When he was still President Obama's chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, now mayor-elect of Chicago, famously quipped: "Never allow a crisis to go to waste." Republican governors in Wisconsin, New Jersey, Ohio, and other states have certainly taken that advice to heart. By emphasizing, and in some cases manipulating, the red ink flowing through…

This document contains transcripts of United States Senate hearings of March, 1981, on the Youth Opportunity Wage Act of 1981. The proposed Act would set a lower minimum wage for work performed by youth under the age of 20; and extend the allowable lower wages to be paid in other industries besides the food service and retail industries where they…

In this essay, the author explains how teaching assistant (TA) unions work to the benefit not only of the graduate students who are their members but also of the writing programs that employ them. While university administrations understand unions to be bothersome at best and forces of evil at their worst, unions are essential to the maintenance…

Examines new developments in the automobile industry (specifically, recent union contracts) and how they may change the way we look at the labor/management equation. (CT)

Pay equity remains a problem linked to the problem of low pay. Pay equity must be understood as one solution to the problem of securing a living wage for women and men in the restructuring economy as well as a means for challenging gender equity. (JOW)

Trade unions closely monitor the impact of structural adjustment programs on employment and the industrial relations system, particularly as they affect wages, collective bargaining, and the exercise of union rights. (JOW)

According to an analysis by the AFL-CIO, unemployment is still a problem 4 years after the end of the last recession. Since that time, although employment is up, many jobs lack adequate pay and benefits and many jobs are insecure. In addition, 7.7 million people are still jobless, compared to fewer than 3 million in the 1960s. In addition, the…

Outlines a brief history of the unionization of business and office occupations as well as the contributions of feminist organizations, trade associations, legislative bodies, and wage equity groups toward the achievement of equitable pay for women in office occupations. Also discusses what educators can do to aid business students in the pursuit…

Charges that laziness and indifference among some teachers are due to unions and that recent declines in the quality of education are due to unprofessional teachers are unfounded. School board and administrator leadership and responsibility, including higher teacher wages and mutual respect between administration and the teacher union, are needed.…

During the early twentieth century, Eugene V. Debs supported abolition of child labor, equal pay for equal work for women, and pensions for both men and women. (Author/JOW)

U.S. Labor Secretary Reich argues that training for high-skill work is the key to high-paying jobs. The New Republic's contributing editor, John Judis, attributes wage decline to decline of unions and proposes a compromise between business and labor. (JOW)

A salary-schedule compression is the process of reducing the number of salary schedule steps while still giving annual salary increases. Explains what school districts can do during negotiations to compress a schedule without awarding greater increases than originally intended. A sidebar shows a table for relating years of teaching experience to…

Describes the role and socioeconomic status of translators in the Latin American countries. Blames the poor quality of translations on inadequate compensation based on the piecework system. It also advocates translators' unionization as a first step to obtain higher salaries and contracts covering all benefits guaranteed to workers under labor…

Although teacher unions promote private means of resolving labor conflicts instead of using public courts, they are engaged in a war on privatization, especially contracting out. It is surprising that the media and higher education take seriously the contention that unions do not negatively affect educational achievement. Advocates of "the…

Discusses the formation of the National Union of Women Teachers in England. Examines how it sought to combine, within one organization, elements of feminism, traditional trade union concern for members' salaries and working conditions, and a desire to protect and enhance its members' professional status. (GEA)