But it is hard. I found so many links and articles. I wanted to share them all. So for this second last post on the subject, (I think), I am just going to share the links.

I’d like to write more about them, but then I’d be turning this site into a work related one for the next month! I have my bookmark list filled with other things I want to share.

Here goes:

Employers give cold shoulder to Australian Government’s Anti-Union Investigation:

After sitting for nine months in Brisbane, Perth, Hobart and Melbourne, the Australian government’s Royal Commission into alleged union violence and corruption in the construction industry began hearings in Sydney at the beginning of this month.

and this:

Far from being haunted by the spectre of union militancy, construction companies have in recent years developed an extremely close working relationship with the construction unions, in particular the CFMEU.

and this:

A number of submissions to the Royal Commission inquiry, including one from a former union official, have alleged that construction unions receive illegal payments from employers, including payments to secure site work agreements favorable to the management, and that many union funds have irregular financial arrangements.

Businesses raise $1.1 Million to Fight Anti-Union Measure

Business leaders pledged this month to raise $3 million as part of a deal with organized labor that led to the removal of four union-backed measures from the Nov. 4 ballot.

The Revolving Anti-Union Door

Today  AFL-CIO Now reports that former chair of the National Labor Relations Board, Robert Battista, who led the decision to take away the protections of the National Labor Relations Act from graduate employees in private universities, has joined one of the most notorious anti-union law firms in the country.

Defense Worker Union Fight to Overturn Bush Personnel Rules

Though they face “an uphill battle” in a top federal court, leaders of the unions representing 700,000 civilian defense Department workers will fight to overturn anti-worker GOP President George W. Bush’s DOD personnel rules–upheld by a court panel–that virtually wipe out union and worker rights.

I know that more people are interested in this right now because of the current global situation we find ourselves in at present. We want answers. We want solutions.

We want to blame someone. Some are blaming corporations, businesses and unions. But when did this crisis begin? What started the ball rolling.

Could it be NAFTA?

Numbers up, Workers Down After Ten Years of NAFTA

Dobbin says Canada has lost 300,000 industrial jobs to Mexico and low-wage, anti-union southern states in the U.S. But, he says, those jobs have been transitory in their new locations.

”Now, jobs are leaving the NAFTA region for China, where people work for 14 cents an hour. In the end, no one can compete with that.”

NAFTA at Seven: Still Hammering Workers, Jobs and Wages

The global economy is not improving working conditions anywhere. Workers in counties such as Mexico, China and Indonesia are being forced into wage-slavery to produce cheap goods for export markets in the US and Europe primarily. Under the current terms of free trade, rising wages and living standards in poor countries are in direct opposition to the interests of investors.

The U.S Trade Deficit Caused the Recession and the Financial Crisis

Free trade is just another economist theory that has been a failure in practice: the NAFTA, CAFTA and WTO agreements have destroyed mining, farming, and manufacturing and have transferred our wealth-producing capacity to foreign countries.

and this:

The job losses are now no longer just in manufacturing.  Managers, bankers, stock brokers, insurance agents, all types of jobs in retail and wholesale are gone.  Over 10 million workers are out of jobs, more are under employed, and it will get worse.

and this:

These trade agreements left our industries and farms helpless.  Foreign countries attacked them with predatory trade policies.

Predatory trade promotes exports and discourages imports.  They keep wages low, rebate value added taxes on their exports, and charge value added taxes on imports.  They provide domestic industries with local tax incentives and offer special financing and charge tariffs on imports.  They target specific industries to monopolize.

But most importantly – they keep the value of their currency low in comparison to the U.S. dollar.

No. No. No U.S. company manufacturing in the U.S. can compete and this is why we have lost jobs and complete industries to foreign competition and why we are in a recession.

Could it be the fact we are spending tax money and investing in bringing people into the country to work, when we could spend that money helping our own citizens move across the country and train for them? What if we offered people on EI cash incentives to relocate? Why spend tax dollars outside the country?

Manitoba Looks to Iceland for Temporary Foreign Workers

The province’s labour minister travelled to Iceland to assess the feasibility of recruiting construction workers as temporary foreign workers

and this

“What is important is the principle of bringing people in through the temporary foreign workers stream,” said Allen.

“If they chose to do so, they can go back to Iceland. But once they are here and working, they can also move to the PNP, (provincial nominee program) after six months. They can stay as landed immigrants, if they have a permanent job offer.”

Instead we end up paying for ridiculous studies like this one. Do we really need to pay for this?I bet more time will be invested in this study than when we were signing away our future with NAFTA

IT is not for me, say many Canadian women

Specifically, the funds will be used to finance four initiatives.

The first will identify best practices for keeping women engaged in the high-tech sector.

To accomplish this, five firms will be used as mini case studies. CATA, WIT will research which policies and practices in these firms promote women’s participation in the workforce.

This research will be monitored by Wendy Cukier, a professor at Ryerson University in Toronto.

Lessons learned about what works and what doesn’t will be communicated to other Canadian companies.

Some businesses – through specific programs – have increased the number of women in their workforce by 20 per cent in three years, Stanley noted.

A second facet of the project will be an analysis of the strategies and practices adopted by successful female entrepreneurs.

Researchers at the University of Ottawa will study 10 women-led businesses in fields such as bio-tech, exports, federal government procurement, and more.

The researchers will interview women who started these companies to identify factors that contributed to their success.

Video’s:

US Chamber of Commerce backing Anti-Union Senators

Employee Free Choice Act Introduced

Fighting the spread of EMS (Employment Mentality Syndrome)

Money is what makes the world go ‘round.

Now, I’m a big believer in love and interpersonal relationships. In fact, without these I know that I would not love life as much as I do. My wife, my kids, my family, my friends are the absolute best part of my life. So when I say that money makes the world go ‘round, I don’t for one second believe that it is the most important thing in life, however it is what makes our civilization and society work.

Every government in the modern world runs on money. Every government relies on its people to supply that money in the form of taxes. Without money, the government cannot deliver any services such as defense, education, welfare, Medicare, etc. In order for the people to supply the taxes, they must work. This is the economy. The more people work, the more money the government has. The government is always concerned with statistics like unemployment because this determines how much money the government receives.

Who provides the work for the people? In the Soviet Union, it was the government that provided the work, but governments are notoriously bureaucratic and inefficient. It is proving true that democratic and capitalist societies are the most efficient at providing jobs and thus giving these society’s governments more money to provide more services, making their people more secure and more comfortable.

So how does a democratic society provide jobs? I always laugh when I hear politicians speak about providing jobs. The only two ways governments can create jobs, is to create positions within that government and pay people directly from taxes. There is a limit as to how many jobs can be created that way and I truly believe that there are way too many unnecessary positions in our government and too much of our taxes wasted on these useless and bureaucratic jobs. The only other way to provide jobs (and the most efficient way) is to encourage businesses to grow. It is the businesses that provide the jobs, which then produce the tax revenue for the government. Governments need money to govern, so they need businesses to provide the jobs for people to earn and thus pay the government. This is the cycle of the economy. In fact, this cycle is continuously being worked on and “perfected” by our government.

What can the government do to help the cycle? Two major things come to mind: One, tax benefits for the people who create the businesses. Tax breaks are a big incentive and they really work. These are the tax “loopholes” for the rich that people are always complaining about. Without these tax loopholes to encourage the rich to provide jobs, the economy would fail.

The second thing a government can do to help the cycle is to encourage everyone to get a job. And, this is the purpose of this article. To make you realize that we have been convinced as a society and in our culture that having a safe, secure job should be our biggest financial goal in life. This is Employment Mentality Syndrome (EMS).

Governments cannot run without businesses and businesses cannot run unless they have employees. Employees are the lifeblood of every business. Employees are thus the lifeblood of our economy. In order for our governments to thrive, they need to make sure that there is a large supply of employees. How do governments supply employees? Education.

What are our children taught in school? What were we taught? What were our parents and grandparents taught? School is important, so that you can go out and get a safe, secure job. What question do we always ask children? “What are you going to be when you grow up?” And the answer that we expect to hear, and the answer we gave when we were kids was the name of a job: Teacher, Policeman, Firefighter, etc.

What do you want to be when you grow up? A job? Do you want to be a job when you grow up? We are taught, not just at school, but everywhere we turn that employment is the answer to all of our problems, it is the key to life. Without a job, you are nothing.

In Robert Kiyosaki’s book Rich Dad, Poor Dad, he asks the question: why is it that our public schools do not provide financial education to our kids. I believe the answer to that is simple: In order for our economy to work, we must encourage employment, not entrepreneurship.

In fact, this has been so ingrained into our thinking that people don’t even want to take chances anymore. I’m not talking about everyone; I believe that if you are reading this, you are probably the exception, rather than the rule. I’m talking about people in general. How many employees are there compared to employers? I’m sure it’s hundreds of thousands to one, and millions to one around the world.

Here’s the rub. How many adult, capable people in America would like to earn more money, have more money or have a financially freer lifestyle? 90%? 95%? We’re talking tens of millions. Yet how many will actually do something about it? 5%? 10%? Why such a small percentage? The answer is that our society and culture does not encourage anyone to be anything more than just an employee.

I’m sure there are a lot of you out there who have friends and family that looked at you like you were crazy to try network marketing. Why? It’s because they have employment mentality syndrome (EMS). Employment Mentality has been ingrained into their lives by everything they have ever been taught in school, by their parents, friends, family, TV shows, movies, commercials, newspapers, talk shows, conversations they have been a part of or overheard, etc. Our culture is overrun with EMS, and our government at every step encourages it. It is what we teach our kids.

The personal battle I have challenged myself with, is to fight EMS through re-education and by setting an example. I am a proud entrepreneur and risk-taker and I challenge everyone who reads this to help others step out of the employment trap and become free. Network Marketing and Agel are perfect tools for showing people that there is another way, a better way. Take your opportunity, as a network marketer to help re-educate people and you will find your business growing all the time. Set an example by becoming a success. Be a trailblazer for your friends and family, and then go back and show them the path. Success begets success. Teach your children that it does not matter what your job is when you grow up, what matters is that you are free to be whoever you want to be.

My neighbor has four kids and two are close to college age. He does not have the money to send his kids to great colleges, so I showed them Agel. Unfortunately, my friend has a severe case of EMS and was not interested. I feel bad for him; he is willing to work overtime at his job even when he doesn’t want to. He will put in extra hours making someone else rich, but will not put in extra hours to make himself rich. That doesn’t make any sense to me at all. This is a classic symptom of EMS. His family is his most important thing in his life, and he knows that in order to provide for his family, he must keep his job, in order to keep his job, he has to do everything the boss tells him to do, including working 40 – 50 hours a week plus a two-hour commute. He is afraid to take a chance on something that is not as secure as his job.

We all know that employers have to pay their employees the least amount they possibly can in order to maximize profits, but we don’t like to think about it. We all know that we are expendable in our jobs. We can be fired at anytime and replaced by someone with more energy, with a new way of thinking, someone who will work for less pay than ourselves, but we don’t like to think about it. Job security comes when you show that you will do what it takes, work harder, and be more productive than other people. And then the company you work for goes bankrupt, and all that work and dedication was for nothing. Is that security?

Running a business is not difficult. You just need to do what it takes, work harder and be more productive. Sound familiar? Yes, the same skills and mindset you need to be a success as an employee is the same set of skills you need as an entrepreneur. There is, however, one other thing you need to be a success working for yourself that you don’t need to be a successful employee. It is this one thing that is inescapable and wholeheartedly true. Without this, no one can ever be a success working for themselves. Without this, nothing can ever be achieved.

You must believe. You must believe that you can do it. You must hold this belief to be self-evident, and you must encourage this belief in yourself everyday. With this belief you can overcome your fears and when you overcome your fears, you can do anything. Here is a simple truth: Those who say they can, and those who say they can’t are both right. Which one are you?

I’ll end this with a quote. This always proves an inspiration to me and I want to share it with you and encourage you to share it with other people. This is an excerpt from an essay written by Marianne Williamson from A Return To Love: Reflections on the Principles of A Course in Miracles. It’s called: Our Deepest Fear.

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”

Believe in yourself and go out there and shine!

Prologue:

One More Thing: EMS is also an attitude. We are supposed to work 40 hours per week and most employees clock in and clock out at 40 hours per week. But, how many hours were really worked? When the boss isn’t paying attention, work gets put off. If there is limited vigilance on the employee, there is limited work. If you approach running your own business with this kind of attitude, you will put off work, stay comfortable and your business will not grow. You are your own boss, you are who you have to answer to if things go wrong and you are the one that you respect when things go right. You need to leave your Employment Mentality behind and have a Business Mentality. Then you will succeed.

Sorry I haven’t posted in a while. I’ve been spending a lot of time looking for work in the real world, and it’s been pretty time-consuming. I’ve been offered one very low-paying summer position writing for the local university’s Web site, and I’ve been jumping through various hoops to apply to be a substitute teacher in a few nearby school districts. It’s been crazy – each district has a different application process and deadline. But the thing that really bothers me is that I have to pay for four different FBI background checks.

I’m not saying I shouldn’t be subjected to a background check – I will potentially be working with minors, and as a mom myself, I want to know that my kid is safe from murderers and rapists while at school. But the price keeps getting higher for the check, and I have to do it a total of four times, once for each school district. It’s a little confusing, as well…as far as I know, the information in an FBI background check is all public domain stuff. So why do I have to pay up to $42 to have access to it?

June has arrived in Ontario, and with the coming of summer also comes the postings for September teaching opportunities. A number of the boards have begun to post their vacencies, full time and contract, thus opening the flood gates for resumes from hopeful teachers. Sadly, what these ambitious young newcomers will face is litte in the way of satisfactory employment. From my conversations with teachers at schools who have postings online for ‘vacancies’ in September, 4 out of 5 of these positions are already filled by a promise to a current supply teacher or LTO contract worker.

By all means these individuals who have worked in the school, who understand its politics and methods of business, should be at the top of the list. If I was in their position I’d appreciate the priority treatment. I’m also confident that these teachers are being promised the position because they are good teachers. And that is part of the conundrum — if you are already in a school then the system can work in your favour, but if you are trying to get in, the system is only able to block your way. This creates frustration for teachers seeking a ‘foot in the door’ as they are forced to cling to these false hopes of employment that border on outright lies. I’ve talked to a number of newly trained teachers who express joy in the fact that 4 new math positions were posted online today, or 2 new science positions, or maybe a grade 7 core. The sad truth is they’ll be lucky to get an interview let alone a job offer.

Why must we post these positions when the schools have little to no intention of actually hiring an outside individual? Why waste the resources, not to mention the demorailzing effect it has on new teachers. Why promise the carrot that dangles on a stick just out of reach?

I feel that re-employment of older workers in the Singapore society has become one of the most important issue today. ‘It is the most important piece in the policy changes that the government has made so that Singaporeans can enjoy a happy and fulfilling life in their senior years’ as said by the minister speaking at the Singapore Press Holdings (SPH) Employees Union 60th anniversary dinner on Friday.

The NTUC has started to take the lead for re-employment in companies. Some 345 firms have signed on to pursue the cause. As a result, some 3313 workers have been re-employed, according to the minister, who also said the move has been “credible progress”.

i feel that due to the large aging population in Singapore and that there is a widening gap between the independent and dependent ratio in Singapore, Singaporeans really got to work longer as well as more efficiently such as to go for re-training so as to keep Singapore on the competitive edge. BY doing so, it also reduces the burdern on the working population from the rapidly increasing dependent population. Singapore’s only resource is manpower. By means of re-employing and re-training, Singapore will be able to maintain its growing economy, at the same time allowing the older workers to feel their importance in the society due to the ability to continue contributing to the society.