University of British Columbia Press eBooks, Oct 1, 2007
It's so confusing. I might be wasting a lot of my time and going into debt if I take this course.... more It's so confusing. I might be wasting a lot of my time and going into debt if I take this course. They will give me a diploma, but will it be worth anything?-OfWce worker, OfWce Workers Career Centre
Worker representatives were formally recognised as agents in regulating workplace health and safe... more Worker representatives were formally recognised as agents in regulating workplace health and safety in most Canadian jurisdictions in the late 1970s. This was one component of the transition to an Internal Responsibility System that included mandated Joint Health and Safety Committees, right to know regulations, and the right to refuse dangerous work. Very little has changed in this regulatory framework in the ensuing three decades. The effectiveness of these regulations in improving health and safety was contentious in the 1970s and continues to be debated. Earlier work by Lewchuk et al. (1996) argued that the labour-management environment of individual workplaces influenced the effectiveness of worker representatives and Joint Health and Safety Committees. In particular, the framework was more effective where labour was organised and where management had accepted a philosophy of co-management of the health and safety function. The Canadian economy has experienced significant reorganisation since the 1970s. Canadian companies in general face more intense competition because of trade deals entered into in the 1980s and 1990s. Exports represent a much larger share of GNP. Union density has fallen and changes in legislation make it more difficult to organise workers. Non-standard employment, self-employment and other forms of less permanent employment have all grown in relative importance. This chapter presents new evidence on how these changes are undermining the effectiveness of the Internal Responsibility System in Canada, with a particular focus on workers in precarious employment relationships. Data is drawn from a recent population survey of non-student workers in Ontario conducted by the authors.
Despite Ontario's profusion of training programs, diplomas, and certificates for office workers, ... more Despite Ontario's profusion of training programs, diplomas, and certificates for office workers, they need coherence and transferability in training that makes it possible to keep up with changes in their current work, and they need their work experience and training to be transferable to training for other occupations. There is a growing disjuncture among the new work, training needs of office workers, and kinds of training available. Office work is becoming more complex, and its links with other occupations need to be made more specific. Training is being delivered in shorter, more fragmented pieces that particularly focus on technical training or the socalled "soft" employability skills. Entry-level training is getting shorter, while entry-level requirements for many office support jobs are becoming more complex. Cuts in public funding to college and community-based programs have resulted in fewer seats in public programs. Setting standards-sometimes seen as a panacea or, at least, the requisite starting-point for a coherent training system-would add to the confusion and opacity of training options for individual workers. It would also be an instrument to further privatize training. Making training a more "profitable" enterprise makes it less accessible to workers. Through activism, advocacy, and support of unions and organizations, a truly worker-centered and worker-driven training system could begin to eliminate the current confusion, fragmentation, inequities, and ineffectiveness of training for office workers. (Appendixes include 31 endnotes and 18 references.) (YLB) Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document.
From 1995-1998, 12 of the 79 organizations funded by Canada's National Literacy Secretariat (NLS)... more From 1995-1998, 12 of the 79 organizations funded by Canada's National Literacy Secretariat (NLS) conducted approximately 40 workplace literacy pilot projects across Canada. Those projects were reviewed to determine their effectiveness in increasing the number and quality of Canadian workplace literacy programs. Information for the review was collected from the following sources: review of pertinent materials available through the NLS; conversations with practitioners involved in workplace pilot projects and provincial government representatives; and interviews with representatives of 4 of the 12 organizations (an employer association, federation of labor, the Prairie Regional Training Consortium, and an industrial sector training council). The pilot projects tended to have three fields of activity: learning activities; short-term organizational change strategies; and long-term structural workplace change. The pilots have introduced literacy into a range of new industries and workplaces; however, only a small number of workplaces have created foundations for ongoing programs. Recommendations emerging from the review included calls for the NLS to fund more innovative workplace learning strategies and extend the time and financial resources for pilots to support more effective organizational change activities. A French translation is included. (Appended is information about how the review was conducted.) (MN)
A survey of 205 people, 4 group interviews with approximately 30 people, and 6 design and analysi... more A survey of 205 people, 4 group interviews with approximately 30 people, and 6 design and analysis meetings involving approximately 40 people were conducted in a 1999 participatory study of contingent workers in Toronto. (Contingent work was defined to be lower-waged forms of non-permanent work arrangements that include contracting, employment through a temporary agency, sequential short term employment multiple job holding, non-permanent part-time work, and self-employment where the worker does not hire anyone else.) The study found that, despite popular perception of the attractiveness of such "flexible" work arrangements, most contingent workers wanted to break into or rejoin the permanent, core workforce but were prevented from doing so by rules of temporary employment agencies, lack of education, immigration status, or discrimination. These workers received very low wages, had breaks in employment between assignments, worked long days on short notice, and usually lacked benefits such as sick leave, disability, and unemployment insurance. The study determined that the so-called work flexibility is not favored by most contingent workers and is usually a hidden form of unemployment or underemployment. The researchers concluded that increasing the incidence of contingent work may have detrimental long-term consequences for the workers as well as for society as a whole. (KC) Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document.
Using cross-sectional data from a Canadian population-based questionnaire, this article develops ... more Using cross-sectional data from a Canadian population-based questionnaire, this article develops a new approach to understanding the impact of less permanent forms of employment on workers' health. It concludes that employment relationships where future employment is uncertain, where individuals are actively searching for new employment and where support is limited are associated with poorer health indicators.
I) Objective The study aimed to explore the health effects of precarious employment relationships... more I) Objective The study aimed to explore the health effects of precarious employment relationships in Ontario, and understand how various forms of support shape health. II) Methods Three measures make up our "Employment Strain" model: employment relationship uncertainty; employment relationship effort; and, employment relationship support. This new framework was used to measure the characteristics of precarious employment and their effect on health using data from a structured, self-administered, population-based survey completed by 3,244 workers, and 82 semi-structured interviews using a stratified sampling technique to select participants. III) Results Precarious employment has negative health consequences for many workers. However, the relationship between precarious employment and health is complex, whereby the characteristics of the employment relationship and levels of support determine health outcomes. Using the "Employment Strain" framework, we found that workers exposed to High Employment Strain - workers with high levels of employment relationship uncertainty and high levels of employment relationship effort - have poorer health. Importantly, support does shapes health and can help to buffer the health risks associated with precarious employment.
Community-based participatory research is an enabling and empowering practice that is based in pr... more Community-based participatory research is an enabling and empowering practice that is based in principles that overlap with those of mental health recovery. Using a participatory approach, an advocacy group called the Dream Team, whose members have mental health issues and live in supportive housing, planned and conducted a study of the neighbourhood impact of two supportive housing buildings in Toronto. The study found that tenants do not harm neighbourhood property values and crime rates, and that they do make important contributions to the strength of their neighbourhoods. This article demonstrates the strength of a self-directed collective of individuals who are prepared to challenge stigma and discrimination, and documents their use of participatory action research as a proactive strategy to contribute their knowledge to discussions that shape the communities, services, and politics that involve them.
University of British Columbia Press eBooks, Oct 1, 2007
It's so confusing. I might be wasting a lot of my time and going into debt if I take this course.... more It's so confusing. I might be wasting a lot of my time and going into debt if I take this course. They will give me a diploma, but will it be worth anything?-OfWce worker, OfWce Workers Career Centre
Worker representatives were formally recognised as agents in regulating workplace health and safe... more Worker representatives were formally recognised as agents in regulating workplace health and safety in most Canadian jurisdictions in the late 1970s. This was one component of the transition to an Internal Responsibility System that included mandated Joint Health and Safety Committees, right to know regulations, and the right to refuse dangerous work. Very little has changed in this regulatory framework in the ensuing three decades. The effectiveness of these regulations in improving health and safety was contentious in the 1970s and continues to be debated. Earlier work by Lewchuk et al. (1996) argued that the labour-management environment of individual workplaces influenced the effectiveness of worker representatives and Joint Health and Safety Committees. In particular, the framework was more effective where labour was organised and where management had accepted a philosophy of co-management of the health and safety function. The Canadian economy has experienced significant reorganisation since the 1970s. Canadian companies in general face more intense competition because of trade deals entered into in the 1980s and 1990s. Exports represent a much larger share of GNP. Union density has fallen and changes in legislation make it more difficult to organise workers. Non-standard employment, self-employment and other forms of less permanent employment have all grown in relative importance. This chapter presents new evidence on how these changes are undermining the effectiveness of the Internal Responsibility System in Canada, with a particular focus on workers in precarious employment relationships. Data is drawn from a recent population survey of non-student workers in Ontario conducted by the authors.
Despite Ontario's profusion of training programs, diplomas, and certificates for office workers, ... more Despite Ontario's profusion of training programs, diplomas, and certificates for office workers, they need coherence and transferability in training that makes it possible to keep up with changes in their current work, and they need their work experience and training to be transferable to training for other occupations. There is a growing disjuncture among the new work, training needs of office workers, and kinds of training available. Office work is becoming more complex, and its links with other occupations need to be made more specific. Training is being delivered in shorter, more fragmented pieces that particularly focus on technical training or the socalled "soft" employability skills. Entry-level training is getting shorter, while entry-level requirements for many office support jobs are becoming more complex. Cuts in public funding to college and community-based programs have resulted in fewer seats in public programs. Setting standards-sometimes seen as a panacea or, at least, the requisite starting-point for a coherent training system-would add to the confusion and opacity of training options for individual workers. It would also be an instrument to further privatize training. Making training a more "profitable" enterprise makes it less accessible to workers. Through activism, advocacy, and support of unions and organizations, a truly worker-centered and worker-driven training system could begin to eliminate the current confusion, fragmentation, inequities, and ineffectiveness of training for office workers. (Appendixes include 31 endnotes and 18 references.) (YLB) Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document.
From 1995-1998, 12 of the 79 organizations funded by Canada's National Literacy Secretariat (NLS)... more From 1995-1998, 12 of the 79 organizations funded by Canada's National Literacy Secretariat (NLS) conducted approximately 40 workplace literacy pilot projects across Canada. Those projects were reviewed to determine their effectiveness in increasing the number and quality of Canadian workplace literacy programs. Information for the review was collected from the following sources: review of pertinent materials available through the NLS; conversations with practitioners involved in workplace pilot projects and provincial government representatives; and interviews with representatives of 4 of the 12 organizations (an employer association, federation of labor, the Prairie Regional Training Consortium, and an industrial sector training council). The pilot projects tended to have three fields of activity: learning activities; short-term organizational change strategies; and long-term structural workplace change. The pilots have introduced literacy into a range of new industries and workplaces; however, only a small number of workplaces have created foundations for ongoing programs. Recommendations emerging from the review included calls for the NLS to fund more innovative workplace learning strategies and extend the time and financial resources for pilots to support more effective organizational change activities. A French translation is included. (Appended is information about how the review was conducted.) (MN)
A survey of 205 people, 4 group interviews with approximately 30 people, and 6 design and analysi... more A survey of 205 people, 4 group interviews with approximately 30 people, and 6 design and analysis meetings involving approximately 40 people were conducted in a 1999 participatory study of contingent workers in Toronto. (Contingent work was defined to be lower-waged forms of non-permanent work arrangements that include contracting, employment through a temporary agency, sequential short term employment multiple job holding, non-permanent part-time work, and self-employment where the worker does not hire anyone else.) The study found that, despite popular perception of the attractiveness of such "flexible" work arrangements, most contingent workers wanted to break into or rejoin the permanent, core workforce but were prevented from doing so by rules of temporary employment agencies, lack of education, immigration status, or discrimination. These workers received very low wages, had breaks in employment between assignments, worked long days on short notice, and usually lacked benefits such as sick leave, disability, and unemployment insurance. The study determined that the so-called work flexibility is not favored by most contingent workers and is usually a hidden form of unemployment or underemployment. The researchers concluded that increasing the incidence of contingent work may have detrimental long-term consequences for the workers as well as for society as a whole. (KC) Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document.
Using cross-sectional data from a Canadian population-based questionnaire, this article develops ... more Using cross-sectional data from a Canadian population-based questionnaire, this article develops a new approach to understanding the impact of less permanent forms of employment on workers' health. It concludes that employment relationships where future employment is uncertain, where individuals are actively searching for new employment and where support is limited are associated with poorer health indicators.
I) Objective The study aimed to explore the health effects of precarious employment relationships... more I) Objective The study aimed to explore the health effects of precarious employment relationships in Ontario, and understand how various forms of support shape health. II) Methods Three measures make up our "Employment Strain" model: employment relationship uncertainty; employment relationship effort; and, employment relationship support. This new framework was used to measure the characteristics of precarious employment and their effect on health using data from a structured, self-administered, population-based survey completed by 3,244 workers, and 82 semi-structured interviews using a stratified sampling technique to select participants. III) Results Precarious employment has negative health consequences for many workers. However, the relationship between precarious employment and health is complex, whereby the characteristics of the employment relationship and levels of support determine health outcomes. Using the "Employment Strain" framework, we found that workers exposed to High Employment Strain - workers with high levels of employment relationship uncertainty and high levels of employment relationship effort - have poorer health. Importantly, support does shapes health and can help to buffer the health risks associated with precarious employment.
Community-based participatory research is an enabling and empowering practice that is based in pr... more Community-based participatory research is an enabling and empowering practice that is based in principles that overlap with those of mental health recovery. Using a participatory approach, an advocacy group called the Dream Team, whose members have mental health issues and live in supportive housing, planned and conducted a study of the neighbourhood impact of two supportive housing buildings in Toronto. The study found that tenants do not harm neighbourhood property values and crime rates, and that they do make important contributions to the strength of their neighbourhoods. This article demonstrates the strength of a self-directed collective of individuals who are prepared to challenge stigma and discrimination, and documents their use of participatory action research as a proactive strategy to contribute their knowledge to discussions that shape the communities, services, and politics that involve them.
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Papers by Alice de Wolff