Competency-based training (CBT) policy has contributed to the decline of unions in Britain through focus on individual performance, employer-defined nature of standards, narrow scope, and the centrality of flexibility and transferability. CBT has been supported for its ostensibly rational, neutral aspects despite the clear ideological assumptions…

A study of the United Packinghouse Workers of America compared the postwar years and the Reagan era. Using event-structure analysis, the development of new corporate strategies (new technologies, production reorganization, cheap nonunion labor) fundamentally transformed the capital-labor relationship and led to the collapse of industrial unionism…

Provides a history of the establishment of the AFL-CIO/ALA (American Federation of Labor (AFL)-Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO)/American Library Association (ALA)) Joint Committee on Library Service to Labor Groups. Topics include public learning, labor, and libraries; services to labor; problems and issues, including conflicts between…

Describes efforts by school superintendents to develop dress codes for school employees. Describes link between teacher dress and student decorum. Includes excerpts from staff dress codes from three school districts: Goose Creek Consolidated School District, Baytown, Texas; Denver Public Schools, Colorado; Wake County Public Schools, Raleigh,…

The case of a strike against Ford and opposition to building an electronics plant in the United Kingdom illustrates the issues facing companies and unions in adopting Japanese industrial practices. Efficient production arrangements conflict with traditional multiunionism, and bargaining positions sometimes lead to company investment in countries…

Longitudinal case studies of four British organizations tested theories that union membership is waning, collective bargaining is being separated from strategic decision making, and employee involvement is lessening union impact. The conclusion reached was that the marginalization of unions has more complex causes; employee relations need to be…

Describes the effects of new technology on industrial relations in the United Kingdom. Includes a diversity of approaches and a complex picture of successes and failures. Concludes that new technology and industrial relations have rarely been dealt with strategically by UK managements. (JOW)

Experimental studies were conducted in two unions to examine the effects of perceptual variables--reactance and intentionality attributions--on the intent to seek redress from management action. Based on participants' responses to a series of vignettes, both studies demonstrated that greater threat and dispositional attributions provoked stronger…

Reviews labor contracts renegotiated during 1988, placing emphasis on labor-management relations. Provides information on negotiations in the following industries: (1) trucking, (2) air transportation, (3) automobile manufacturing, (4) steel and other metals, (5) rubber, (6) bituminous coal, (7) forest products, and (8) shipbuilding. Covers…

Barriers to creating learning organizations include inability to change mental models, learned helplessness, truncated learning, individualism, culture of disrespect and fear, entrenched bureaucracy, part-time/temporary workforce, and diversity issues. Nevertheless, the learning organization is a sustainable vision for human resource development.…

The successful organization of the 1990s will fundamentally remake its employee relationship, especially through increased employee influence on the nature of work, organizational context, and quality of product/service. An employee advocacy peer review conflict resolution process has been useful in improving labor relations and enhancing the…

This special issue contains eight articles that examine the following: social justice, global employment issues, International Labor Organization (ILO) standards, social security, training, tripartism, the 1994 ILO conference, and labor standards--all from a global perspective. (JOW)

The legality of employment involvement programs--participation of workers in workplace decision making--has not been established. Three National Labor Relations Board decisions illustrate the complex legal, policy, and economic issues relayed to faculty unions. (SK)

Reviews the literature and analyses of the joint problem-solving strategies that have emerged during the 1980s and are used by management and labor to improve company performance, employee welfare, and labor-management relations. Includes a 58-item bibliography and 32 additional references. (JOW)

Data from the Social Science Citation Index were used to rank publication records of 788 scholars in 12 industrial relations and related journals from 1983-88. Such analysis could be used as one objective measure of research excellence in promotion and tenure decisions. (SK)