Compensation and Benefits

Volume 44, Issue 7, December 2012 – January 2013 ITEMS OF INTEREST COMPENSATION AND BENEFITS Canadian Employers More Confident compensation and benefits that are most important to them. Towers Watson - A growing number of Canadian companies continue to struggle According to the survey, there appears with attracting and retaining skilled to be a mismatch between what employees necessary to increase their employers are offering and what global competitiveness, according to a employees are looking for. Canadian new survey conducted by global employees, including top talent, are professional services company Towers more focused on competitive base pay Watson. The survey also found that and job security. Employers, on the other employees are experiencing high levels hand, are emphasizing other items such of stress, a trend that many employers as challenging work and the and employees expect to continue for organization’s reputation as a good the next three years. employer. The recent survey found that nearly two- Canadian companies see themselves as thirds of Canadian respondents (61%) more effective than U.S companies in cite problems attracting skilled two key areas of their performance employees while just over 40% are management process. 64% of Canadian having difficulty attracting high-potential employers believe their performance talent and roughly a third (35%) are management process effectively links finding it hard to attract top-performing salary increases to individual workers. More than 30% of respondents performance results. Only 51% of U.S also reported difficulty with retention. companies cited that same level of confidence. Given the challenging economy and growing global competition, the demand “As Canadian employers seek to grow for skilled workers is as strong as ever; profitably during a period of economic however, many employers are not taking volatility, their focus needs to be on advantages of opportunities to attract, crafting an employee value proposition retain and engage high-value employees that helps to attract and retain talented by offering a work environment and and critical skill employees — and that engages the entire workforce,” said Industrial Relations Bulletin 2 Volume 44, Issue 7, December 2012 – January 2013 Tracey Malcolm, a Director in Talent Many provinces including BC, Alberta, Management at Towers Watson. Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario and Prince Edward Island all have provincial For a link to the full report see: statutory holidays, though not all on the http://www.towerswatson.com/canada- same day or under the same name. english/press/8000 Under the Canada Labour Code, employees receive nine federal holidays, 12 minus 1 for Federal Workers Easter and one provincial holiday. Telus The Vancouver Sun – The new statutory collective agreement provides for twelve holiday, Family Day, on February 11 is paid statutory holidays plus three business as usual for federal employees personal paid days off. as well as BC’s largest private sector employer – Telus. LEGAL Deference to Expertise of Decision- interplay between ss. 176(1)(b) and 178 Maker of the Code and to the different Supreme Court of Canada - The Alberta meanings that could be ascribed to these Court of Appeal quashed a decision of provisions and to s. 176(2). It found that the Alberta Labour Relations Board the Board's failure to demonstrate with concerning whether a registered transparency and intelligibility the employers' organization and a union meaning of s. 176(2) was unreasonable. party to a registered employers' The Supreme Court of Canada allowed organization collective agreement could the appeal. The Board did not have to pick and choose which of its provisions explicitly address all possible shades of they wished to adopt or whether, having meaning of the provisions. The SCC agreed to be bound to some of its stressed that administrative tribunals do provisions, they would be bound by the not have to consider and comment upon entirety of the registered employers' every issue raised by the parties in their organization collective agreement. The reasons. For reviewing courts, the issue Board concluded that the parties were remains whether the decision, viewed as bound by the entire collective a whole in the context of the record, is agreement. The Court of Appeal focused reasonable. The Board considered the on an assertion that the Board had failed relevant provisions of the Code and the to give proper consideration to the Questions or comments? Please contact us at [email protected] or 604-313-0948. Industrial Relations Bulletin 3 Volume 44, Issue 7, December 2012 – January 2013 facts presented to it. Its interpretation of brought on by litigation sparked by BC the Code and its conclusions were unions. The costs and legal uncertainty reasonable, and its decision was entitled have stalled the initiation of work on the to deference. underground bulk sample. HD Mining For the full text see: has also decided to delay bringing additional workers to Tumbler Ridge. http://www.lexisnexis.ca/info/index.php ?dynid=235&decision_id=1242 “This was a difficult decision for us, but we are very concerned about the cost Chinese Miners sent from Tumbler and disruption this litigation brought by Ridge the unions has caused to the planning of the project,” HD Mining spokeswoman The Vancouver Sun – HD Mining has Jody Shimkus said in a recent news made a difficult decision to send home release. 16 Chinese miners from the Murray River Coal Mine on Monday January 28th. The The International Union of Operating project, targeting deep metallurgical coal Engineers and the Construction and deposits between 400 and 800 metres Specialized Workers Union have asked down, has estimated reserves of more the Federal Court for a judicial review of than 3.18 billion tonnes. Initial mine site the federal government decision to grant development will focus on 37 square HD Mining permits for the temporary kilometres containing a proven deposit foreign workers. That review is slated for of 688 million tonnes. The Murray River April 2013. Property is located southwest of Tumbler Ridge in the traditional For the full text see: territories of first nations which are http://www.lexisnexis.ca/documents/20 members of the Treaty 8 Tribal Council. 12scc065.pdf The decision came as a response to disruption in the planning phases Questions or comments? Please contact us at [email protected] or 604-313-0948. Industrial Relations Bulletin 4 Volume 44, Issue 7, December 2012 – January 2013 BARGAINING AND THE LABOUR MARKET Universities Seek More Funding seen in several years, according to the Conference Board of Canada. The Vancouver Sun – Six BC universities issued a report Tuesday January 29 “We have been living in the new normal projecting that by 2016 the province’s since 2009, but we are only now realizing largest skill shortages will not be in the that we will not soon return to the trades, but instead in jobs requiring buoyant growth enjoyed before the university degrees. Officials who recession,” said Karla Thorpe, director of assembled the report asserts that in leadership and human resources order to fill job vacancies expected in the research. “The bargaining climate has future, the province needs to ensure fundamentally changed, and modest people are trained accordingly. They are economic prospects matched by modest asking for 11,000 new spaces in expectations may encourage pragmatism graduate, undergraduate, college and rather than rhetoric at the bargaining trade programs at a cost of $130 million table.” over four years as well as $51 million in student financing. The Canadian and global economies face The report was generated by Research a period of slow near-term growth, Universities’ Council of British Columbia. exacerbated by a strong currency, tepid Citing that 18,800 jobs will be unfilled in productivity improvement and 2020 due to the lack of appropriate post demographic changes that will challenge secondary training, the presidents of the government spending and revenue universities presented their request to capacity over the long term, said the the legislature’s all-party finance Conference Board. committee. Of those, 8,400 jobs would require a university degree. Average base wage increases for unionized workers in 2013 are projected to be 1.8 per cent in the public sector Labour Relations: The New Normal and 2.1 per cent for the private sector, said the report, and given the Conference Board of Canada – With social and economic climate, a singular modest economic prospects matched by focus on increasing the union wage modest expectations in the realm of premium — currently down to less than collective bargaining, a degree of eight per cent — may be certainty may be provided - a degree not Questions or comments? Please contact us at [email protected] or 604-313-0948. Industrial Relations Bulletin 5 Volume 44, Issue 7, December 2012 – January 2013 counterproductive for the labour employment and compensation will be movement. Improving working subject to increasing restraint, said the conditions for workers and influencing Conference Board. Some of this pressure public policy may prove to be a more will come from scrutiny into public fruitful approach. sector pensions and benefits, which are often seen to be generous compared to Governments across all jurisdictions the private sector, notwithstanding the continue to focus on reducing deficits recent Supreme Court of Canada’s and controlling public spending. Even decision dismissing union appeals

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