims that the pipeline will lead to substantial job creation and other economic benefits.
Enbridge claims that the NGP will create 63,000 person years of employment during the construction of the pipeline, and 1,146 full-time jobs once it’s completed.