Amazon made a big splash this week with its $15 an hour minimum wage announcement, but lost in the fine print: Existing warehouse workers will no longer receive stock in the company or collect bonuses. The online giant says next month it will end bonuses, which paid workers extra based on their attendance and warehouse […]
A report from Nova Scotia’s auditor general is once again highlighting the “troubling” state of the Nova Scotia teachers’ pension plan, which is 78.4 per cent funded and has a $1.4 billion deficit. The province is responsible for half of that figure. Auditor general Michael Pickup warned there is no formal plan on how to deal with […]
A court-appointed monitor for the Sears Canada bankruptcy process says it opposes a proposal that would effectively allocate all the failed retailer’s remaining assets to the company’s underfunded pensions. FTI Consulting argued in a Sept. 7 filing to Ontario Superior Court that the pension proposal should be dismissed due to legislation and case law. A petition […]
Postmedia Network Inc. has told Ottawa Citizen and Ottawa Sun staff that it will lock out union employees starting Monday if they reject or refuse to vote on its final contract offer Sunday. Chris Krygiel, vice president of human resources and labour relations at Postmedia, said in a letter Thursday to staff that a lockout […]
Air Canada is seeking finance ministry approval to form its own life insurance company as a gateway to the annuities market and a hedge against looming pension payouts. A spokesperson says the airline aims to shore up pension risks by buying annuities from Canadian insurers and reinsuring the fixed payments through an insurance subsidiary. The Montreal-based carrier […]
Federal officials overseeing billions in benefit payments to millions of Canadians are hoping artificial intelligence can resolve ongoing snags in the system. The government is looking to “push the boundaries” of what artificial intelligence can do to improve a variety of services, including the pace of benefit decisions to Canadians applying for disability pensions, say […]
A federal spending watchdog says it could cost federal coffers more than $76 billion a year to provide a national, guaranteed minimum income similar to the one being tested in Ontario. The parliamentary budget officer says the federal government would have to find about $43.1 billion to cover the full cost of the program because […]
The energy and health care sectors gained ground as Canada’s main stock index edged higher in late-morning trading. The S&P/TSX composite index was up 13.08 points to 16,172.75, after 90 minutes of trading. In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 102.39 points to 24,829.04. The S&P 500 index was down 8.58 points […]
Saskatchewan’s auditor says she is concerned about the number of sick days being taken, particularly by workers in the province’s health-care and gaming sectors. Provincial auditor Judy Ferguson highlighted employee absenteeism at the Heartland Regional Health Authority and Saskatchewan Gaming Corp. in her annual report released Tuesday. She said she zeroed in on both because […]
A spokesman for a Saskatchewan agency that provides insurance and compensation for workers and employers says businesses should have policies in place before Canada legalizes marijuana. Ed Secondiak with ECS Safety Services spoke Tuesday at a meeting of the Saskatchewan Workers’ Compensation Board. He says businesses should develop ways to test workers for marijuana; penalties […]