The ACTEW Blog

A recent report finds that workers whose family commitments impact on their work get fewer chances to advance and have poorer relationships with bosses. The study, conducted by researchers at three Ontario universities, collected nearly 400 responses by public sector employees.

The findings suggest that employees coping with family demands such as rearing children, elderly parents, difficult teenagers and financial difficulties don't get as many opportunities to move ahead in their careers.

"Workers whose mental and physical resources are being especially consumed by home and family demands need to lessen these demands or learn coping strategies. At the same time, employers can assist their employees by providing family-friendly benefits, such as subsidized couple and family counseling, on-site childcare, and subsidized elder care," says Rick Hackett, Canada Research Chair in Organizational Behaviour and Human Performance at the DeGroote School of Business.

Read the news release posted to the National Union of Public and General Employees or this this news release posted to EurekaAlert!. The McMaster study was published in Applied Psychology.

Labels: Issues_and_Trends, Resources_and_Research

# posted by Actew : 3:02 PM  0 comments

Statistics Canada has released chapter updates for Women in Canada 2005, which found the entry of large numbers of women into the paid workforce has been one of the dominant social trends in Canada over the last half century.

Among the findings:

• More women are employed now than thirty years ago. In 2006, 58% of all women aged 15 and over had jobs, up from 42% in 1976.
• Women with children are much more likely to be employed than thirty years ago. Female lone parents are less likely than mothers in two-parent families to be employed.

The chapter updates are free and available on the Statistics Canada web site.

Labels: Issues_and_Trends, Resources_and_Research

# posted by Actew : 3:22 PM  0 comments

In the Toronto Star series War on Poverty, writer Nicholas Keung profiles hotel workers in Toronto. The hotel industry has seen the elimination of full-time jobs in favour of part-time, casual and subcontracted work, and those positions have seen a decrease real wages and benefits and a substantial cut to training budgets. Keung says:

“To a large degree, poverty in the industry is segmented along race and gender lines. Among its lowest earners, room attendants and laundry workers, 93 per cent are immigrants; 82 per cent are visible minorities; and 80 per cent are women.”

The Task Force on the Toronto Hotel Industry has released a report encouraging “high road economic partnerships” that would benefit both workers and employers. The goal of these high road partnerships is to “build an economy based on skills, innovation, opportunity, sustainability and equitably shared prosperity rather than on low-road practices that lower living and working standards and weaken communities.”

The report makes several recommendations:

• Bringing up wages and benefits to living standards
• work to eliminate racial and gender bias in hiring, promotion, and workplace practices through equity programs
• Comprehensive training and equal opportunity initiative
• Support work and family life through measures such as flexible working hours, personal days, workplace child care programs, and extended parental leave and benefits
• Encourage supports, such as affordable child care, housing and transit

The report is not yet available online, but once it is published, we’ll provide a link here.

Labels: Resources_and_Research

# posted by Actew : 2:12 PM  0 comments

ACTEW has re-launched a more robust fact sheet focusing on contingent workers. Compiling research from multiple sources, we’ve found research that documents the rise of contingent work in Canada. Research demonstrates that contingent workers are paid less, less protected by employment and labour laws and policies, and have less access to work or government benefits. Some key highlights include:

• Contingent employment increased dramatically in the early 1990s.  Currently almost one-third of Canadian workers are employed contingently with higher rates in some areas, like Toronto.
• Women working part-time made up 27% of the total Canadian workforce in 2004. In comparison, part-time male employees made up 11% of the workforce.
• women of colour are the least likely to be employed all year and have the fewest weeks of employment per year.

The fact sheet offers research on different kinds of contingent work.  Read the fact sheet online or download a pdf version.

Labels: ACTEW_Activities, Resources_and_Research

# posted by Actew : 3:37 PM  0 comments

I presented on ACTEW’s Putting Women in the Picture project at the Jobs and Justice conference. Here are two other initiatives that I found both inspiring and informative:

Well-being through Inclusion Socially and Economically (WISE)
http://www.wise-bc.org/index.html

Daphne Moldowin and Chrystal Ocean gave a presentation entitled Jobs versus Mutual Aid: Taking Back the Meaning of ‘Work’ in Community. WISE is led by women living in poverty. It works to address

• the causal link between policy and poverty,
• educate people about the effects of poverty on the health and wellbeing of citizens and their communities,
• and support one another in introducing and implementing inexpensive, creative solutions at the local level.

WISE has published a very powerful book called Policies of Exclusion, Poverty & Health: Stories from the front (WISE 2005) in which 21 women tell their stories of poverty, which then lead to policy recommendations. I strongly encourage you to order a copy for yourself at http://www.wise-bc.org/CVProject/book.html.

The women of WISE have also developed workshops, both for women affected by poverty and for service providers. If you are in or near Toronto and are a service provider, catch their upcoming workshop "Honouring the Margins: Their Knowledge, praxis and realities," at the Community-Campus Partnerships for Health 10th annual conference Mobilizing Partnerships for Social Change (April 11-14, 2007).

The researchers recommended a new model based on the following principles, adapted from Nancy Fraser’s feminist social justice approach:

• Anti-poverty
• Anti-exploitation
• Income equality
• Leisure time equality
• Equality of respect
• Anti-marginalization
• Anti-androcentrism/Europeanism

There is not much written information released on this project, as the work is still in its research phase. As I hear of information becoming available, I’ll post it to this blog.

Jobs and Justice: Strategies and Solutions for Economic Security was hosted by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA) and held in Vancouver March 29 to 31, 2007. Some of the plenary talks were videotaped and can viewed online.

Labels: ACTEW_Activities, Meetings_and_Events, Resources_and_Research

# posted by Actew : 1:28 PM  0 comments