Category Archives: Abolition Of Work

Twenty-five per cent also thought that Martin Luther King and Nelson Mandela could be considered extremists

Christians are increasingly concerned about government plans to crack down on non-violent extremism after an opinion poll found that nearly a third of people said Jesus Christ was an extremist.

The poll carried out by ComRes for the Evangelical Alliance also found that nearly half of the people interviewed believed that it was extremism to define marriage as a union between a man and a woman only.

Dr David Landrum, director of advocacy for the Evangelical Alliance, which represents some two million Evangelicals, said: The language of extremism is a recipe for chaos and division.

This poll shows the scale of moral confusion in our society with the public having no way of deciding whether something is extreme or not.

It also shows the division that might ensue if the Government persists in trying to use extremism as a way of regulating peaceful ideas in society.

Detached from terrorism and incitement to violence, extremism does not work as a litmus test for judging peaceful beliefs and opinions.

Indeed, the Government has tried and failed over the last two years to define extremism with any precision and this poll shows that the public share that confusion.

In one discovery, the poll of 2,004 people found that 28 per cent considered Jesus Christ to be an extremist.

Thirteen per cent thought that the Dalai Lama could be considered an extremist, 20 per cent said Gandhi could be considered an extremist while 25 per cent thought that Martin Luther King and Nelson Mandela could be considered extremists.

A total of 41 per cent of those polled said that people who believed in traditional marriage were extremists.

The poll also found that 48 per cent of people did not think the abolition of the monarchy was extreme, while the same proportion said it was not extreme to give animals the same rights as human beings.

The survey comes just weeks after the Governments announcement of a Commission for Countering Extremism not only to combat Islamist ideology but also to support the Government in stamping out extremist ideology in all its forms, both across society and on the internet, so it is denied a safe space to spread.

The churches have been highly sceptical about the efficacy of a strategy to combat the spread of ideas considered as extremist given the subjective and changing nature of how extremism can be defined.

Some Christian groups have already complained that measures taken to combat the spread of radical Islam have been used as a pretext to impose secularist ideologies on children in church schools.

They fear more interference in Christian institutions and churches if new powers are misused against peaceful organisations that do not share the emerging values of the secular state.

Dr Landrum said: The Government has failed to define extremism, and the public is clearly divided about which ideas are extremist.

It therefore seems unlikely that a newly-established quango, such as an extremism commission, will solve such problems.

It is not wise to foster a society where volatile public opinion can be used to determine what might be extreme or acceptable views.

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Poll: Nearly one in three Britons think Christ was an 'extremist' - Catholic Herald Online

London

After centuries of wearing flowing robes, cassocks and other vestments, Anglican priests can finally dress down.

Under canon law, clergy have to wear traditional robes when holding Communion services, baptisms, weddings or funerals. But following a vote this week at a gathering in York of the General Synod, the Church of Englands ruling body, Anglican priests can now wear lay garments such as a suit instead, so long as their parochial church council agrees.

The reasons given for the change included a more informal outlook in British society as a whole, but there is particular concern about young people being alienated by ornate accoutrements. One member of the Archbishop's Council the archbishop of Canterburys cabinet also wants the abolition of bishops miters.

Ian Paul, who writes the blogPsephizowrote: "To most, and I would suggest especially the young, the sight of bishops in mitres puts them in another world. It is world of the past, a world of nostalgia, a world of deference and mostly a world which is quite disconnected from present experience and values.

"It confirms for many the impression of a church irrelevant to modern questions, contained in its own bubble of self reference. And in its hierarchical understanding of authority, it is a culture of which contemporary society is becoming less and less tolerant."

The issue of young people's churchgoing is a disputed one for the Church of England, with many surveys showing a marked decline in membership of Christian churches among people below the age of 25. For some years now, the average age of a churchgoer has beenover 60.

Last week, the Diocese of London launched new programs to get young people involved in the Anglican Church. Its research shows that there are fewer than 2,000 people between the ages of 11 and 18 attending services in the diocese, which has 500 churches and serves a population of 3.6 million people.

Now the diocese says it will try and attract more by bringing youth advocates to work with the clergy, recruit special youth ministers and provide them with specialist training, plant special youth-oriented congregations, and set up youth missions focused on the gospel. The aim is also, says the diocese, to find a way of "amplifying the voice of young people."

Linda Woodhead, one of Britains foremost sociologists of religion, said that while fewer children are socialized into Christian faith by their parents and even of those that are, around 40 percent reject that identity "younger people are not identifying as 'secular' either."

"Many are open-minded about religion, and appreciative of church buildings and other aspects of Christian heritage but suspicious of institutional religion," she said.

Woodhead said church initiatives over many decades aimed at attracting young people, mostly by way of targeted missions and youth work, have failed spectacularly.

"It's not inconceivable that new generations could be attracted back to Christianity, but it will require radical change in the nature of the churches themselves rather than yet another recruitment drive," she said.

Her research has showed that the churches' attitude toward gay people is the kind of approach that deters young people from traditional institutional religion, and for them no amount of clerical dressing down will change that.

But some evidence has emerged that contradicts the notion of decline.

A national survey carried out recently by the ComRes polling organization contradicted the notion that Christianity is on the wane among young Britons. It reported that 1 in 5 people aged 11 to 18 describe themselves as active followers of Jesus. Thirteen percent said they attended church.

Stephen Bullivant, director of the Benedict XVI Centre for Religion and Society at St. Mary's University, Twickenham, said that could be due to ethnic minorities and recent immigrants, among whom Christian belief remains stronger than in the majority white population.

He said his own analysis of government data indicates that the numbers of young people saying they have no religion at all appear to be stalling.

"You would expect it to keep going, but it hasn't," he said. "I wonder if everyone who is going to give up their Anglican affiliation has done so by now. We've seen a vast shedding of nominal Christianity, and perhaps it's now down to its hard core."

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It's no longer Sunday best for the Church of England - National Catholic Reporter

Monika Haukanmm (Free).

The new lineup of the party's governing body consists of Monika Haukanmm, Siiri Kpa and Silver Liiv, with Monika Haukanmm serving as chairwoman of the governing body, party spokespeople said.

The extended leadership of the Free Party manages the party's activities between general meetings and consists of representatives of the party's regional bodies, MPs and members of the party's governing board.

At its meeting on Saturday, the extended board of the Free Party focused on measures to strengthen entrepreneurship. The party is campaigning for the abolition of the monthly rate for minimum social taxliability and introduction of hour-based payroll accounting to support small entrepreneurs, promote part-time work and the emergence of flexible forms of work as well as to introduce a cap on the amount of social tax payable on an individual person.

The party wants the burden of taxation to be shifted from labor taxes, excise duties and resource taxes to taxation of the yield that is, income tax, VAT and property taxes.

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Free Party's extended leadership elects new governing body - ERR News

GRASSROOTS workers remain hopeful that President Rodrigo Duterte will address their concerns in his coming second State-of-the-Nation Address, particularly their long demand for the abolition of work contractualization.

Taking the cudgels for the estimated 25 to 30 million contractual workers, the group Associated Labor Unions-Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (ALU-TUCP), in a statement over the weekend, called on the President to address the issues of unemployment and underemployment, and the falling buying power of the existing daily minimum wage.

The Duterte one-year honeymoon period with the people is over. It is now time for action. Grassroots workers and their families want to know from the President the Duterte roadmap to address falling wages, joblessness and underemployment with five years left in his term. We want to know [his]plan on how to make economic growth benefit workers who helped built that wealth and how he intends to accomplish them, ALU spokesman Alan Tanjusay said.

The ALU-TUCP is the biggest workers organization in the country registered with the Department of Labor and Employment.

Although majority of its members come from the banking, manufacturing, services and agricultural sectors, it also has members in the public sector and the informal-economy sector.

According to the group, there are close to 12 million unemployed and underemployed individuals while the purchasing power of the daily pay fell from 24 percent to 27 percent in highly urbanized Metro Manila and in 16 other regions nationwide in view of a 3.4 percent inflation rate announced by the government in March this year.

It said short-term endo (end of contract) or contractualized workers, numbering 25 to 30 million working in hotels, restaurants, malls, factories and plantations nationwide are hopeful that the President would come up with an Executive Order (EO) that outlaws the temporary work arrangement.

In his May 1 Labor Day speech, Duterte asked workers for time on his campaign promise to abolish job contractualization, asking the Nagkaisa labor coalition group to draft for him to sign an EO that obliges direct-hiring, does away with labor contractors and cooperatives and eradicates fixed-term employment.

The rich are getting richer while the poor are getting poorer because workers wages and benefits are inadequate. There are no new decent jobs created and if there are jobs, they carry no security of tenure and skills and jobs are mismatched. There is no trickle-down effect. There is no genuine progress because of these inequalities, Tanjusay said.

WILLIAM B. DEPASUPIL

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Labor hopes for abolition of job contractualization - The Manila ... - The Manila Times

State pensions cost about 7 billion a year to finance and will rise alongside an ageing population the proportion of those aged 65 and over rose by 14.5 per cent between 2006 and 2011.

The mandatory retirement age should be scrapped in Ireland, allowing people to continue working and contributing to their pension pots, an Oireachtas committee report has recommended.

The Joint Committee on Social Protection, reviewing the current system of the State contributory pension scheme, issued its findings on Friday.

It said measures should be taken to reduce the gender gap and to compensate women who lost out on payments due to a historical requirement to retire from public service jobs after marriage.

The report comes amid mounting calls for pension reform. Last Sunday, the Citizens Assembly voted in favour of removing a mandatory retirement age and said all workers should be required to join a pension scheme.

The Joint Committee began considering the issue late last year and narrowed the scope of its review to the contributory scheme.

It consulted several interest groups including Age Action, the National Womens Council of Ireland, Congress and Active Retirement Ireland.

The contributory pension is paid to people aged 66 or over. It is not means-tested and the maximum weekly rate is 238.30.Those without adequate contributions, and who satisfy a means test, can receive the non-contributory pension.

State pensions cost about 7 billion a year to finance and will rise alongside an ageing population the proportion of those aged 65 and over rose by 14.5 per cent between 2006 and 2011.

The committee said proposals should be considered for a universal pension payment to replace both the contributory and non-contributory models, and be subject to gender- and equality-proofing.

Many of the recommendations are gender-related. The report said changes introduced in 2012 increasing the number of bands and doubling the minimum number of required contributions are demonstrably inequitable, have a disproportionately negative impact on women and should be immediately suspended.

It called for the possible introduction of caring credits to ensure carers do not lose out on entitlements, and recommended compensation for women with inadequate contribution records due to historic inequities such as the marriage bar, which brought forced retirement from the public sector.

An action plan should be considered on closing the pension gender gap (currently at about 41 per cent), and the concept of mandatory retirement age, an issue more applicable to the private sector, should be abolished.

No employee should be contractually obliged to retire based on age if they are willing and able to remain at work, it said.

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Call for abolition of mandatory retirement age - The Irish Times - Irish Times

Prepare to work until you are 70: rise in age for the State pension on cards

Independent.ie

PEOPLE should not get the State pension until they reach the age of 70, a State-supported think tank has recommended.

http://www.independent.ie/business/personal-finance/prepare-to-work-until-you-are-70-rise-in-age-for-the-state-pension-on-cards-35930630.html

http://www.independent.ie/incoming/article35930665.ece/d490b/AUTOCROP/h342/Pensions.jpg

PEOPLE should not get the State pension until they reach the age of 70, a State-supported think tank has recommended.

Moving the statutory retirement age to 70 would counteract a fall in the workforce and the rise in the number of pensioners, the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) said.

The analysis says that retirement age reform that increases the current statutory age by five years roughly corresponds to the projected increase in life expectancy.

Raising the pension age, the study finds, could more than offset the impact of demographic change on the State budgets.

It comes after reports this week that Social Protection Minister Regina Doherty has been warned of a pensions time-bomb, with the States bill spiralling by 1bn every five years due to our ageing population.

The Government has said it hopes to be able to give a rise in the State pension that exceeds the rate of inflation in this years Budget, while Fianna Fil is also pressing for increases.

But Ms Dohertys officials have warned pensions account for the single largest block of the departments expenditure at 7.2bn this year.

Getting rid of the mandatory pension age of 65 is something that was backed by the Citizens Assembly last weekend.

The ESRI paper by Dr Karina Doorley found that countries all over Europe are struggling with the cost of ageing populations.

A shrinking labour force, combined with a growing old age dependency ratio, is expected to reduce tax revenues and raise pension expenditures in the future, she wrote in an academic paper.

She noted that demographic change meant Ireland could expect its workforce to get older, although it will also be more skilled.

The latest Census figures show that the over-65 age group saw the largest increase in population since 2011, rising by more than 100,000 to close to 640,000.

Dr Doorley said there was a need to raise the statutory retirement age to 70 across Europe.

The analysis also shows that a retirement age reform that increases the current statutory retirement age by five years in each European country, roughly corresponding to the projected increase in life expectancy, could more than offset the impact of demographic change on fiscal balances, she said.

The State pension age has already been raised.

Since 2013, the minimum retirement age for the State pension scheme is 66. It is rising to 68 in 2028.

The Citizens Assembly recommended last weekend the abolition of the mandatory retirement age.

This is where people are forced to retire at the age of 65, yet do not qualify for the State pension until at least a year later.

The assembly also wants some form of compulsory supplementary pension scheme for the roughly one million workers who will only have the State pension when they retire.

Online Editors

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Prepare to work until you are 70: rise in age for the State pension on ... - Independent.ie

Introduction

The Taylor Review was ordered by Theresa May in the light of a number of recent high profile cases disputing the employment law status of individuals working in the gig economy for companies such as Uber and Deliveroo. In a number of these cases, the courts have determined that the individuals working in these businesses are not self-employed contractors, but are workers and, as such, are entitled to the statutory rights afforded to workers such as the national minimum wage and holiday pay.

The Taylor Review has a broader scope than just the gig economy and considers more generally what reform of both law and practice are needed to reflect modern working practices. Seven steps towards fair and decent work with realistic scope for development and fulfilment are proposed, including a goal of good work for all, ensuring fairness for those involved in gig economy businesses, good management and strong employment relationships.

The Review takes the basic position that the job market in the UK has a good record of job creation, that its flexibility is a strength, and that the goal should be to improve the quality of work. It considers that good employers have nothing to fear from its recommendations.

With the flurry of media interest in this Review, it is important to note that it only constitutes a set of recommendations for the Government to consider. It is unclear whether or when any of the Reviews recommendations will be introduced in practice given the Governments lack of a parliamentary majority. That said, there may be cross party support for reform, although the trade union movement would seek far more substantive improvement of workers rights than the Review proposes.

Many of the recommendations made in the Review are essentially to consolidate and clarify the law, to increase awareness of existing law and tighten up enforcement. So for example, the suggestion to call workers in the gig economy dependent contractors is merely a relabelling of the current status of worker which is coupled with a suggestion that the current tests for determining who is a worker be simplified.

If the recommendations in the Review were implemented, the most significant impact would be on gig economy type businesses which typically treat individuals in the business as self-employed service providers who offer their services to customers through a digital platform. The reclassification of those individuals as workers or dependent contractors would require the business to pay holiday pay, national insurance contributions (NICs) and the national minimum wage (NMW).

Dependent contractors

Currently there are three broad categories of status for the purposes of employment protection. Employees have the full suite of right including the right to claim unfair dismissal, to take maternity leave etc. Workers have fewer rights but are also entitled to the NMW and statutory holiday entitlements. Truly independent self-employed contractors do not have any employment rights. The application of these tests in the gig economy has proved particularly controversial and contributed to the Taylor Review being commissioned.

The Review recommends new legislation to clarify and simplify the distinction between workers and self-employed individuals which the Review identifies as the area where there is greatest risk of vulnerability and exploitation. The Review is clear that flexibility in the labour market is a good thing, welcomed by both business and workers. The aim is to update employment protections without affecting business models which allow flexibility.

The Review notes that in many of the high profile cases brought against gig economy businesses, the Employment Tribunals have found that the individuals involved are workers, not self employed contractors. The system of employment protections in the UK is therefore in its view working reasonably well already. However, the law needs to adapt to reflect emerging business models with greater clarity for individuals and business. This is considered to be important not only to protect individuals but also businesses because the current system incentivises businesses to gain a competitive advantage by adopting business models which may exploit or disadvantage workers.

The Review notes that the Employment Tribunals have established a range of factors to be applied to determine an individuals worker or employment status. To reach a conclusion currently requires, in its view, an encyclopaedic knowledge of the relevant case law. The Review suggests that the legislation should do more and the courts do less. In other words the Government should consider which of the tests identified by the Courts is key and put that into legislation and guidance. It suggests renaming workers, who do not also qualify as employees, dependent contractors with a clearer definition which better reflects the reality of modern, more casual employment relationships where an individual is not an employee, but neither are they genuinely self-employed. Of all the tests which have been put forward by the courts to determine worker status - such as mutuality of obligation, control, the individual carrying on a business or undertaking, personal service - the Review favours control as a determining factor. This is similar to the EU law definition of a worker as a person who performs services for and under the direction of another person for which he receives remuneration see Betriebsrat der Ruhrlandklinik gGmbH v Ruhrlandklinik gGmbH C-216/15 (17 November 2016).

At the moment, the requirement that the individual does the work personally can be the most important factor in determining whether the individual is a worker or truly a self-employed contractor. So an individual who has almost every aspect of their work controlled by a business, from uniform to rates of pay to disciplinary action, may nonetheless not be considered to be a worker if a genuine, rather than sham, right to substitution exists. In developing the test for the new dependent contractor status, the Review considers that control should be of greater importance, with less emphasis placed on the requirement to perform work personally.

Dependent contractors would be entitled to all the rights which workers currently enjoy such as the right to holiday pay and the national minimum wage). True employees who have a personal contract of employment would continue to enjoy the greater range of employee rights such as maternity leave and the right not to be unfairly dismissed.

Encouraging two-sided flexibility

The Review considers that flexibility should not be one-sided and used by employers to cut costs, transfer risk to individuals, and exert unfair control over them. Flexible working relationships need to be rebalanced so that the flexibility is two-sided i.e. benefits both parties. A number of proposals are suggested to achieve this.

Encouraging businesses to plan whilst maintaining flexibility

The Review considers that the gig economy and other sectors and business models could plan better and are perhaps relying too much on zero hours contracts, agency workers and short hours contracts. The reality is that some people on zero hours contracts are actually working 40 hours every week; and some temporary or agency workers are doing the same job for years. The Review sets out a range of recommendations to rebalance this:

Worker engagement

The Review believes that the tone for fair and decent work is set at the top of an organisation and that engaging properly with workers is part and parcel of good business practice. The Review therefore suggests a renewed focus on employee engagement, especially in low paying sectors, and the Information and Consultation of Employees (ICE) Regulations which, broadly speaking, require businesses to set up long term information and consultation arrangements with employees. Currently very few businesses (14% in 2011) have such arrangements. The Review recommends that the scope of the ICE regulations should be extended. The suggestion is to extend the regulations to include both employees and workers, and to reduce the threshold for implementation from 10% to 2% of the workforce making a request. In addition, in order to encourage transparency and conscious decision making about employment models, businesses should be required to report on their employment model and use of agency workers.

Better enforcement of worker rights

The Review acknowledges that there needs to be a fair system of enforcement of existing and any new employment or worker rights and notes the impact of Employment Tribunal fees on access to justice, particularly for the lowest paid. It suggests that individuals who are seeking to establish their employment status should be able to obtain a determination from an Employment Tribunal, at an expedited preliminary hearing, without having to pay a fee.

There are a number of additional measures suggested to improve enforcement, including reversing the burden of proof in Employment Tribunals where an individuals legal status as a worker or otherwise is in dispute. This would mean that there would be a presumption of worker or employee status, and it will be for the employer to prove that the individual is not entitled to the rights claimed. Currently the individual must to prove their status before they can take their claim further. There are also a number of proposals to strengthen the enforcement of Employment Tribunal awards.

The Review recommends that HMRC should be given enforcement powers in respect of sick pay and holiday pay as well as NMW.

The Review also proposes the abolition of the so called Swedish Derogation which currently allows agency workers to contract out of their right to be paid the same as a permanent member of staff doing the same job after a 12 week qualifying period.

Tax

The Review does note the different tax treatment of employed and self-employed people, in that self-employed pay lower NICs and there is no equivalent of employer contributions for the self-employed. The rationale for this lower tax rate is that the self employed may be taking greater financial risks, and may create employment opportunities for others. The Review concludes that this this not the reality for many self-employed people. However, the Reviews only recommendation is that Government should consider bringing the levels of NICs paid by employed and self-employed people closer, along the lines of the proposals in the spring 2017 budget, which were dropped by the Government and now seem unlikely to be revived.

The Review approves of HMRCs move towards a digital real time tax system, and associated technology for cashless payments, which the Review believes will increase tax revenues. It is hoped that online systems will increase tax revenues from the so-called hidden economy where payments are made cash in hand. The online systems should also ensure more accurate recording of payments and charging to tax for self-employed people (similar to the way that the PAYE system works for employees).

Training and apprenticeships

The Review looks at ways of developing training and apprenticeships to improve the quality of jobs. Notably it states that unpaid internships are an abuse of power by employers and extremely damaging to social mobility. The Review recommends that Government should stamp out unpaid internships by clarifying the existing law and encouraging HMRC to take enforcement action.

Protecting and developing good quality flexible work

In light of the stated benefits of flexibility, the Review considers reviewing and developing rights around flexible working. It recommends a review and consolidation of the protections around pregnancy and maternity on the grounds that legislation is too complicated and not working.

The Review also makes recommendations to improve health outcomes linked to work. Notably this includes a proposal to make entitlement to SSP a basic employment right comparable to the NMW to which all workers are entitled regardless of income from day one.

Conclusion

As the Review constitutes only recommendations, no doubt this debate will continue employers should continue to watch this space.

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Good Work, The Taylor Review of Modern Working Practices - JD Supra (press release)

Sixteen months after Grand Canyon National Park abolished its river unit in the wake of a federal sexual harassment investigation, the park has drafted a new plan for how to reconstruct those operations. Before it was axed, the river unit supported a variety of river trips, from those related to canyon patrols to others needed for resource monitoring, preservation and research.

At a community meeting Tuesday evening, park employees made the first public presentation of how river operations could be organized and managed. All aspects of the changes still need approval by the park superintendent and Park Service regional office.

The reforms would make river operations an independent work group within the park that is overseen by a newly created administrative river operations manager who answers directly to the superintendent. Previously the unit was housed in the visitor and resource protection division.

The new organizational structure shortens the chain of command between the river group staff and the superintendent, which reflects an effort to improve communications and make sure potential issues can be relayed more directly and more quickly to the top, said Rachel Bennett, environmental protection specialist with the park. Bennett was among a group of eight people from across the park who served on the team that drafted the changes to river operations.

Communication, chain of command and follow up were highlighted in the January, 2016 Inspector Generals report on sexual harassment at Grand Canyon that set off the abolition of the river district and the parks improvement efforts. The government investigator concluded that harassment complaints were not properly reported nor investigated after employees filed them with park supervisors.

Additionally, the park is proposing to expand oversight of river operations by the superintendents office and a new interdisciplinary team that includes members from the river district and other divisions of the park, Bennett said. The independent groups responsibilities will include evaluating trip participants, reviewing post-trip reports and reporting any concerns to the superintendent. It will also help in hiring river group staff and developing policies and procedures related to river trips.

The plan includes several suggested policy changes as well, including a mandatory review of what went well and what could be improved on each trip, a more standardized uniform policy and better communication of clear expectations about trip conduct and the consequences of poor conduct.

That's where we see the park needs to continue to work, Bennett said of the last point.

The team working on the changes to river operations aims to have a final recommendation to Park Superintendent Chris Lehnertz and the Park Services regional director by August and the interdisciplinary team selected by late summer.

On Tuesday evening, park officials received some questions about how complaints from non-park employees will be handled in the future. Bennett said the park is working on a new tracking system that could be used for employee and non-employee complaints about other Park Service employees.

Bennett said her team is also looking at ways for the boating community to help monitor the parks river operations. She acknowledged that the sexual harassment issues at Grand Canyon affected not only park employees but those working for private companies that contracted with the Park Service.

Dan Hall, one of the authors of the letter to former Interior Secretary Sally Jewell that set off the federal investigation, agreed on the need for the park to create a method for outside oversight and feedback. That could take the form of a committee of non-park stakeholders that consults with park officials on an annual or semi-annual basis, he said. Many in the river community have been around much longer than most park employees and have valuable institutional knowledge, he said.

While acknowledging the hard work and dedication of park staffers, Hall said he hasn't seen any sort of attempt by the park to open up its process to what he called real checks and balances.

Christa Sadler, who has been a river guide in the Grand Canyon for 30 years, was also a supporter of outside monitoring and feedback.

She added that she'd like see personnel working with the river unit who understand and are supportive of the missions of research, education and resource-related trips.

That was one of big problems we had was people who were running the river district who were law enforcement rangers and that was all they cared about, Sadler said.

As far as whether the parks changes will do enough to address the sexual harassment and workplace hostility that sparked the investigation, Sadler said thats a much larger issue.

That is going to take something different than just reorganizing the river unit, she said. Its going to take a sea change in the way we see our fellow workers, the way we look at power, the way we see the relationship between men and women. Its a much bigger cultural thing.

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Grand Canyon revives river unit after harassment investigation - Arizona Daily Sun

Next week on Thursday, July 18 we celebrate the 99th birth-anniversary of South Africas first coloured President and legendary freedom fighter Nelson Mandela who is widely regarded as one of the noblest leaders of modern times.

It is one of the rare events where the United Nations celebrates the birthday of a world leader for his heroic battle for freedom, justice and democracy.

It is easy to break down and destroy. The heroes are those who make peace and build, the United Nations quotes Nelson Mandela as saying.

The UN says everyone has the ability and the responsibility to change the world for the better, and Mandela Day is an occasion for everyone to take action and inspire change.

For 67 years, Nelson Mandela devoted his life to the service of humanity as a human rights lawyer, a prisoner of conscience, an international peacemaker and the first democratically elected President of a free South Africa.

The Nelson Mandela Foundation is dedicating this years Mandela Day to action against poverty, honouring Nelson Mandelas leadership and devotion to fighting poverty and promoting social justice for all.

In December 2015, the UN General Assembly decided to extend the scope of Nelson Mandela International Day to also be utilized to promote humane conditions of imprisonment, to raise awareness about prisoners being a continuous part of society and to value the work of prison staff as a social service of particular importance.

The UN General Assembly not only adopted the revised UN Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners, but also approved that they should be known as the Nelson Mandela Rules to honour the legacy of the late South African President, who spent 27 years in prison in the course of his struggle for freedom, justice and democracy. The UN General Assembly proclaimed Mandelas birthday, July18, as Mandela Day, marking his contribution to the anti-apartheid struggle. It called on the people to donate 67 minutes to doing something for others, commemorating the 67 years that Mandela had been a part of the movement.

Essentially Nelson Mandela was a servant leader. After decades of a battle against the white supremacists he was elected President in 1994 for a five-year term. He was so respected by the people that he could have gone on for two or three terms. Yet he decided to quit after one five-year term in office, giving a lesson to world leaders.

In Sri Lanka former President Mahinda Rajapaksa who was elected in 2005 amended the Constitution to give him the power to go on for more than two terms or for a lifetime. The former President was so confident of his position or popularity that in November 2014 he called an early presidential election, two years before schedule. Perhaps he did not foresee the dramatic crossover that took place in November 2014 when the then Health Minister and Sri Lanka Freedom Party General Secretary Maithripala Sirisena crossed over to form what was described as a rainbow coalition.

In the presidential election on January 8, 2015, Mr. Sirisenas rainbow coalition soared to a spectacular victory. As a result we today have a national unity government between the two major parties, the United National Party (UNP) and the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP).

President Sirisena in one of his first speeches from the Dalada Maligawa pledged he would be a servant leader and work for the abolition of the wide-powered Executive Presidency. He and other government leaders also committed themselves to work towards the mission of a peaceful, just and all inclusive society. We hope that in our country also we would see a Nelson Mandela who is sincerely ready to go beyond personal gain or glory and work for freedom, justice and democracy.

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Sri Lanka needs a selfless Mandela - Daily Mirror

The Citizens Assembly has recommended abolition of mandatory retirement ages; elimination of the time gap between retirement and eligibility for the old age pension and that pensions be linked to average earnings, the Irish Examiner reports.

The recommendations come after a weekend of hearings during which the assembly looked at various issues relating to pensions for older people, work and income.

It voted on 16 proposals, which will be the basis for a report to be sent to the Dil and Seanad.

Eighty-six per cent of assembly members said mandatory retirement ages should be abolished, while 96 per cent said the issue of people being forced to retire at 65 but being ineligible for the State pension until 66 should be resolved.

The introduction of a mandatory pension scheme in addition to the state pension was supported by 87 per cent of those present, while 88 per cent said the pension ought to be pegged to average earnings.

A substantial majority also agreed to recommend that private pension schemes be renationalised.

Michael Collins, assistant professor of social policy at University College Dublin, suggested that tax breaks for those who invest in private pensions should be brought to an end.

The policy of supporting private pension provision through tax breaks is skewed towards those on higher incomes, he said.

It is worth considering whether society should more efficiently use its resources to provide an improved basic living standard for all pensions, one well above the minimum income standard, and discontinue subsidising private pensions savings.

Ms Justice Mary Laffoy, assembly chairwoman(pictured), said she aimed to have the report ready for the Oireachtas by the end of September.

10 July 2017

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Citizens' Assembly recommendations include abolition of mandatory ... - Irish Legal News