Media releases

• Increased minimum wage a win for workers: Brock labour studies prof

  Tuesday, May 30, 2017 | By Brock University

  EXPERT ADVISORY: 30 May 2017 – R00104
   
  Tuesday’s announcement to raise the minimum wage in Ontario should be considered a victory for the labour movement, says a Brock University professor.
   
  Simon Black, Assistant Professor in Brock’s Centre for Labour Studies, calls the announcement by Premier Kathleen Wynne to raise minimum wage to $15 by 2019 a “huge victory.”
   
  “Right now, the minimum wage is poverty wage,” Black says. “We can’t have people working upwards of 40 hours a week and then at the end of the year they’re still below that poverty line cutoff.”
   
  Under the announced plan, the legal minimum hourly wage will increase from the current $11.40 to $11.60 in October, then to $14 on Jan. 1, 2018, and to $15 one year later. The plan also includes additional benefits such as increased vacation time and equal pay for part-time workers doing the same job as full-time staff.
   
  That $15 per hour threshold was something the labour movement has been fighting hard for, says Black, who was part of the international “$15 and Fairness” campaign.
   
  “I think (the increases) are great, but they shouldn’t be seen as a gift bestowed upon low-wage workers by the Liberal government. This is the product of a social movement, a product of organizing and mobilizing. This didn’t just materialize out of thin air,” Black says.
   
  To criticism that the increased wages will hurt small businesses, Black says it will all balance out.
   
  “This will give minimum-wage workers more money in their pockets to buy the things they need, which will contribute to growing the economy.”
   
   
  Associate Professor Simon Black is available for interviews about the issue.
   
   
   
  For more information or for assistance arranging interviews:
   
  * Dan Dakin, Media Relations Officer, Brock University ddakin@brocku.ca, 905-688-5550 x5353 or 905-347-1970
   
  Brock University Marketing and Communications has a full-service studio where we can provide high definition video and broadcast-quality audio.
   
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  Categories: Media releases

• Brock research explores how municipalities deal with extreme weather conditions

  Tuesday, May 30, 2017 | By Brock University

  MEDIA RELEASE: 30 May 2017  – R00103

  We’ve had more than enough rain to keep sports fields green this spring, but parks departments around southern Ontario know their luck will change at some point.
   
  It’s in the hot, dry summer months that municipalities around the Golden Horseshoe have to decide if keeping grass athletic fields lush and green is worth the water it takes to make that happen.

  A Brock University researcher says this is among several issues parks and recreation departments grapple with as they figure out how to deal with the impacts of climate change.

  “One of the key questions that came out of this research was, do you water the sports fields during times of intense drought? Is that where the water should go?” says researcher Cheryl Mallen, Associate Professor in the Department of Sport Management.

  In a recently published study, “Climate Change and Canadian Community Grass-Based Sport Fields,” Mallen and her team interviewed directors, managers and maintenance staff within departments dealing with recreation, open spaces, community facilities and other aspects of park management.

  There were 16 municipalities stretching from Toronto to Niagara Falls represented in the study.

  The research team asked participants a series of questions centring on awareness of climate change impacts and strategies to address the impacts.

  Participants were generally concerned with widely varying seasonal conditions such as winters that are extremely cold or mild, and they considered summer as a major concern with either lots of rain, drought conditions or a combination of the two.

  Respondents also pointed to the presence of new pests and molds brought about by warmer temperatures and unusual precipitation patterns as troubling new trends.

  Topping the list of how to deal with climate change was the question of whether or not to water fields during dry times.

  “I found a real polarization,” says Mallen. “Some groups indicated that they are watering the fields to the extent that they can keep those fields beautifully green, so that the players totally enjoy playing sports on these lush fields.

  “On the other hand, you have sports fields managers who are saying, ‘our people have already adjusted; they know that the grass is going to be browner. They are adapting mentally that this is what you play on and it’s OK and you can still have a good game of soccer.’”

  At issue is the cost of watering fields.

  “The debate is: Do you want your taxes to go up to have green grass on sport fields?” says Mallen. “Some municipalities are saying, ‘we’re trying to be very responsible with our money and stay within our budgets,’ and other areas have more money, so within their budgets they have more to water their fields.”

  The payoff for green fields, says Mallen, is that they attract sporting events, resulting in more direct and indirect revenues for the surrounding communities.

  Mallen is also working on a comparative study with sport management researcher Greg Dingle at La Trobe University in Australia, a country that has been battling droughts for more than a decade.

  There, participants report being uplifted by watered fields, saying that green sport fields bring about positive feelings in people and bind communities together.

  Mallen’s research uncovered a number of innovative measures municipalities are implementing to keep their fields as green and healthy as possible for dry times. These include:

  •    Protecting sensitive sections of field such as goals and centre field by planting seed, surrounding them with hay bales and then keeping the areas covered during the winter using tarps
  •    Carefully selecting the combination of grass seed varieties designed to handle a wide range of weather conditions
  •    Using new techniques to aerate sport field soil
  •    Shifting goals and centre fields around from year to year to avoid burning out these heavily travelled areas

  “Climate Change and Canadian Community Grass-Based Sport Fields” was published May 12 in the International Journal of Environmental Sustainability.

  For more information or for assistance arranging interviews:

  * Dan Dakin, Media Relations Officer, Brock University ddakin@brocku.ca,
  905-688-5550 x5353 or 905-347-1970

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  Categories: Media releases