https://www.labour-reporter.com/article/39719-fiat-chrysler-to-cut-windsor-ont-shift-in-fall-at-loss-of-1500-jobs/

In this article, it is discussed that Fiat Chrysler has decided to pull out of Windsor, Ontario by the end of the year. Reasons were not stated but it was a decision made by the company. This will not only cause a loss of 1500 jobs in that area but also a loss of business for the province. The company stated that they will create retirement packages for those that are eligible and also work to find jobs for others that are continuing their working careers. The company did also mention that they will work to find the production of other products.

Doug Ford’s response to this situation is that the government is working to lower the taxes and lowering utility bills. However, this takes time to change and cannot be made immediately. Fiat Chrysler’s decision is following the footsteps of General Motors that pulled out of Ontario last year.

I think the main issue that is causing this is the increase of taxation by the Ontario government, the governments increase in different taxes has caused many and not just one company to pull their production out of the province. The government thrives to “create job opportunities” but at the same time, they are destroying jobs by taxing more and more. Its sort of like the same reasons why a lot of commercial production are made overseas in places like China, Malaysia, Thailand, and other Asian countries because their taxes and hourly wages are low. When a company chooses its production location they have to consider the cost and the overall profit to run the production. I think to solve this issue, the Ontario government should not have increased their taxation in the first place. The government should focus on how they could keep the businesses, how could they keep the revenue, how can the government help with job employment.  Honestly, the more jobs the government creates the less they would have to spend on social support and the more taxes they are able to collect. So I don’t see why the government aren’t using ways to actively recruit productions and creating job opportunities for citizens.

The article I have chosen to write on is focused on Vice Media’s harassment allegations and their workplace culture. In the article written by new york times, Vice Media has admitted to their wrong and ignorance in their workplace. It was almost hypocritical that Vice Media, a news journal company that focuses on bringing issues such as social movements and human right movements to the spotlight faced harassment allegations. This shows that no matter what the company does, who they are, there are always flaws within a company.

In the article, Vice media admitted to having a ““boy’s club” culture that fostered inappropriate behaviour that permeated throughout the company.” (Shane and Suroosh 2019). This issue focused on women being the target of such harassment, this is a common occurrence. People that are deemed as different also often fall victim to harassment as well, this includes people of colour, people with different religion, people that are ethnically different and people of different sexuality.

Vice Media may have had let these issues slip by in the past, but in the article, they have discussed multiple implementations to change the company, and to improve the company. These include hiring a new C.O.O, having new training programs, having a committee that is dedicated to human rights issues and hiring a new HR (New York times 2019). HR plays a big role when it comes to human rights issues, they implement new ideas and listen to employee concerns about harassment. The goal of HR is to improve the workplace, to govern it, to make it better for not just the employees but also for the company.

Vice media has put out a good statement by admitting to their own wrongdoings and their ideas to terminate this issue. More and more employers and employees should be speaking up about these human rights issues because it is important! Now, the only thing to watch out for is whether or not Vice Media’s new implementation will actually help improve the companies harassment issues. And if not, how else are they going to fix it?

https://www.hrreporter.com/culture-and-engagement/38245-is-employee-experience-the-future-of-hr/

This blog post is my critical reflection of the article on Canada HR reporter,” Is ’employee experience’ the future of HR?” Written by Marcel Vander Wier. In the article, the main issue that was being addressed was the way current HR is looking at employees and the ways HR was trying to resolve employee issues. The methods were not so much employee focused, there was no concern of employee experience. Employee experience was a foreign term for HR, employee experience is defined as the experience the employee goes through when working at the said company, their interaction with management, their interaction with the work environment and their own point of view regarding the workplace.

This issue regarding HR not focusing on employees can affect the company in many ways, first the turn over rate would be high as discussed in the article, and also the customer service of that company would be lacklustre as the employees do not feel the passion. It’s the thought of if my manager/supervisor doesn’t care about me, why should I care about my customers.

By shifting the HR focus to become more employee experience centred, and by eliminating a lot of the “unnecessary” training programs companies implement, it can not only lead to a quicker and more efficient resolution, but the fix would also be more humanized or in other words, more suited towards the employees. The HR department has to start thinking of employees as people rather than assembly line robots. Of course, HR should not have to tend to every need of every single employee, but the way HR should be resolving issues should be more personalized. Maybe look at the management of that branch, maybe its the work environment, or maybe there’s a lack of something there, There is always more than one side to a story.

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/rob-commentary/what-minimum-wage-critics-dont-want-you-to-know/article36461967/

This article written by Jim Stanford on the debate happening within ON, BC and AB regarding whether or not to increase the minimum wage to $15/hr. Most analysts and specialists are stating reports that having an increase in minimum wage would lead to a decrease in job openings and cause a higher job loss rate. HOWEVER! Stanford argued that the specialists and analysts are using information that is outdated, and they are not considering new possibilities and growth. Kind of like how religion stopped the advancement of science due to their beliefs in the past and events that may or may not have happened, that is up to you whether or not you believe in the stories.

By constantly relying on the previous and past data and collected evidence, it eliminates possibilities for growth, for advancement. Stanford instead predicts that by having a higher minimum wage it will, in fact, increase the overall job market and make the province a better place. This is not only from an economic standpoint but he also briefly mentioned that everybody, no matter what situation they are in, no matter where they are from, they deserve a higher wage.

Let us be honest and real for a second here, the phrase “money can’t buy happiness”, we say that, but we bite our tongues knowing it is not true at all. Money can solve a lot of problems and thus can contribute to happiness, having meals to eat, having a roof over our heads, having clothes we can wear, having things we own, all of that requires money and all of that makes us happy. Sure it can cause problems but more than often, money solves problems just as well.

The reporters within those provinces that are against the rise of minimum wages are misusing the information, pretty much like every single news article out there, so what’s new eh. They are reporting all the negatives of increasing minimum wage, without doing research and foresee any growth within the city. That is what is causing such a big issue, is that the people are being fed information that is not entirely correct and being talked into believing such information.

In the end, whether or not you support the increase of minimum wages to $15 is up to you, but do your research, form your own opinions regarding this situation. And don’t believe in everything you read on the Internet and from these “experts”.

Hi all! It has been a while since I have posted anything on my blog and this will be a revisit and a review of my previous post regarding BC protest for paid sick leave days.

After more than a month of continuing EMPR 210, I have learnt many many more information regarding employment laws as well as handling different situations. And to put it short, No, my position regarding my previous post has not changed one bit. I still fully support the idea of BC workers getting sick paid leave days like Ontario and the government should make that happen as soon as possible. All my reasons have not changed, so if you want feel free to take a look at the previous post about why i support it. It is not always about the money, but we do live in a very materialistic world where poeple are easily influenced by money and companies wanting to save money.

The reason i agree with BC workers having more paid sick leaves is because I believe that having those is a form of right, employment rights to work under proper conditions. If a worker is not fit for work, he/she should not be pressured into working because of the money, Sure, this is a very controversial topic and may lead to some issues, But the paid sick days are still limited so issues like relying on the paid sick leaves all the time would not arise. Also like all law cases, once there is precedence things are easier to pass, If Ontario has the law for paid sick leaves, so should BC.

Irene Lanzinger: Paid sick leave a key B.C. issue this Labour Day

In the article, it was discussed that during labour day many B.C workers will be going on a protest for paid sick leaves. In the current B.C labour laws, paid sick leaves are not a regular thing in contracts. In Canada paid sick leaves are nor common, but recently Ontario has introduced a new model, guaranteeing up to two paid sick leave days. What the B.C workers are fighting for is to be the same as the O.N model.

Many of the debates regarding this topic are that people will just abuse the sick days and take the time off to use it for vacations and other leisurely activities. However, I do agree with the protesters’ proposition, as unexpected events do come up and not everybody could afford to lose a day or two of pay in a monthly cycle. Canada is quite an expensive place to live in, it has a high quality of living, so why are the labour laws and regulations not up to standards across the country? Paid sick leave should be regulated into employment contracts all over Canada and not just in Ontario.

Hi! My name is Ray, and I am currently a third-year student at Queen’s University. I am studying psychology and sociology as well as the employment relations diploma. I am originally from Vancouver, BC, but moved to Kingston to study at Queen’s, and let me just say, it is a HUGE difference living in Kingston compared to Vancouver. Go out after 5pm on a Sunday night everything is closed here! haha.

I never really knew what I wanted to do as my future career until I started studying at Queen’s. And because of my interest in HR, I gained an interest in employment law because of the diploma, and I always thought the law was an interesting subject from watching too many Suits haha. I hope by the end of this course I will have a thorough an understanding of employment law to know my own rights, as well as the employers and other employees rights, are. I have very minimal experience regarding the law, so this may be challenging in the beginning but that does not mean I won’t work hard to achieve my goals.

Employment relations is something that I always had interest towards, I enjoy dealing with people as well as different problems that require critical thinking, with my background in psychology and sociology I am able to analyze situations in a social scientific matter of things.

and my first job was actually working as a newspaper boy for my city, it was tough work, especially with school and soccer practices haha

That is it for my introduction everybody, thank you for your time, Good luck in the course!

Best,

Ray C

Thanks for joining me!

Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter. — Izaak Walton