Your Call is Important to Us Part 2

Lining up at the Trough

Businesses such as Connect North America do not come to places such as New Brunswick and Nova Scotia out of the goodness of their hearts: They are here to make a buck, but not only that, they came here because the provincial governments shelled out and continue to shell out copious amounts of money to bring and keep them here. Furthermore, the powers that be don’t seem to be terribly particular to whom they grant this largesse: The late lamented Connect North America alone received $470,000 in the form of grants and wage reimbursements. (Don’t hold your breath waiting for that refund, by the by). Also lining up at the trough are companies like TeleTech, currently under class action lawsuits in three states for unfair labour practices.

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that companies like Teletech et al are perhaps not the most worthy investment of taxpayer dollars or for that matter, one that can be trusted to treat their employees in a fair and equitable manner. However, I am not entirely certain whether the latter condition enters into consideration on any level at all.

These companies, of whom I will refer to as “fly by night” call centers in honour of Connect North America that literally disappeared overnight receive copious amounts of money from the provincial governments in the form of tax breaks, wage reimbursements, grants and my all time favourite: training bonuses. It is a little known fact that some companies are paid for the number of people they train, not for the number of people they actually retain for the positions they for which they are trained. That being the case, if an employee quits or is terminated and is consequently rehired, this employee, who is already trained mind you, is trained again, and the government is billed twice. This process has been known to happen 3 and 4 times with the same person. Can you say “double dipping”? I knew you could.

As I have stated previously, one of the main draws touted by the provinces in bringing these call centers here is an educated workforce that will work for relative peanuts. Low wages are one thing, however when the local civic government stabs their citizens in the back it becomes outrageous. Two years ago a call center opened in the town of A______, and held a “hiring fair” to seek out potential employees. The wife of an acquaintance of mine applied for a position and was quoted the starting wages for the position. The lady made it past the hiring fair to an interview, and the starting wage was substantially lower than the original quote. Her question as to how this came to be went unanswered. Her husband came across the local MP, where he was kissing hands and shaking babies at an event in his riding and asked the same question. The MP duly pointed the man in the direction of the office of the local provincial MLA for answers. He called the office, asked his question and this is a verbatim quote of the answer he received: “You can thank your Mayor for that one”. It seems that His Worship in a meeting with the call center minions told them that they didn’t have to pay people in his town the original wage offered because they would work for less.

Bend over; your government is behind you.

It is highly ironic that these same governments have the nerve to wonder why the workforce is leaving their respective provinces in droves for greener pastures in the West. Further, it clearly escapes them as to why these same people are not burning up the TransCanada in their rush to return home, regardless how may the “Come to Life” billboards dot Fort McMurray. Let’s face it, when the labour laws offer less protection than the SPCA, and the local government sells you into indentured servitude at subsistence wages, no one in their right mind would be in a rush to come back. But, I digress.

The days of the “fly by night” call centers owned by are rapidly coming to an end in these provinces. As I write the Canadian dollar is worth more than the US dollar for the first time in decades, and we have gained 8% on the Euro. Therefore, while the wages of the average call center peon have not increased one iota, and the cost of living gone has not gone down, the cost of these paying these wages has risen dramatically. Now, since these call centers are kept here by two things: massive injections of government money in various forms, and the low wages. If either one of these incentives disappears, the center and the jobs it provides will be gone faster than you can say “Hydrabad.” Connect North America, I feel was only the first of what will be many that will pull up stakes and vanish when the gravy train slows down. Incidentally, Connect North America is still very much in business, just off to another place of slave wages with the vague promise of returning at sometime in the future, meaning when the dollar drops. I know I speak for many of us when I say “Don’t let the door hit you on the ass.”

Now, in principle, I think that the government investing money in job creation for is a good thing. However, as a taxpayer and a call center employee, I have to question the wisdom in pumping massive amounts of money into these modern day equivalents of carpet baggers: Call centers run by huge conglomerates with centers anywhere the wages are low, that have never put down roots in the communities in which they reside, have no loyalty to the provinces from whence the handouts flow, and less to the people who work for them. The analogy of call centers being the coalmines of the 21 century is just a bit flawed: in order for a coalmine to exist, it must be near coal. A call center is an ephemeral creation that can exist anywhere that it is deemed to be profitable for it to exist. Quite literally, these centers can be here today and halfway around the world the next.

When Frank McKenna wooed the call centers here, he was banking on New Brunswick remaining the “Mexico of the North”. Without a doubt, his courtship brought in a lot of jobs, however as the dollar has been rising steadily these last few years, it should have been obvious that this was a relationship that could not last. The first of the rats have fled the ship, others will follow, and then we can watch the workforce migrate ever westward. Can we hope that the last person will turn out the lights?

No Matter How Thin You Slice it, it's Still McBaloney

I first read about this story over on Jame's Blog, and thought it was mildly entertaining and quite ridiculous. Now, as the saying goes, the story has "grown legs" and is developing a life of its own.

McDonald's is quite irate over the definition of "McJob" in Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary.

The term McJob was coined by the Canadian novelist Douglas Coupland in his 1991 novel Generation X to describe a "low-prestige, low-dignity, low-benefit, no-future job in the service sector".

McDonald's has gone so far as to create an online petition that can be virtually "signed" by anyone supporting their view.

On The Current this morning there was an article aired on this topic, first to speak was a representative of Merriam-Webster's who said, in essence, it is not going to be changed.

However, the next person to speak was Jerry Newman, PHD who went "undercover" working as a "bottom rung" employee at various big name fast food place such as, yes, McDonald's and Burger King. Mr Newman contends that working in these places is a wonderful thing that teaches responsibility, teamwork, work ethics, and the list goes on. He even wrote a book on the subject: My Secret Life on the McJob - Lessons From Behind the Counter Guaranteed to Super Size Any Management Style. During the interview he painted a glorious life among the fries and McNuggets with almost an evangelical fervor that made me want to bring up my Wheatabix.

Now being the inquisitive sort, I followed the old adage of "follow the money" to see who was actually paying for this study of Professor Newman's. There it was, in the biographical notes of the above article as plain as day:

Jerry M. Newman, Ph.D., is a University Distinguished Teaching Professor for the State University of New York at Buffalo. He is the coauthor of Compensation, which has been the bestselling book in the category for 21 years. He is also an advisor to firms including AT&T, Hewlett-Packard, Burger King, McDonald's, and Nabisco. (emphasis mine)

Yup, Just as I thought, paid for by the purveyors of Fast Food.

Now to be honest, the good Professor does bring up some valid points: working at those jobs does teach problem solving, work ethics, responsibility, teamwork, etc. Sure it does, I don't argue that one little bit. However, that said, those valuable "lessons" learned while on the job do not preclude it from being a "McJob" because the job itself is a dead end. Ask anyone who presently works at any fast food emporium where they want to be in 5 years. I would lay you good money they won't say: "Working for 'insert name of fast food place".

Let me prove my point in another way: How many people you ever heard say "My life's ambition is to work on the Front line at McDonalds?"

***************Crickets chirping******************
I thought so.

For all of his possibly good intentions and insights, in the 6 or so months Jerry Newman worked slinging Happy Meals, at the end of the day, he is a still tourist.

When his shift ended "the distinguished management professor" went home to his condo in Florida or his home in Amherst, back to his real life, and his real job. He was not stuck in the place where flipping burgers was "his real job." He has not gained one iota of insight into the real lives of the people who work the grills, the tedium of the job and the lack of any real future in those jobs.

Sorry, Mr Newman, I just don't buy your line: No matter how you dress it up: a McJob is still a McJob.

History Repeats Itself

Sex workers Cashing in on Alberta's Oil Boom

If you look at the history of any "boom", the same thing happens over and over again: The Rush begins, the place fills up with a lot of men, most of whom have no ties to the community and have no intentions of putting down roots. A lot of them are single, but a good chunk are not and of those, they are not likely to have brought their wives and families with them. All they want to do is make their money and go home.

As a result, you have a situation where the men outnumber the women, there is a lot of money, not a lot of ways to spend it.

So, in the wake of the "gold rush" (or in this case, oil) came the liquor (or these days, drugs) and the dance hall girls (sex workers). It is a basic law of supply and demand: if there is a demand for something there will be supply. If you want to get rid of something; do away with the demand.

Now, when it comes to prostitution, I am a tad on the pragmatic side: No, that is a job that I would not like to do. However, I think that anything that goes on between two consenting adults is no one's business but their own and legislating morality is pretty much an exercise in futility. In the words of one of our former Prime Ministers, Pierre Elliot Trudeau: "the state has no place in the bedrooms of the nation." I also know that there but for the grace of (insert name of diety here) go I, or for that matter any one of us.

The Value of Silence

Pause for a moment, Dear Reader and listen: Listen and make note of the sounds around you. From where I sit, I hear the hum of my computer, and further in the background the mutter of the television in the living room where my Dear Husband watches a British mystery, from the kitchen, the refrigerator vibrates away, and then there is the sound of the fan from the furnace as the fire takes the chill off the house. I have grown so used to these sounds that I don’t even hear them, as a matter of fact, the only time I notice them is in their absence during a power failure. At various times during the day, I hear the train go by on the track about a kilometer away. Sound is all around us: phones, doorbells, mp3 players, radio, traffic.

At this time of my life, I live in the country, far away from the din that accompanies urban centers and for this I am grateful. I once spent a week visiting a friend who lived in a high rise in down town Calgary. The noise funneled up from street level during the day, and wasn’t much quieter at night. I could never, ever live there; it would drive me mad. I lived in an apartment for a while where my neighbours were heavy metal maniacs at all hours of the day and most of the night. I have come to realize the blessing and the value of peace and quiet. This realization was particularly true for me three years ago when I was diagnosed with cancer. I saw four doctors in three cities in two provinces over the course of one month while trying to find one who had a clue how to treat the very rare type that I have. To say this was a stressful time was an understatement to say the least. I wanted nothing more for a while just to go on retreat for a time, far away from telephones, televisions, radios and just be alone with my thoughts.

This brings me my real topic today: 2007 marks the 10 anniversary of the beginning of the end of Nova Nada Monastery in Nova Scotia.

Nova Nada never really had much luck when it came to choosing a location. Their first monastery/hermitage in Sedona was abandoned due to urban development. When that happened, they found an old camp off the beaten track near Kemptville in the early 70’s and relocated there. All was well until J.D. Irving and Co began intensive logging in the area. Now to understand what this means you have to get a feeling for the J.D. Irvings and their way of doing business.

The Irvings are the “big fish” in the relatively small pond of the Maritimes. To give you an idea of just who pervasive this family is, you can’t even wipe your butt without helping to fill their coffers. Feelings about J.D. Irving tend to fall into one of two camps: He is either the second coming of Christ, or should burn in the lowest reaches of hell. They have singularly done the most to damage to the environment in these three provinces, and for the most part, without any accountability whatsoever. I was talking to some guy from Ducks Unlimited who extolled about all the money they had donated to them for wetlands preservation. However, as last year the company destroyed 5 blue heron nests (an endangered species) without so much as a second thought, clear cut everything in sight and the motto of St. John New Brunswick, home of Irving’s oil refinery as well as several pulp mills should be “Nice City, But it Stinks”, all the while adding whole new dimensions to the term “acid rain”, I somehow doubt their commitment to the environment. An oil barge, “the Irving Whale” went down near the malpaque oyster beds near PEI. It went down intact, but every so often, it would burp out a bit of crude. Finally, when it had deteriorated to the point where it was about to break up entirely, the government mounted a multi-million dollar project to bring to salvage it. And the Irvings said, “oh… and we guess we should tell you – there are pcbs on board. Oh, and if you manage to bring it up intact, we want the oil back, (the insurance had already paid out for both barge and contents). While the Irvings did not get the oil back, I guess you can see where this is going: They have a finger in every pie, are very used to getting their own way, and more often than not, they do. .

Basically, clearcut logging (that is the only type that the Irving’s do) besides being an ecological nightmare, is a noisy proposition, and during the summer, they go at it 24 hours a day. All the monks at Nova Nada wanted were peace and quiet – a two-mile buffer zone around the monastery. This was not to be had, and they countered with this offer. The monks were not alone in their fight; petitions were circulated (170,000 signatures), there was support from the Sierra Club but to no avail. The monks even offered to buy the land, and appealed to J.D. himself. Since the Irvings worship only one god and his name is Mammon, I imagine that it was rather like talking to a wall.

The monks of Nova Nada eventually gave up, and moved to Ireland to found another monastery. The monastery near Kemptville was eventually sold. I hope that the monks are more successful in their new home, and that they find the peace and solitude that they sought. As for the rest of us; in losing both the monastery and its inhabitants, we are all that much poorer.