‘English… it's part of our blood’: Ideologies of language and nation in United States Congressional discourse

Utilizing a combination of corpus linguistics and critical discourse analysis, the article describes ideologies of United States (U.S.) national identity based in civic and ethnic nationalisms. These ideologies circulated during debates and hearings in the U.S. Congress concerning the 2006 reauthorization of provisions of the Voting Rights Act requiring that multilingual voting materials be made available for language minorities in certain jurisdictions. The article argues that although those legislators supporting the use of multilingual voting materials construct an ideology of civic nationalism that promotes inclusion of language minorities, they are still greatly influenced by the dominant language ideology. Those opposing multilingual voting materials construct a U.S. national identity that places stringent requirements on newcomers to assimilate and learn English. These legislators simultaneously attempt to avoid the suspicion of ethnic nationalist ideologies by arguing that English is a neutral entity, detaching it from its dominant linguistic community. The findings suggest that despite Congressional support for multilingual voting materials, the language ideologies present in Congress are not necessarily favorable to the rights of language minorities. These findings have language policy implications in that they suggest opposition to a right to language for linguistic minorities in the U.S.     

Job insecurity and coworker support among U.S. Workers

Abstract

The negative outcomes associated with job insecurity have been well established in the literature. Yet, scholars know very little about how job insecurity is related to coworker relationships in the workplace. Informed by the life stress perspective, this study examines the relationship between job insecurity and coworker support among U.S. workers. It also considers whether relationships diverge by gender. We use data from a nationally representative sample of U.S. workers (N?=?2,822) to examine these relationships. The results showed that job insecurity was negatively related to coworker support among both men and women, with no evidence of gender disparities. Altogether, the findings suggest job insecurity is damaging to the workplace environment, creating barriers to supportive coworker relationships among both men and women.     

Development and Assessment of Measures of Adolescents' Attitudes about Sexual Relationship Rights

Objective: Develop and validate measures of adolescents' attitudes about sexual relationship rights. Methods: Items were completed by students in a large U.S. city (N = 655). The authors conducted an exploratory factor analysis, evaluated internal consistency, and assessed construct validity, including ability to predict sexual behavior at 1-year follow-up. Results: Factor analysis identified 2 distinct factors, comprising attitudes about rights to refuse unwanted sexual activity (5 items) and express sexual engagement needs (5 items) in a sexual relationship. The measures showed sound evidence of reliability and construct validity. Conclusions: The psychometric evidence supports the use of these measures in adolescent sexual health research.     

Trends in Sexuality Education in United States and Canadian Medical Schools

Summary

There has been a concern that earlier gains in the teaching of human sexuality in medical schools may have eroded in recent years. An extensive survey of 109 U.S. and 13 Canadian medical schools revealed that a dramatic decrease in the number of curriculum hours devoted to human sexuality has not occurred. In fact, 28% of U.S. and 36% of Canadian schools have actually increased hours, and ninety-two percent of all medical schools responding currently offer core curriculum material in sexuality, averaging approximately 11 hours in U.S. and 18 hours in Canadian schools. Unfortunately, nearly a third of schools in both countries do not specifically address important health issues, such as sex and illness or disability, and some schools even neglect training in the taking of a sexual history. Data on these issues is important for making future decisions regarding the contents of the increasingly overburdened medical curriculum.     

DOMESTIC OR U.S. NEWS: WHAT DRIVES CANADIAN FINANCIAL MARKETS?

Using a generalized autoregressive conditional heteroscedasticity (GARCH) model, we study the effects of Canadian and U.S. central bank communication and macroeconomic news on Canadian bond, stock, and foreign exchange market returns and volatility. First, Canadian central bank communication is more relevant than its U.S. counterpart, whereas in the case of macro news, that originating from the United States dominates. Second, we find evidence that the impact of Canadian news reaches its maximum when the Canadian target rate departs from the U.S. target rate (2002–2004) and thereafter. The introduction of fixed announcement dates initially does not cause a noticeable break in the data. (JEL E52, G14, G15)     

Mandatory agency shop laws as an explanation of Canada-U.S. union density divergence

X. Conclusion During a period of strength the Canadian labor movement was able to secure enduring legislation providing for their institutional protection. In the 1940s Justice Rand justified his decision by invoking the spirit underlying the operationalization of a collective bargaining regime. In the 1990s the Canadian Supreme Court continued this tradition by refusing to hollow out unions’ rights to a secure financial base and autonomy in decision making. Between the 1940s and the 1990s, the unions' voice was heard in legislatures throughout the country through the NDP. Canadian unions now benefit from, among other things, first-contract arbitration, job protection for striking workers, and a card process of union certification. Thus, although current Canadian attitudes towards unions show considerable detachment, the embeddedness of legal protections helps hold such challenges as RTW in Alberta at bay. During the same years, American labor was unable to translate its strength of numbers into gains in public policy: in fact, as union density peaked, legislation such as the Taft-Hartley Act and Landrum-Griffin Act eroded union institutional protections. An earlier version of this article appears as “Union Security in Canada,” in The Internal Governance and Organizational Effectiveness of Labor Unions, edited by S. Estreicher, H. C. Katz, and B. E. Kaufman, Kluwer Press. We are grateful for their permission to reproduce portions of the chapter. Comments from Dennis Nolan (University of South Carolina) and John Godard (University of Manitoba) are greatly appre-ciated. The article benefited from their excellent suggestions. Research assistance from Fred Jacques is acknowledged. We follow the Canadian spelling of “labour” for accuracy when it is used in citations, quotes, and titles.     

INTERPERSONAL CONTEXT AT WORK AND THE FREQUENCY,APPRAISAL, AND CONSEQUENCES OF BOUNDARY‐SPANNING DEMANDS

Compared to job‐specific conditions, the interpersonal context of work has received less attention from work–family scholars. Using data from a 2007 U.S. survey of workers (N = 1,286), we examine the impact of workplace social support and interpersonal conflict on work–family conflict and exposure to boundary‐spanning demands—as indexed by the frequency that workers receive work‐related contact outside of normal work hours. Findings indicate that workplace social support is associated negatively with work‐to‐family conflict, while interpersonal conflict at work is associated with higher levels of work‐to‐family conflict. Results also indicate that both supportive and conflictive work contexts are associated with more frequent exposure to boundary‐spanning demands. However, workers in supportive contexts are more likely to appraise these demands as beneficial for accomplishing work tasks, and are less likely to appraise them as disruptive to family roles. By contrast, workers in conflictive contexts are more likely to appraise demands as disruptive to family roles, and are less likely to appraise them as beneficial for paid work. Consequently, our findings underscore the resource and demands aspects of interpersonal work contexts and their implications for the work–family interface.     

Involuntary vs. voluntary flexible work: insights for scholars and stakeholders

ABSTRACT

Building on insights from the early stages of our research partnership with a U.S. Fortune 500 organization, we came to differentiate between voluntary and involuntary schedule variability and remote work. This differentiation underscores the complexity behind flexible schedules and remote work, especially among white-collar, salaried professionals. We collected survey data among the partner firm's information technology (IT) workforce to evaluate whether these forms of flexibility had different implications for workers, as part of the larger Work, Family, and Health Network Study. We find that a significant minority of these employees report working variable schedules and working at home involuntarily. Involuntary variable schedules are associated with greater work-to-family conflict, stress, burnout, turnover intentions, and lower job satisfaction in models that adjust for personal characteristics, job, work hours, family demands, and other factors. Voluntary remote work, in contrast, is protective and more common in this professional sample. Employees working at least 20% of their hours at home and reporting moderate or high choice over where they work have lower stress and intentions to leave the firm. These findings point to the importance of both stakeholders and scholars distinguishing between voluntary and involuntary forms of flexibility, even in a relatively advantaged workforce.     

AFSCME as a political union

AFSCME has emerged as the third largest union in the U. S. and the largest public-sector affiliate of the AFL-C1O. Since the 1960s, its leadership has vigorously pursued organizing and political action. Despite its highly visible role in U.S. politics, little systematic research exists on the union in this context. I examine AFSCME's political apparatus, the scope of its electoral and legislative involvement, its political ideology and legislative priorities, and its political effectiveness. I also explore the controversy regarding the use of compulsory dues for political purposes, and AFSCME's resulting rebate procedure. I find that AFSCME donates a considerable portion of its resources to political action (between 10 percent to a third of its budget at the international level), that its political ideology is focused heavily on expanding the rights and economic status of public employees, and that AFSCME has emerged as a prominent, if not the prominent, political union in the U.S. labor movement.     

Local Produce,Foreign Labor: Labor Mobility Programs and Global Trade Competitiveness in Canada*

Abstract Temporary visa workers are increasingly taking on a heightened profile in Canada, entering the workforce each year in greater numbers than immigrant workers with labor mobility rights (Sharma 2006). This paper examines the incorporation of foreign workers in Canadian horticulture under the Seasonal Agricultural Workers Program (SAWP). I argue that foreign labor supplied under the SAWP secures a flexible workforce for employers and thus improves Canada's trade competitiveness in the global agrifood market. Using multiple research strategies, I track the evolution of Canadian horticulture in the global market and the transformation of labor in this industry. I outline the steady growth in the employment of temporary visa workers in the horticultural industry and show how they have become the preferred and, in some cases, core workforce for horticulture operations. The benefits of SAWP workers to employers include the provision of a workforce with limited rights relative to domestic workers and considerable administrative support in selecting, dispatching, and disciplining workers provided at no cost by labor supply countries. I conclude that the SAWP is a noteworthy example of the role of immigration policy in regulating the labor markets of high‐income economies and thus ensuring the position of labor‐receiving states within the global political economy.     

Immigration and the earnings of youth in the U.S.

"This article reports findings that have emerged from an effort made at statistically measuring the effects of immigration on the earnings of U.S.-born youth. The presence of immigrants arriving before 1965 has a positive impact on youth earnings. Recently arrived immigrants impact negatively, however. These results are consistent with recent findings that the skill level of immigrants arriving within the last two decades is lower relative to that of immigrants arriving earlier. The results also show that the negative effects diminish as the youth ages, reflecting skill acquisition and job mobility of the young worker into jobs less vulnerable to competition from immigrant workers."     

A Not Merely Charitable Alliance: Anti-Poverty Workers Within and Against the State

This essay explores the insurgent practices of members of the Volunteers in Service to America (VISTA) program from 1965–1973. VISTA is situated historically in relation to New Left community organizing projects and the War on Poverty. Testimonials of VISTA workers demonstrate that many developed political perspectives critical of the “war” in which they had enlisted. Records of collective mobilization chart how VISTA workers attempted to form a labor union and bring the program under community control. Their largest organization, the National VISTA Alliance, represented a form of social justice unionism ante litteram within and against the U.S. state.     

Pick-Your-Own Labor: Migrant Workers and Flexibility in Canadian Agriculture1

This paper explores the structures and practices of temporary migrant worker programs (TMWP) as they operate in Canadian agriculture. Acting within highly competitive, globalized markets, agri-food employers rely on the availability of migrant workers to achieve greater flexibility in their labor arrangements, drawing on employment practices beyond those possible with a domestic workforce. Most recently, changes to Canada’s two TMWP schemes have provided employers with greater scope to shape the social composition of their workforce. The paper analyzes these changes while exploring their implications for workplace regimes in agriculture.     

GONE FISHING! REPORTED SICKNESS ABSENTEEISM AND THE WEATHER

A fundamental challenge in informing employer–employee agency problems is measuring employee shirking activity. We identify the propensity of employees to misreport health in order to exploit favorable weather by linking Canadian weather data and survey data on short‐term spells of sickness absenteeism among indoor workers during the non‐winter months. The results point to a clear tendency for reported sickness absenteeism to rise with the recreational quality of the weather. Comparing across workers suggests larger marginal weather effects where shirking costs are higher, which we show is consistent with employees' marginal utility of outdoor leisure increasing in the interaction of their health and weather quality. We discuss the implications of our findings for flexible vacation policies and survey respondents' trust in the confidentiality guarantees of statistical agencies. (JEL D82, I10, J22)     

Determinants of Retirement Timing Expectations in the United States and Australia: A Cross-National Comparison of the Effects of Health and Retirement Benefit Policies on Retirement Timing Decisions

Data from the U.S. Health and Retirement Study (N = 2,589) and the Australian Household Income and Labour Dynamics survey (N = 1,760) were used to compare the macro-level policy frameworks on individual retirement timing expectations for pre–baby boomers (61+ years) and early baby boomers (45 to 60 years). Australian workers reported younger expected age of retirement compared to the U.S. sample. Reporting poor health was more strongly associated with younger expected retirement age in the United States than in Australia. Cohort and gender differences in the United States were found for the effect of private health insurance on younger expected age at retirement. Our results draw attention to how cross-national comparisons can inform us on the effects of policies on retirement expectations among older workers.     

Evolution of nonunion employee representation in Canada

Canadians have greater latitude in operating nonunion plans without fear of unfair labor practice challenges, while Americans are constrained by the National Labor Relations Act. The reasons for Canada’s divergence from the U.S. approach are described. The details of Canadian statutes pertaining to nonunion representation are discussed. The article then explores the nonunion terrain that developed in Canada in the face of the continued legality of nonunion representation. The fates of a number of historically significant nonunion plans are presented. New data from a 1996 survey by Lipset and Meltz indicate that despite significant public policy differences, penetration of nonunion forms is remarkably similar in the two countries.     

The construction and psychometric properties of an instrument measuring support for sexual rights

The purpose of this paper is to report the findings of an attempt to construct and examine the psychometric properties of an instrument that measures support for the 11 sexual rights formulated by the World Association of Sexology. Since international conferences held in the mid‐1990s, a new approach to sexual issues has been promoted by health professionals, sex educators, and human rights advocates. This approach emphasizes the empowerment of individuals and examines sexual health concerns within a human rights framework. Goals of a sexual rights approach have been to promote awareness and advocacy of sexual issues and especially to facilitate the work toward better sex education and sexual health services. Analysis of reliability and validity data from two university samples (n = 388 and n = 175) indicated that the majority of the sexual rights scales have acceptable psychometric properties. This paper concludes with a discussion of ways to improve the scales for future use and the need to validate the scales using samples that allow generalizability of findings.     

Mexican Workers and U.S. Agriculture: The Revolving Door

Western U.S. agriculture is an industry that has shaped and been shaped by a peculiar labor policy: seasonal workers were outsiders who looked to agriculture for jobs, not careers. They did not plan to remain farm workers, and the industry and community in which they worked and lived did not see them as long‐term settlers. The immigration and integration policy, in effect, was to recruit new workers willing to accommodate themselves to seasonal employment, and to avoid their integration in agricultural areas. Thus, for most immigrant workers, economic mobility required geographic mobility. However, the major policy issue is not how to enhance the upward mobility of immigrant farm workers and their children; it is how U.S. agriculture should gain access to immigrant farm workers.