It’s become a common sight: jubilant Starbucks Corp. workers celebrating after successful votes to unionize at dozens of U.S. stores. But when the celebrations die down, a daunting hurdle remains: to win the changes they seek — like better pay and more reliable schedules — unionized stores must sit down with Starbucks and negotiate a […]
The union representing employees at a Hitachi Construction Truck Manufacturing Ltd. plant in Guelph, Ont. has ratified an agreement that includes pension and benefits gains. Unifor Local 1917 Hitachi unit members voted 95 per cent in favour of the three-year collective agreement, which includes a $0.25 contribution increase to the defined benefit pension plan, from […]
Contract food services and custodial workers at Canada’s colleges and universities have less access to pensions and paid leave than their in-house colleagues, according to a new report by the Canadian Union of Public Employees. The report, which analyzed employment data from publicly funded post-secondary institutions, found only 23 per cent of contract food services employers […]
Benefits plans tend to support employees dealing with either mild or severe mental-health symptoms, but an entire middle category of plan members lack a treatment option geared toward their moderate symptoms. As such, plan sponsors should think about matching services with severity when they’re considering which mental-health programs to incorporate into their benefits plans, said […]
A typical patient’s journey takes plan members from the doctor to the pharmacy for medication and then leaves them on their own. But employees’ lives aren’t static, with factors like age, mental and physical health, stress and activity level having the potential to impact how effectively those medications work, said Frederic Simard, co-founder and chief […]
Alberta’s government is proposing an amendment to provincial labour legislation that would extend bereavement leave to parents who’ve experienced a miscarriage or stillbirth. The proposed amendments would expand access to any employee who would’ve been a parent, including biological parents, adoptive parents and surrogates, according to a press release. While employees won’t be required to […]
Does your organization’s benefits plan or financial wellness program deserve recognition? Are you leading the way when it comes to supporting your employees’ mental health? Is your company implementing award-worthy diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives? Benefits Canada’s annual Workplace Benefits Awards is officially open for nominations. Submit your entries here. As in previous years, the 2022 awards will […]
The union representing workers at three Ontario casinos has ratified a series of collective agreements that will provide improved pensions and health benefits for employees. Members of Unifor Local 444 at the Caesars Windsor ratified a three-year collective agreement that includes a one per cent enhancement to its defined contribution pension plan, as well as […]
Ontario’s New Democratic Party’s election platform includes universal dental care, mental-health care and pharmacare. Following the agreement reached between the federal Liberals and NDP in late March, the provincial NDP will lead the way on the program, working with the federal government to “strengthen and accelerate the expansion of dental care,” according to the platform that […]
Almost half (48 per cent) of Canadian employees are experiencing at least one work-related mental-health risk factor, according to a new report by Manulife Corp. The report also highlighted that 16 per cent of working hours (or 41.2 days) were lost in 2021 due to absences and presenteeism. In addition, mental fatigue was the No. […]