Quebec’s L’actualité’s Magazine People of 2020 : Employees of residential and long term care centres (CHSLD)

The Quebec magazine L’’actualité chose their persons of the year in its January/February edition. Employees of CHSLD’s were amongst those selected and all of us can draw both knowledge and inspiration from the role they played in Quebec’s health care system during COVID-19.

One of the personal support workers covered was Patricia Hotte who has worked in a CHSLD for 35 years. For years she said personal support workers were ignored but this year we have been transformed from zeroes to heroes.

Since the month of March 2020 COVID-19 has claimed more than 80% of Quebec COVID victims.

One liberal deputy of the Quebec National Assembly spent two weeks at a CHSLD in Montreal and he said about women working in CHSLD’s, “These women are superhuman. They are full of common sense and compassion in performing their work.”

In Quebec these personal care workers have paid a price as in the 13 professionals that have died since March 8 have been “guardian angels” as the personal support workers have been referred to in Quebec.

Guardian angels are almost all from minority groups and suffer from sexual harassment,, insults and racism and consequently a very high turnover rate with 65% of such workers leaving their work after 5 years.

The Quebec government has gone on a hiring spree for guardian angels setting a goal of having 10,000 in Quebec, 6,700 have already been hired and will be placed in advanced training,

In June the Quebec government proposed an hourly salary increase for guardian angels from $22.35 to $26.89 but union negotiations failed. One union official Alain Croteau noted, “We call them our guardian angels but despite that they are badly exploited. This racialized group suffers from high unemployment rates and thy have inherited jobs no one else wants.”

Bravo for Quebec for its efforts in trying to increase staffing of long- term care workers and trying to increase their salaries.

(The author translated the quotes from French)

The Quebec magazine L’’actualité chose their persons of the year in its January/February edition. Employees of CHSLD’s were amongst those selected and all of us can draw both knowledge and inspiration from the role they played in Quebec’s health care system during COVID-19.

One of the personal support workers covered was Patricia Hotte who has worked in a CHSLD for 35 years. For years she said personal support workers were ignored but this year we have been transformed from zeroes to heroes.

Since the month of March 2020 COVID-19 has claimed more than 80% of Quebec COVID victims.

One liberal deputy of the Quebec National Assembly spent two weeks at a CHSLD in Montreal and he said about women working in CHSLD’s, “These women are superhuman. They are full of common sense and compassion in performing their work.”

In Quebec these personal care workers have paid a price as in the 13 professionals that have died since March 8 have been “guardian angels” as the personal support workers have been referred to in Quebec.

Guardian angels are almost all from minority groups and suffer from sexual harassment,, insults and racism and consequently a very high turnover rate with 65% of such workers leaving their work after 5 years.

The Quebec government has gone on a hiring spree for guardian angels setting a goal of having 10,000 in Quebec, 6,700 have already been hired and will be placed in advanced training,

In June the Quebec government proposed an hourly salary increase for guardian angels from $22.35 to $26.89 but union negotiations failed. One union official Alain Croteau noted, “We call them our guardian angels but despite that they are badly exploited. This racialized group suffers from high unemployment rates and thy have inherited jobs no one else wants.”

Bravo for Quebec for its efforts in trying to increase staffing of long- term care workers and trying to increase their salaries.

(The author translated the quotes from French)

Canada Cuts Loopholes: No More “subsidized COVID Vacations”

Government of Canada to ensure that international travellers cannot access recovery benefits during mandatory quarantine

From: Employment and Social Development Canada

News release

January 11, 2021              Gatineau, Quebec              Employment and Social Development Canada
Since the beginning of the pandemic, the Government of Canada has strongly urged Canadians to stay home to stop the spread of COVID-19. As Canadians continue to make difficult but important sacrifices for their health and their communities, the Government of Canada has been there to support them every step of the way, including through the creation of three new benefits for workers who do not qualify for EI: the Canada Recovery Benefit (CRB), the Canada Recovery Caregiving Benefit (CRCB) and the Canada Recovery Sickness Benefit (CRSB).

The Canada Recovery Sickness Benefit, along with the other recovery benefits, was never intended to incentivize or encourage Canadians to disregard public health advice. Rather, these benefits were put in place to ensure Canadian workers could continue to make ends meet during the pandemic, and that no Canadian would have to make the choice between putting food on the table or going to work sick. 

To ensure these important benefits provide the targeted support Canadians expect, the Government of Canada is taking immediate action to ensure all three benefits – the CRB, CRCB, and CRSB – do not incent people to disregard the clear public health advice against travelling abroad. The Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Disability Inclusion, Carla Qualtrough, will be proposing legislation so that, retroactive to January 3, 2021, all international travellers who need to quarantine upon return to Canada, including people returning from vacation, visiting loved ones, and attending to real estate matters abroad, will not be eligible to receive support from any of the Canada Recovery Benefits for the period of their mandatory quarantine. Individuals who are exempt from the mandatory quarantine requirements under the Quarantine Act, such as health care workers who need to cross the border for work,will be eligible to apply following their return to the country.

The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) will update the application process for the three recovery benefits on Monday, January 11. For claims covering a period beginning on or after January 3, 2021, applicants will need to indicate whether they were self-isolating or in quarantine due to international travel. Over the coming weeks, the CRA will delay processing claims for individuals who are self-isolating or in quarantine because of international travel until the legislative process is complete to ensure those who receive the benefit meet the latest eligibility criteria.

The Government of Canada continues to strongly urge all Canadians to avoid non-essential travel and to follow all public health and international travel guidelines. Canadians across the country are doing their part to protect their loved ones, communities, health care workers and all of those on the front lines of this pandemic. This important change will ensure the COVID programs we have in place support those efforts, and are there for Canadians who need them most. 

Quotes

“The Canada Recovery Sickness Benefit was created to provide workers with a paid sick leave option. We did this so that workers did not have to choose between going to work while impacted by COVID-19 and putting food on the table. The benefit was not intended to encourage Canadians to disobey public health and international travel guidelines. We have heard Canadians and are tightening the eligibility criteria for our COVID recovery benefits. We will ensure that these measures have no unintended consequences and will target individuals who travel for discretionary and non-essential purposes. This is not the time to travel abroad, and if you make the choice to do so, you will not be eligible for these benefits during your mandatory quarantine period.”

– 
Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Disability Inclusion, Carla Qualtrough

Life at Up Up and Away Investment Management International: Afterwards by Abnaki Proudfoot and Cornelius Korrupt

Afterwards (Abnaki Proudfoot)

I am a Dean of a small school of management located in Nunavut which is in the upper northern region of Canada. Most of our students are indigenous. Given that indigenous people comprise less than 1% of the composition of Canadian boards of directors and are equally unimportant in Senior Management Teams of Canadian largecorps we receive no funding from corporate Canada and only a tiny amount of governmental funding. I think this passes on a message that indigenous people are simply not wanted by Canadian Largecorps. The LBGT community are also just as “well represented”. Women weigh in at about 23 % of Board representation. Let’s be frank and say largecorps in Canada are racist, sexist and homophobic and their global inclusion and diversity efforts are window dressing to make them appear more humane.

I note that Mr. Hornet makes a very strong point on this but such strong language is rarely used against largecorp except for people that like to call it what it is. You see that largecorps aren’t afraid to use public relations firms to put a spin on their unhealthy practices and attitudes. I agree with Mr. Hornet that largecorps are greedy, opportunistic legal entities with their Senior Management Teams looting the profits of largecorp. I find it discouraging that the media has hopped aboard the anti-increase in minimum wages train yet remaining silent on the outrageous compensation raked in by largecorp’s SMT.

I also note Mr. Hornet’s flippant comments on the “in the pockets of largecorp” schools of business. It would seem any chump with a pocketful of change can have a management school named after him or her. Largecorp can then continue spewing forth so called “neutral management teachings”. Are we to honour those great men (and they always do seem to be men) who have lined their pockets off the backs of their employees and shareholders?

Again, key to Mr. Hornet’s attack is the downsizing and outsourcing by largecorp. This brutal practice is treated by largecorp as a cost saving and necessary measure, but it could be Mr. Hornet has hit the nail on the head that poor SMT management may be the key contributor to conditions deteriorating so badly that downsizing and outsourcing is a necessary condition for the survival of largecorp.

The most thought-provoking part of the book is whether largecorp can survive laced with a generous amount of sarcasm. While Hornet attacks largecorp with fury there is a good deal of humour and sarcasm which makes “Life at Up Up and Away Investment Management International” a good read. And it is not laced with footnotes and makes no pretence of being academic which makes it so refreshing and authentic.

There is the pain of Mr. Hornet with his suffering caused by workplace stress, anxiety and depression. He brings into play the personal effects of largecorp’s commodification of its workplace. It amazes me out of the ashes he found the courage and conviction to expose the nasty underbelly of largecorp.

I can only hope Mr. Hornet would focus on what he perceives as what could change largecorp. He has given hints along the way yet I sense the therapeutic thrust of this novel and what a better future could replace largecorp perhaps is best dealt with in another book. Either a social revolution or some type of wealth redistribution is required which will require legislation. The SMT manages so poorly it would fail to see its impending destruction caused by its own greed. It may kill both itself and largecorp in the midst of stuffing its loot bag. Halloween capitalism.

I would like to say I have suggested to Mr. Hornet his next book be entitled, “The Senior Management Team; The Pirates of Capitalism”. Monopolistic practices and greed of the SMT, or the 1% if you prefer, are the biggest and most powerful elements threatening capitalism and for that matter liberal democracy. I sense we are headed for a social revolution and I certainly hope it will not be fascism.

As a last note Mr. Hornet’s wish to attain fame by writing this novel so that he could make a fortune on speaking tours has been commenced. A First Nation diamond mining cooperative has given us a grant to bring up Mr. Hornet for a half term to teach students about largecorp. We might be a small school of Management but in truth we believe. Non Nobus Solum which in Latin means not for ourselves alone.

I am not worried about Tony. I have spoken with him in detail about his crucifixion by the pimps and hookers in the traditional schools of management. He is looking forward to this as giving him an opportunity to expound his views of largecorp. The more he is attacked the more he becomes part of and perhaps a change agent for a revolution.

So, a closing argument why is it that our school of management is the only one that has a course entitled” Marxism and Modern Management Principles”? I suppose when it is clear your student body has been rejected by largecorp Canada you might want to retool to query why?

(Abnaki Proudfoot, Dean of Frobisher School of Management, Nunavut, Canada July1, 2020)

Afterwards (Cornelius Korrupt)

As Dean of the Sheldon Steen Toronto University School of Business I am shocked at Mr. Hornet’s virulent attack on what he has labelled “largecorp”.

He has taken his personal and unfortunate circumstances as a basis to attack largecorp. And it is too personal to be reflective of reality at largecorp. He presents a picture of misery at largecorp and portrays its Senior Management Team as greedy and evil.

I can attest that many of our graduates are on SMTs of largecorp and often discuss with me how so many of their employees are flourishing in largecorp. Employee surveys make this an irrefutable fact. Hornet cynically demeans Wellness Programmes and mindfulness as desperate attempts by largecorp to oppress its employees. Is he so blinded that he fails to see the compassion and care largecorps have for their employees?

There is no obligation on largecorp to provide any benefits to its employees but despite this absence of compulsion largecorps offer extensive benefits to their employee base. Even Mr. Hornet recognizes this fact.

I will agree that the SMT is compensated well but look at the responsibility they have and the unique talents they have. We pride our MBA graduates on their expertise. Just look at the recent record profits made by many largecorps recently. To suggest this is a result of downsizing and outsourcing as Mr. Hornet does is absurd. Where are his footnotes and research?

This is a vindictive and terribly skewed effort by Mr. Hornet and very unacademic. Yes, we receive large donations here at this faculty from largecorps including a $6 million donation by Up Up and Away Investment Management International but we are academics and what we write is academic and not influenced in any way by our largecorp funding sources.

To suggest that the largecorp office worker is akin to coal mining children in Industrial Revolution England is preposterous. Let me conclude by saying working for largecorp is like Christmas every day for its employees.

(Cornelius Korrupt, Dean of Sheldon Steen Toronto University School of Business, Toronto, Ontario, July 4, 2020)

Life at Up Up and Away Investment International: Chapter 41 Largecorp and COVID-19

Chapter 41

Largecorp and COVID-19

Largecorps keep chugging on despite the pandemic. Many of them are gleeful with the wiping out of less capitalized competitors. McDonalds will weather the storm with its deep pockets. It is the smallcorps in many cases that will have to fold. But it rather depends on the sector largecorp is in. Airlines and hotels and the hospitality sector will be hammered. So certain largecorps may fall without taxpayer (government) support. It is hit and miss but generally speaking the more capitalized largecorp is the better it will ride the waves. Smallcorps don’t have the luxury of capital. Take restaurants for example many of them will fall but McDonalds, Popeyes or Tim Hortons will motor on.

One change will be the trend to Work From Home (WFH) which as a expense reduction method actually started years before COVID. Real estate is a big cost factor for largecorps so the more the employee can be moved to a home workplace down goes the real estate cost and that is in largecorp’s playbook. Employees can and always have been monitored at work and at home so this is no big adjustment for largecorp in employee spying….oops monitoring..

The downside in the long term is the fragmentation of the work unit. Virtual relationships may be technically efficient but they are leading to isolation of the WFH crowd, the lack of coherence within business units and the difficulty of establishing personal relationships which will ultimately affect the bottom line. Of course, it sets a nice path for artificial intelligence as when employees are out of sight they can be out of mind and more easily supplanted by AI.

Employees are more isolated and can be bullied unseen by their colleagues by the Senior Management Team and the Human Resources Department. The SMY will remain well cemented without the critical eyes of employees. What do they say, “When the cat’s away the mice will play”?

Will the office tower ever be resurrected? My thought is that the office tower will survive although diminished in size. If a visit to the office tower is required the concept of shared offices and common meeting rooms will gain in popularity. Again this is already the practice for many largecorps.

Largecorp will survive with all its quirks and ills but unfortunately for many employees of particular largecorps COVID may spell their job loss demise. However, let us not get so totally wrapped up in the dire circumstances of COVID and resort to a well known expression “all things will come to pass.

Expect a push by largecorps to promote a vaccination passport so establish proof an employee has had a COVID vaccination. This will reduce the liability for largecorps against employee claims the employer failed to adhere to its COVID protocols.

As a last word again I encourage largecorp employees to maximize their employer offered life insurance.

Good-bye. This has been a great adventure with you. Safe travels.

COVID Poetry Corner: “Las Vegas meets the state lottery and the accountants”

Las Vegas meets the state lottery and the accountants

COVID-19 is a very nasty game
Assuming you recover for months you may be lame
But whatever country you are from an obsession with numbers seems to be the same
Every day it is the same category of numbers that remain
positivity rate
serves you right for not social distancing and kissing your date
so up goes the case count
not wearing the mask causes it to mount
deaths
spewing from droplets in your breaths
amount of people taking the jab
avoids bodies going on the slab
this obsession with numbers never ceases
and the number of people facing eviction because the can’t pay what’s owing on their leases
public health officials leading the political team
spew out numbers like an accountants dream
seemingly forgetting these numbers are actual people many with suffering untold all hail these numbers appear frequently on a graph
spelling out a sickening math
a very unpleasant mass epitaph
might as well be spinning the roulette wheel in Las Vegas or Reno
or playing the state lottery Keno
you and I are playing the odds
fodder for the media clods
hoping you and I aren’t statistics on the chart
for the nightly news
because the next step is family and friends saying good-bye in the pews

Robert K. Stephen

l

might as well be


Poetry Corner: “the great roman farce and associates limited”

the great roman farce and associates limited

Deceived innocents
kiss his robes
grovel about this king of conservative uncertainty
fools in believing something can be gained
by bowing to the Holy Doctrine of the oppressed
meekness, humility and servility
inventions praised by the powerful with a laugh
and the Chairman of the Vatican Bank
urges the masses backward
like trainers whipping animals in the circus ring
to run endlessly
rewarded by brief respites in drool
laughed at the owners who consider spectators profitable fools
with losers being roused by hits of temporal doctrine
soothing words
inspiring music
that promise shining hope
when earthly existence ends
where it is useless

Robert K. Stephen

Poetry Corner: “Piggies”

Piggies

Look at all the little piggies
guzzling out of the trough
left piggies
centre piggies
right piggies
but all the same
meme chose
echoes of belches
similar but of varying intensity
what the hell
they all wallow in the same slop
a feces paradise
at election time many enter the slaughterhouse
the remainder devise menus for the apathetic
innocent

Robert K. Stephen

Poetry Corner: “Calling Reality Too much television syndrome”

Calling reality Too much television syndrome

Where is she
the one who will capture my soul
now
struggling
thrashing
trembling
battling the treacherous currents
of turbid conformity

will the magic of this single woman
give freedom and understanding
from the senseless blindfolded hordes
overly anxious to meet me with crucifixion
the nails of hate, jealously and competition
will she be the healer
whet the bitterness
out of her womb
for my rebirth
simply purified by her existence
OR shattered by her conspirator role
will I plummet into despair
where no hand
will ever reach
mine

Robert K. Stephen

Poetry Corner: “Child of Thalidomide”

She was a forcefully deformed little girl
thanks to Health Canada approval of the drug
the father could not bear the torture anymore so
he walked out the door
leaving the sobbing mother on the floor

She grew strong and tall with a beautiful face
and a razor sharp intellect
except for that slight misfortune
All she wanted was to be loved by a man
love was sought to be found
the fantasies of an ideal man
caused social workers to exclaim “damn”
but how could they understand when most her age had found a mate
leaving her an agonized fate
the year increased
her face creased
and she doggedly searched
there was no one
goggling eyes fear and guilt in the crowds and bars
no love there

a police operation recovered her broken body
from under the bridge

All she wanted as some love
forget the sympathy
and the endless good humoured and well intentioned pity

“poor thing” said the police officer in charge
“Why did she have to do a thing like this?”

Robert K. Stephen