In recent years, issues pertaining to graduate student union organizing have been at the center of several political battles and court cases. This attention is, at least in part, due to the growth of graduate student unions at a time when organized labor's influence is receding in other, more traditionally unionized sectors of the labor force. As…

When the economy is depressed, resources are limited, mandates are overwhelming, and the organizational climate in the district is souring, education leaders and teachers union officials often brace themselves for contentious negotiations. Poor economic conditions affect the district's ability to offer raises, maintain current benefit levels, and…

Returning to work after cancer treatment provides its own set of challenges. The purpose of this research paper is to inform cancer survivors of the reality of returning to work after treatment. From personal experience and stories from others getting back to a "normal" life is a large part of the recovery from cancer. Returning to work can be the…

Examines three of the changes wrought by coal mining: (1) the miner's working conditions; (2) the establishment of company towns; and (3) the violence that ensued when miners from Harlan County, Kentucky, referred to as "Bloody Harlan," tried to better their lives by joining labor unions. (CMK)

The principle of decent work was first espoused in the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Since 1999 the International Labour Organisation has operated according to a Decent Work Agenda and in recent times the movement towards the provision of decent work as a means of improving the quality of life has gathered momentum. Decent work is…

The publication of "Learning Through Life," the main report of the Inquiry into the Future for Lifelong Learning, has been welcomed across the trade union movement. It offers a useful and useable framework for discussing the learning needs of people through the different stages of life and makes compelling suggestions about how to adjust…

Examines the experience of worker participation and finds that the tendency is for such programs to weaken unions and limit workers' power in significant ways. (JOW)

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…

This country's economic success depends upon how well all levels of our educational and training systems prepare workers to keep pace with increasingly rapid economic and social changes. (JOW)

A survey of 630 union members received 400 replies indicating that members who participate in quality of work life programs were more loyal to the union. However, perceived effectiveness of grievance procedures was a stronger determinant of attitudes toward the union. (SK)

Using previously unreleased data on nearly every authorized work stoppage that occurred between 1984 and 2002, this paper tests whether the positive wage-strike relationship held following the breakdown of the post-war labor-capital accord. Unlike in decades past, these findings indicate a complete decoupling of the wage-strike relationship. Even…

Discusses why it is difficult to sustain employee involvement (EI) processes and examines strategies for renewing EI efforts that appear to be fading. (JOW)

A comparison of data from a Eugene, Oregon, worker survey with data from the Quality of Employment Survey found that union job dissatisfaction arises from factors independent of wages and working conditions. Union perspectives of working conditions do not accurately reflect objective measures of conditions. The dissatisfaction expressed has real…

An ethnographic study of unionized nurses in a psychiatric hospital showed how collaborative decision making and innovative conflict resolution allowed nurses to voice their professional concerns and serve as a legitimate ideological force in the hospital culture. Union nurses were able to influence positive changes and advocate for better care.…

By working with labor unions, health educators have the opportunity to reach worker groups that have been ignored by many worksite health promotion programs. A union-based smoking cessation program is described, and general guidelines for worksite health promotion are given. (IAH)