Doorey says the main reason he started Doorey's Workplace Law Blog was to better connect with his students. 鈥淚 wanted to make my courses in workplace law and industrial relations interesting and 鈥榬eal鈥� for the students. By linking course theory and readings to real cases and current news events, I can build student interest in the course in ways a textbook never can.鈥�

Right: David Doorey

But then he thought he could do that even better through an app. 鈥淭he iTunes app is the next step,鈥� he says. 鈥淢ost students today have smartphones, and this app means I can now communicate with students daily, wherever they are. They are learning in fun new ways that fit with their lifestyles.鈥�

His central audience has always been students studying in his subject areas at 91亚色 and at other institutions. His blog looks at all aspects of employment law and highlights some of the more interesting and current cases, such as Fraser vs. Ontario: Constitutional Right to Collective Bargaining Survives, a discussion on whether Target Canada will buy unionized Zellers, and how the City of Toronto Committee voted to fire 300 unionized garbage collectors. Doorey's Workplace Law Blog won a CLawBies 鈥� Canadian Law Blog Award 鈥� in 2008 and again in 2009, and was a CLawBies finalist in 2010.

鈥淚'm trying to stimulate their critical thinking in the field and make them want to learn more,鈥� says Doorey. 鈥淭he blog has attracted a much wider audience than just students, including legal and human resources practitioners and other academics, and I anticipate that the app will allow me to connect to more of these busy professionals.鈥�

The blog, and now the app, will help interested students and professionals keep up with what's going on in new case law and in the academic world 鈥渁s they commute to
work or wait in line to order coffee.鈥� Doorey sees the app as a way to provide a service to the professional community in his field by summarizing relevant news. 鈥淚t connects me to a whole new audience that is interested in the subject matter of my blog, but whose lives are too hectic to read it,鈥� he says. 鈥淲ith the app, they just tap an icon, and they can quickly see what's going in the field.鈥�

Doorey points out, however, that writing blogs and creating apps is not for everyone. 鈥淭hey are a lot of work to keep up, and you need to be really committed to it over the long haul for it to work. My motivation is my students, who turn over every few months. The new students give me the energy to keep going, since they respond very favourably, and since the blog and app are always introducing new stories and issues to the classroom, it never gets boring for me or the students.鈥�

He is grateful聽for the help he received from Oksana Silkina and Alex Neumann in 91亚色's e-Services office in getting his app created and submitted to Apple for its approval to be published.

For more information, visit Doorey鈥檚 Workplace Law Blog or . It is compatible with聽the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch.

Republished courtesy of YFile鈥� 91亚色鈥檚 daily e-bulletin.

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According to professor of organizational behaviour in the School of Administrative Studies and the School of Human Resource Management at 91亚色 [Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies], telework, or telecommuting, is increasing dramatically in many countries as organizations seek to reduce costs and individuals look to be more flexible in their working arrangements.

However, while there are many benefits ranging from greater flexibility for employees and improved performance for employers, Richardson also pointed out several concerns associated with telework, including isolation, blurring of boundaries between home and work, and loss of control over employees.

While telework isn't a new phenomenon, thanks to the rapid rise of computer networking, it's one trend that's being watched closely, said , professor in the School of Human Resource Management at 91亚色. "And the trend is here to stay," she said, adding there's a drive to get more out of workers by not having them commute to work.

"If you look at the best places to work on the Fortune 100 list, most of them offer some kind of flexibility," Ezzedeen said. "It's a reflection of the changing nature of our social values and norms. It challenges our notion of what does it take to produce good work? Is this the end of the job as we know it?"

Best Buy may be lauded for its revolutionary "results-only work environment", which measures performance on output instead of hours spent at the office, but managing a virtual team comes with numerous implications and challenges, including dealing with conflict, managing performance and issues of measurement, Ezzedeen said.

Posted by Elizabeth Monier-Williams, research communications officer, with files courtesy of YFile鈥� 91亚色鈥檚 daily e-bulletin

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"I'm optimistic about the explosion that's happened in Wisconsin," says Leo Panitch, a political science professor at 91亚色 [Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies]. "For the first time in a long time, the Canadian left is looking south, rather than the other way."

But he's loath to make too many claims for a new dawn rising: "The craziness and mindlessness of so much of what is going on in the American right may 鈥� and I'm very cautious about this 鈥� it may lead to the same kind of sensibilities that produced a radical new left in the sixties."

Says Panitch, "It's much more complicated now. It's not easy to organize these days when you don't have masses of workers brought together in a big factory and they aren't living in the same part of the city. A lot of people now who are exploited and poorly paid are working in funky areas like producing software or advertising."

Two years ago, he wrote a piece for Foreign Policy magazine titled 鈥淭horoughly Modern Marx鈥� about how the post-crash world might possibly (though by no means inevitably) see a rebirth in radical thinking. That, of course, has not happened 鈥� in fact, the political left has suffered setbacks and since 2008, centre-right parties have gained power in Europe.

Panitch is the Canada Research Chair in Comparative Political Economy and a Distinguished Research Professor of Political Science.

Posted by Elizabeth Monier-Williams, research communications officer, with files courtesy of YFile鈥� 91亚色鈥檚 daily e-bulletin

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This issue of includes articles that examine the changing nature of work, as well as strategies designed to improve working conditions in the contemporary context of employment insecurity. Contributors provide insight into new developments in labour law, advocacy programs for women workers in male-dominated workplaces and the potential to counter precarious employment through worker cooperatives.

Among the contributors are University of Victoria law Professor聽Judy Fudge; Athabasca University labour studies Professor聽Bob Barnetson; Laval University labour relations Professor Anthony Gould; Julia Woodhall, a聽sociology PhD student at the University of Waterloo,聽and Belinda Leach, a professor of聽sociology and anthropology at the University of Guelph; and Amanda Wilson, a聽PhD student in聽sociology at Carleton University.

CRWS was established in 1990 to address issues facing workers arising from the volatile transformation of the Canadian workplace. Just Labour, which was launched in 2002, reflects this tradition as the journal鈥檚 readers and contributors bridge both the academic and union research communities.

Just Labour鈥檚 contributors explore the complex ways new technologies, subcontracting, new management strategies and self-employment are undermining traditional employee-employer relationships. Its mandate includes investigating how union action is challenged by the international integration of capital, the proliferation of precarious employment and the increasingly anti-union practices of employers and the state.

The editorial committee, led by , editor-in-chief and CRWS director, looks for articles that address the culture and activities of Canadian workers and their unions as they face new challenges, and that bring the work of leading academics and trade union researchers to a broad readership in popular, accessible language.

Read the latest issue or聽see submission guidelines at聽, or get more information on CRWS at the Centre for Research on Work &聽Society website.

Republished courtesy of YFile 鈥� 91亚色鈥檚 daily e-bulletin.

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, a professor in 91亚色鈥檚 School of Human Resource Management, is the lead researcher for a -funded study which involved interviewing 45 qualified immigrants in Canada, Spain and France. The study looked at the barriers to career development for qualified immigrants in each country, how they coped with them and whether they were able to overcome them.

鈥淭hese are people who consciously made this decision to move to a new country and had the education and resources to do so,鈥� says Zikic. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a highly skilled group.鈥�

Left: Jelena Zikic

The study is one of three in Zikic鈥檚 research project 鈥淚nvestigating Labour Market Experiences of Immigrant Professionals (IPs) in Canada, the Role of Personal and Organizational Barriers to Career Success in the Host Country鈥�. An article based on the study, 鈥淐rossing National Boundaries: A Typology of Qualified Immigrants鈥� Career Orientations鈥�, co-authored by Zikic, Jaime Bonache of the ESADE Business School in Spain and Jean-Luc Cerdin of the ESSEC Business School in France, has been published in the July issue of the .

In terms of experience in dealing with immigrants, Canada is considered the "country of immigrants", Spain is just beginning to get an influx of immigrants,聽and France falls somewhere in between, says Zikic. Despite the differences, what researchers found was that immigrants in each country faced similar significant barriers to the labour market, such as a lack of recognition for their foreign career training and experience, learning how to navigate the labour expectations of a new country, and difficulty creating new social networks and tapping into local resources to assist in finding a job.

鈥淚t is a very challenging journey that these people take. Getting work doesn鈥檛 happen overnight,鈥� says Zikic. 鈥淎 lot of these immigrants had great careers in their own country. They had to give up quite a bit. Many of them had a lot of status, friends, a network, and it all disappeared when they entered the host country.鈥�

The study sought to understand the underlying causes of underemployment for qualified immigrants from professional backgrounds and how they managed physical and psychological mobility.

What they found was the subjective experiences of qualified immigrants were interdependent with the social, economic and cultural realities, such as the structure of local labour markets and the need to retrain. Older immigrants were often more resistant to retraining and re-education, believing they were too old. As a result, they were more disappointed with the experience and had less success in finding work in their field.

Those who embraced the new challenges, about 24 per cent of those interviewed, were extremely positive about career success in the new country, while the majority聽鈥� 49 per cent聽鈥� adapted to their new circumstances and were successful at either adapting their careers or crafting new ones, although many were in survival jobs. The adaptive group understood the reality of having to retrain or get more education and was prepared to deal with the circumstances. 鈥淭hey had this sort of future orientation; they knew good things would come eventually,鈥� says Zikic. The remaining 27 per cent found the obstacles impossible to overcome as they often had psychological barriers as well, such as age or other constraining circumstances.

Immigrants used six strategies in finding work聽鈥� maintaining motivation, managing identity, developing new credentials, developing local know-how, building a new social network and understanding career success 鈥撀燽ut again, how successful they were was dependent on whether they embraced, adapted or resisted the challenges.

鈥淚t鈥檚 incredible how much talent is searching for the right job and a lot of immigrants just give up,鈥� says Zikic. 鈥淲e often call this the brain waste; they鈥檙e underemployed.鈥�

It is important when devising programs for immigrants to keep in mind the interplay between subjective experiences and the objective realities, she says. Most studies look at one or the other, but little has been done on how each affects the other, and more research is needed.

Zikic also notes that in Canada there is a need for more programs that offer occupation-specific mentoring to immigrants, such as聽The Mentoring Partnership聽available through the .

By Sandra McLean, YFile writer

Republished courtesy of YFile鈥� 91亚色鈥檚 daily e-bulletin.

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Carla 尝颈辫蝉颈驳-惭耻尘尘茅, professor of work and labour studies in聽91亚色's Faculty of Liberal Arts聽& Professional Studies and research fellow in 91亚色鈥檚 , has received $1 million over six years from the (SSHRC).

搁颈驳丑迟:听颁补谤濒补 尝颈辫蝉颈驳-惭耻尘尘茅

The award will fund an international project to study the challenge climate change presents to Canadian employment and workplaces. 尝颈辫蝉颈驳-惭耻尘尘茅 will examine seven Canadian employment sectors to seek policy, training, employment and workplace solutions to effectively assist Canada鈥檚 transition to a low-emission economy. By combining research, workplace education, policy recommendations and pilot projects in transnational work adaptation, her project will allow Canada to re-enter the international debate about how best to engage the work world in the struggle to slow global warming.

鈥淲e need to know more about the chain of processes that comprise work, employment and training in key Canadian industries and professions 鈥� and how their decision-makers understand and respond to the challenge that global warming poses to these processes,鈥� says 尝颈辫蝉颈驳-惭耻尘尘茅. 鈥淥ur second goal is to engage community partners active in the work world and the environmental community in research that identifies critical spaces for adaptation, drawing on their hands-on experience and linking it to the expertise of the academics.鈥�

(CURA)聽awards, among the largest awarded by SSHRC, bring postsecondary institutions and community organizations together as equal research partners to jointly develop new knowledge and capabilities, provide research training opportunities, and enhance the ability of social sciences and humanities research to build knowledge in areas that affect Canadians and their changing communities.

鈥淭his award is the latest in a series of funding successes that reflect 91亚色鈥檚 leadership in national and international collaborative research projects,鈥� said Stan Shapson, vice-president Research & Innovation. 鈥淐limate change is one of the biggest challenges of the 21st century and climate research and innovation are priorities for 91亚色. Our researchers are working with industry, government at all levels, academia, and the community to find ways to address the complex issues it raises.鈥�

尝颈辫蝉颈驳-惭耻尘尘茅鈥檚 research team includes nationally- and internationally-based climate scientists, senior labour market actors and academics from a wide range of disciplines. A total of 23 researchers, 20 partners, and 10 universities in three countries will participate, including 91亚色 Professors David Doorey, , , Jan Kainer, John-Justin McMurtry, and Steven Tufts.

Gary Goodyear, Minister of State (Science聽& Technology), announced the funding yesterday in Kitchener, Ont. Lipsig-Mumm茅鈥檚 project is one of 20 large-scale research projects funded through SSHRC鈥檚 CURA program.

鈥淭hese grants highlight the excellence of our country鈥檚 talented researchers and recognize the importance of fostering collaboration to keep Canada at the leading-edge of research, development and innovation in the 21st century,鈥� said Chad Gaffield, president of SSHRC.

For a complete list of CURA awards, visit Web site.

Project Partners:

• Canadian Steel Trade and Employment Congress
• Canadian Union of Postal Workers
• Centre for Labour Studies
• Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union
• Environmental Defence
• Forest Products Sector Council
• Learning for a Sustainable Future
• National Round Table on the Environment and the Economy
• National Union of Professional and General Employees
• Ontario Centre for Engineering and Public Policy/Professional Engineers
• Prism Economics and Analysis
• The Clean Air Partnership
• The Royal Architectural Institute of Canada
• Toronto Training Board
• United Food and Commercial Workers Canada Local 1000A
• United Steelworkers of Canada
• UNITE-HERE Canada
• Wood Manufacturing Council
• British Columbia Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives

University Partners:

• Auckland University of Technology
• Institute of Land and Food Resources, University of Melbourne
• Institute for Research and Innovation in Sustainability, 91亚色
• Queen's University
• Ryerson University
• Simon Fraser University
• St. Thomas University
• University of British Columbia-Okenagan
• University of Manitoba
• University of Toronto

By Elizabeth Monier-Williams, research communications officer

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