The Indelible Bonobo Experience

Renaissance Monkey: in-depth expertise in Jack-of-all-trading. I mostly comment on news of interest to me and occasionally engage in debates or troll passive-aggressively. Ask or Submit 2 mah authoritah! ;) !

Quote Post
Scott agreed that Banana Republic had good reason to enforce the mandatory break policy because if employees did not comply with this policy the company could involuntarily become responsible for overtime pay under the Employment Standards Act.
Other overtime cases are appearing in court. In one 2008 case caregiver Lorraine Condie claimed she worked more than 44 hours per week and so was entitled to overtime. Her employers insisted they neither authorized overtime, nor were aware that she was working more than a standard work week. Even so, the Ontario Labour Relations Board decided she was entitled to $4,200 for the extra hours worked.
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Banana Republic employee fired for working through her break | Toronto Star

  • On a much larger scale, in June 2012 the Ontario Court of Appeal ruled that two overtime class actions against Canadian banks could proceed. Five thousand Scotiabank employees are claiming $350 million in overtime pay and 31,000 CIBC workers are suing for $600 million in unpaid wages. These claims have not yet been proven in court.
  • Overtime lawsuits are also a live issue in the U.S. ABC News reported on major settlements by several well-known corporations last September. Starbucks agreed to pay a group of California store managers $18 million to settle an overtime lawsuit and Radio Shack wrote cheques for nearly $30 million to settle a similar case brought by 1,300 former and current California store managers.
  • Employees who work in certain professions and jobs are not entitled to overtime pay, but these rules are not always straightforward. To find out whether or not you should be paid overtime, check the Special Rule Tool on the Ontario Ministry of Labour’s website.
Posted in work toronto ontario overtime pay labor labour salary income
Photo Post
CLC president Ken Georgetti says Ottawa should target its tax credits at companies that actually invest in machinery and increased productivity. When the CLC observed Corporate Tax Freedom Day last year, spokespersons for big business rushed to defend both tax breaks and the high level of corporate cash reserves. They said that Canada has to be competitive with other countries. That is just talk. Canadian corporate income taxes are already competitive and did not have to be lowered. Business representatives also claimed last year that corporate income tax as a share of government revenue would soon increase. That has not happened. Corporate income taxes fell from 8.8 per cent of government revenues in 2010 to 8.3 per cent in 2011. Back in the 1960s and ‘70s, corporate income tax represented an average 11 per cent of government revenues. (via CEOs take tax breaks, but don’t create jobs - thestar.com) In return for tax breaks, companies are supposed to be investing their windfall, but studies have shown that rising corporate after-tax profits are not all invested in increased productivity and the creation of good jobs in Canada. There were 1.35 million unemployed Canadians in December 2012 compared to 1.1 million unemployed in October 2008, just before the recession. Today’s unemployment rate of 7.1 per cent remains well above the pre-recession rate of 6 per cent. Our CLC study shows that between 2001 and 2011 the total cash reserves of private, non-financial private corporations in Canada grew from $187 billion to $575 billion. Between 2010 and 2011 alone, there was an astounding one-year increase of $72 billion. This is a figure more than double the entire $33.4 billion federal deficit for 2010-11. Bank of Canada Governor Mark Carney has described the high level of corporate cash reserves as “dead money,” and he says private companies should invest and put it to work. Even federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty is frustrated with the situation and has called on private corporations to invest in Canada. The CLC study shows just that the top 10 corporate hoarders accumulated $27.7 billion in extra short- and long-term cash assets between 2001 and 2011. Those companies include Teck Resources Ltd., Bombardier Inc., Suncor Energy Inc., George Weston Ltd., Barrick Gold Corp. and Research In Motion. CEOs from the top 10 cash-hoarding companies are among the highest paid in the country. This is illustrated by cross indexing our list of corporate hoarders with CEO pay as outlined in a Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives study titled Over-Compensating: Executive Pay in Canada. CEO compensation among Canada’s top 10 non-financial corporations averaged $11.9 million in 2011, ranging from $3.7 to $40.9 million at Magna International. The top CEOs take home a yearly average of 235 times more than the average Canadian. This argument is a bit simplistic and I do not endorse it; it nonetheless must be made. The main reasons for decreasing corporate taxes is double taxation (both the corporation and people deriving income from it) and attracting corporations creates employment and collateral tax revenues. Then again, corporate personhood weakens that idea.

CLC president Ken Georgetti says Ottawa should target its tax credits at companies that actually invest in machinery and increased productivity.

When the CLC observed Corporate Tax Freedom Day last year, spokespersons for big business rushed to defend both tax breaks and the high level of corporate cash reserves. They said that Canada has to be competitive with other countries. That is just talk. Canadian corporate income taxes are already competitive and did not have to be lowered. Business representatives also claimed last year that corporate income tax as a share of government revenue would soon increase. That has not happened. Corporate income taxes fell from 8.8 per cent of government revenues in 2010 to 8.3 per cent in 2011. Back in the 1960s and ‘70s, corporate income tax represented an average 11 per cent of government revenues. (via CEOs take tax breaks, but don’t create jobs - thestar.com)

  • In return for tax breaks, companies are supposed to be investing their windfall, but studies have shown that rising corporate after-tax profits are not all invested in increased productivity and the creation of good jobs in Canada. There were 1.35 million unemployed Canadians in December 2012 compared to 1.1 million unemployed in October 2008, just before the recession. Today’s unemployment rate of 7.1 per cent remains well above the pre-recession rate of 6 per cent.
  • Our CLC study shows that between 2001 and 2011 the total cash reserves of private, non-financial private corporations in Canada grew from $187 billion to $575 billion. Between 2010 and 2011 alone, there was an astounding one-year increase of $72 billion. This is a figure more than double the entire $33.4 billion federal deficit for 2010-11.
  • Bank of Canada Governor Mark Carney has described the high level of corporate cash reserves as “dead money,” and he says private companies should invest and put it to work. Even federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty is frustrated with the situation and has called on private corporations to invest in Canada.
  • The CLC study shows just that the top 10 corporate hoarders accumulated $27.7 billion in extra short- and long-term cash assets between 2001 and 2011. Those companies include Teck Resources Ltd., Bombardier Inc., Suncor Energy Inc., George Weston Ltd., Barrick Gold Corp. and Research In Motion. CEOs from the top 10 cash-hoarding companies are among the highest paid in the country. This is illustrated by cross indexing our list of corporate hoarders with CEO pay as outlined in a Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives study titled Over-Compensating: Executive Pay in Canada.
  • CEO compensation among Canada’s top 10 non-financial corporations averaged $11.9 million in 2011, ranging from $3.7 to $40.9 million at Magna International. The top CEOs take home a yearly average of 235 times more than the average Canadian.

This argument is a bit simplistic and I do not endorse it; it nonetheless must be made.

The main reasons for decreasing corporate taxes is double taxation (both the corporation and people deriving income from it) and attracting corporations creates employment and collateral tax revenues. Then again, corporate personhood weakens that idea.

Posted in clc labor labour ken georgetti corporate tax taxation
Photo Post
Economists are scratching their heads over Canada’s unexpectedly strong employment growth in 2012. It puzzles them for three reasons: businesses weren’t spending, governments weren’t hiring and the economy was weak. Despite these unfavourable conditions, Canada created 272,000 new jobs in 2012, its best showing since the recession. By year-end, the unemployment rate had fallen to a four-year low of 7.1 per cent. All the jobs lost in 2008-2009 meltdown have now been recouped, as Finance Minister Jim Flaherty frequently reminds Canadians. (via Goar: Where did all the new jobs come from? - thestar.com, report) employment gains were uneven; some industries took on workers, others shed jobs. The uptick in employment did not bring wage increases (except in Alberta and Saskatchewan), meaning most Canadians didn’t feel better off. And he reminds readers the manufacturing sector, while picking up steam, remained far below its pre-recession level. The strongest area of employment growth in 2012, for example, was educational services, with 94,600 new jobs. Yet most provincial governments were retrenching. Most school boards had hiring freezes. Most teachers unions were fighting to save the jobs and benefits their members already had. Bendiner, who had an inside view of the turmoil in the education sector in Ontario, calls the job surge “a bit curious.” He also finds it unsettling that the Labour Force Survey presents a rosier view than Statistics Canada’s other measure of job growth, the Survey for Employment Payrolls and Hours. Oil and gas producers ended their hiring spree; Alberta’s 2012 job growth was largely in utilities, transportation, warehousing and finance. The same was true of Newfoundland. Only Saskatchewan was actively recruiting workers. weird..

Economists are scratching their heads over Canada’s unexpectedly strong employment growth in 2012. It puzzles them for three reasons: businesses weren’t spending, governments weren’t hiring and the economy was weak. Despite these unfavourable conditions, Canada created 272,000 new jobs in 2012, its best showing since the recession. By year-end, the unemployment rate had fallen to a four-year low of 7.1 per cent. All the jobs lost in 2008-2009 meltdown have now been recouped, as Finance Minister Jim Flaherty frequently reminds Canadians. (via Goar: Where did all the new jobs come from? - thestar.com, report)

  • employment gains were uneven; some industries took on workers, others shed jobs. The uptick in employment did not bring wage increases (except in Alberta and Saskatchewan), meaning most Canadians didn’t feel better off. And he reminds readers the manufacturing sector, while picking up steam, remained far below its pre-recession level.
  • The strongest area of employment growth in 2012, for example, was educational services, with 94,600 new jobs. Yet most provincial governments were retrenching. Most school boards had hiring freezes. Most teachers unions were fighting to save the jobs and benefits their members already had.
  • Bendiner, who had an inside view of the turmoil in the education sector in Ontario, calls the job surge “a bit curious.” He also finds it unsettling that the Labour Force Survey presents a rosier view than Statistics Canada’s other measure of job growth, the Survey for Employment Payrolls and Hours.
  • Oil and gas producers ended their hiring spree; Alberta’s 2012 job growth was largely in utilities, transportation, warehousing and finance. The same was true of Newfoundland. Only Saskatchewan was actively recruiting workers.
weird..
Posted in canada jobs employment unemployment labor labour