Segmented Labor Markets in Alabama's Pulp and Paper Industry1

Abstract Alabama's forest products industry plays a dominant role in the state's rural economy. Examination of how access to employment opportunities is distributed provides insight into how the benefits of this industry are distributed. Based on a combination of available secondary data and semi-structured interviews with management and workers in the pulp and paper sector of Alabama's forest products industry, a clear picture of segmented labor markets emerges in which structural and cultural factors determine access to certain jobs. The evolution of these highly segmented labor markets is traced from deep roots in racial discrimination to contemporary efforts in support of affirmative action. Increased use of sub-contracting in logging, hauling, and mill work represents the most recent change affecting the structure of labor markets associated with the production of pulp and paper.     

Critical Analysis of the Relationship between Local Ownership and Community Resiliency*

Abstract Collectively, current resource‐development literature has given little attention to organizational features of ownership as important variables in community resilience. By drawing from six local buyout cases in Canada's forest sector, we reveal the complexity and numerous constraints on local ownership and expose a more nuanced context than most sociologists tend to consider. Our findings suggest that the meaning of local ownership and community resilience varies depending upon the composition (e.g., private vs. public; mill vs. forest license vs. coupled mill & forest license), type (social, cooperative, trust and/or direct‐share ownership), extent of ownership (percentage of local versus extra‐local shares), and the level of control (e.g., proportion of locally held seats on the Board of Directors) associated with ownership. Future research on local ownership should more carefully differentiate between the nature of local ownership and its associated outcomes.     

Rainforest conservation as a strategy of climate policy

Tropical forest conservation in developing countries has repeatedly been highlighted as a new element in international climate policy. However, no clear ideas yet exist as to what shape such a conservation strategy might take. In the present paper, we would like to make some observations to this end. It is shown how projects in order to reduce CO₂-emissions resulting from deforestation and degradation (REDD) can be integrated into a system of tradable emission rights in an industrialised country and which requirements ought to be fulfilled. Instruments are emission credits and emission allowances. Driving actors interested in emission rights through forest projects may be private investors or the rainforest state itself. The efficiency of the system depends on a great extent on a binding reference path for the tolerable emissions from deforestation, which has been agreed upon and adhered to by the rainforest country by means of a forest law aimed at limiting deforestation. Our considerations lead us to conclude that the national baseline approach with an appropriate contribution by the rainforest country coupled with a decentralised system with private investors seems the most viable option. Since additional burdens are imposed on the rainforest country to some extent, a compromise could consist of agreeing on a moderate deforestation path, which is harmonised with the benefits from the forest projects. Combining both programmes (offset credits and emission allowances) is particularly attractive because all participants, and especially the industrialised country, benefit from it. The industrialised country can expand its climate conservation programme without any additional costs to a certain degree.     

Assessment of physical exposures and comparison of exposure definitions in a repetitive sawmill occupation: trim-saw operator

This paper describes the physical exposures required to perform a sawmill job associated with a high incidence of upper extremity musculoskeletal injury. Exposure variables are described by multiple posture, exertion and frequency definitions and the comparability of those definitions are examined. Effective industrial prevention efforts require an accurate assessment of risk. Surface electromyography and electrogoniometry were used to quantify the physical exposures of 29 trim-saw operators in four sawmill facilities. Average wrist ranges of motion of 32, 57 and 58 degrees in wrist radial/ulnar deviation, flexion/extension and pronation/supination respectively were required to perform the job. Defining wrist range of motion by the peak postures observed versus those required to perform the primary task resulted in significantly different ranges of motion (p<0.05). Job performance required an average of 33% of maximum voluntary contraction. Repetitions per day ranged from 3,549 to 14,460. Percentage of maximum voluntary contraction was not associated with psychophysical measures of exertion.     

Life skills training and the politics of personal effectiveness

In recent years social and life skills curriculum has emerged to occupy an important place in new training initiatives, particularly those associated with YTS and pre-vocational courses such as TVEI, CPVE and City and Guids 365.* one level the attraction of‘life skills’training is that it is relevant and address, in ways that traditional Liberal and General Studies could not, the practical problems likely to affect young people as adults, as parents and as employees. another, ambiguity surrounds the criteria upon which such skills for living are constructed and appraised, not least because of their close behavioural connection with altering young peoples’attitudes toward authority, industry and society. Despite recent concern about the dangers of bias and indoctrination elsewhere in mainstream education, this controversial aspect of government intervention in vocational training (DEP 1981; MSC 1981; DEP 1984) has escaped the critical attention of those who currently express concern about standards in education (Scrution et al 1985). For this reason the paper seeks to examine the kind of‘official’thinking which lies behind life skills training, and the skills which are thought necessary to enhance the‘personal effectiveness’of young people. This would seem all the more important in view of the government's contention that technical and vocational education (14-18) now constitutes a viable alternative for those who fail to succeed in mainstream education. (DEP 1981, 1984; MSC 1981, 1982a).     

“The Paper that You Have in Your Hand is My Freedom”: Migrant Domestic Work and the Sponsorship (Kafala) System in Lebanon

A recent report on migrant domestic work in Lebanon has cited psychological disorder among Lebanese “Madams” as the leading cause of violence against their migrant maids (Jureidini, 2011, www.kafa.org.lb/StudiesPublicationPDF/PRpdf38.pdf ). This report typifies much of the existing scholarship on the experiences of migrant domestic workers (MDWs) in the Middle East, where the focus is on employer–employee relationships, especially the abusive Arab “Madam.” In this paper, I argue that the portrayal of violations of MDW rights as abuse of one set of women by another is inherently problematic on several fronts. It privatizes the structural problem of workers’ and immigrant rights violations, delegates it to the household, and absolves the state of its responsibility. Moreover, the focus on abusive employers takes attention away from the root of the problem – the inherently exploitative system of migration and recruitment in the region, the sponsorship system. The sponsorship system not only creates conditions for much of these violations, but also systematically produces a new population of readily exploitable worker – the category of “illegal workers.” Oral histories and interviews with individual workers are employed to analyze the process by which illegal workers are “produced” in Lebanon. Finally, focus group discussions highlight critical policy recommendations made by the workers themselves, which address the systemic bases of their exploitation in Lebanon.     

Returning to YTS: the long-term impact of youth training scheme participation

ABSTRACT

Shortly after leaving Leicester for Scotland Andy Furlong began to wrestle with the complexities of school to work transitions as captured by the 1986 sweep of the British Cohort Study (BCS). His analysis was published as Schooling for Jobs. Although a relatively short text, this book was vitally important as it documented in detail, for the first time, the changes to career preparations of British secondary school children at the mid-point of a decade where the impact of deindustrialising processes, coupled with the neo-liberal policies of the political right, had ravaged the UK economy and decimated the youth labour market. The mid 1980s were a turning point that marked a shift to ‘individuals’ having responsibility for future career successes and the blaming of young people themselves for any perceived labour market failings. Central to this process was the Youth Training Scheme (YTS). Based on recent collaborations with Andy exploring YTS we have two main aims here. First, we revisit the BCS data to update the story and answer three interrelated questions: (i) what happened to the YTS participants from Furlong’s analysis?; (ii) what were the long-term career and life ‘impacts’ for those who participated in YTS during the 1980s?; and (iii) were these job substitution schemes or gateways to real and meaningful work? Second, we conclude by reflecting upon this aspect of Andy’s legacy and the shape of future research on youth training schemes.     

Ergonomic considerations for a systemic approach: the millenium maize mills project in northern Mozambique

Malnutrition is a major problem for rural areas of Sub-Saharan Africa. Technology such as the maize mill, which alleviates the burden of pounding grain, also introduces opportunities and new challenges for improved nutrition. While there have been many technical studies of grain mills, and maize mills are in operation in hundreds of locations throughout Sub-Saharan Africa, the maize mill has not been studied from a socio-technical system perspective. This paper reports on the first phase of a study grounded on the hypothesis that mills can improve nutrition by exploiting their function as a social gathering point and providing both instruction and enjoyable healthful products. The objective was to identify those products that could be made available that customers at the mill would be willing to buy. Following observation of food availability, preparation, and consumption preferences within daily work routines, sample products were prepared and presented for cooking and consumption, along with some discussion at a district center mill owned by a local woman. The responses of customers and the mill owner were positive. Strategies for local manufacture and distribution of these products for sale and roles of the mill owner and the mothers are questions for future study.     

Barriers to evidence based practice in accommodations for an aging workforce

According to a recent Government Accountability Office report, the number of workers over age 55 is projected to increase significantly over the next twenty years, with this demographic group projected to comprise as much as twenty percent of the workforce by 2015 [12]. Accommodating the functional limitations of a large number of older workers may prove challenging for employers; however, policies and practices shaped over the course of the next few decades could allow aging workers to remain a valuable part of the US economy. Given these considerations, it is useful from a public policy perspective to determine the degree to which employers are currently addressing the accommodation needs of older workers. This paper presents the results of a study that attempted to determine the extent to which a sample of Fortune 500 employers was currently accommodating older workers. The study's methodology (in particular, its use of semi-structured telephone interviews) is reevaluated and new options (such as anonymous online employer surveys) are considered for the valid and reliable collection of data on accommodations for older workers.     

Intercultural consolidation: exploring the experiences of internationally qualified social workers and the English post-qualifying framework

The increasing movement of social workers from one country to another, especially with the expansion of the European Union, appears likely to pose a number of challenges to host countries in terms of receiving, supporting and developing social workers who trained in other countries. This paper explores the provision of a post-qualifying ‘consolidation’ module to a group of 15 internationally qualified social workers and evaluates both the student experience and the cultural challenges faced by individual social workers who came to practise in England after qualifying in their home countries. These social workers undertook the module at the University of Greenwich in London, England, and were selected for this as a part of a project with two London boroughs. Factors which have an important influence on successful ‘settlement’ into a new role and culture are discussed and analysed. It is argued that the provision of post-qualifying training can be a key part of the acculturation process but timing and other factors need to be considered. The paper explores what was learned from the project and its evaluation about the experiences and support needs of internationally qualified social workers. The project took place in 2007–2008 and was evaluated by students, the teaching team, stakeholders from services and service users.     

Working relationships

This paper describes a workshop intended to promote greater understanding and future cooperation between health visitors, general practitioners and social workers. The workshop has been run for students on qualifying courses but its content and procedures are relevant for programmes for qualified workers. The paper outlines the aims and practice of the workshop and some of the issues arising from it.     

‘We've Also Become Quite Good Friends’: Environmentalists,Social Networks and Social Comparison in British Columbia,Canada

Social networks influence social movement recruitment and individuals' ongoing participation in social movement organizations. In this article, we use a qualitative approach to explore the meaning of social networks for environmental movement participants in British Columbia, Canada. Our analysis draws on interviews with 33 core members of the movement. Environmental group participation creates multiplex social networks, encompassing work, leisure and friendship. Social movement networks are conduits for information exchange among environmental groups and they amplify the political power of individual participants. Ties to government workers and forest company management are more intense – based on frequency of contact – than ties to forestry labour or First Nations groups. However, forestry workers and First Nations are viewed more positively than government or forest company management. This illustrates how the intensity of social network ties can be distinguished from the subjective meanings attached to them by network participants.     

Body Dysmorphic Disorder and Its Significance to Social Work

Body dysmorphic disorder (BDD) is a relatively common and often severe psychiatric disorder in which an individual has an excessive preoccupation with an imagined or slight defect in his or her appearance (American Psychiatric Association in Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders. American Psychiatric Association, Washington, 2000). Despite its prevalence in the United States and worldwide, many health care and mental health professionals, including social workers, are unfamiliar with BDD. In fact, BDD is virtually absent from the social work literature and no authors or researchers have considered BDD from a social work perspective. The purpose of this article is to inform social workers about the seriousness, prevalence and treatment challenges of BDD, and to highlight its significance to social work practice and research. A clinical case presentation illustrates an example of how BDD may present in practice and the value of addressing it from a biopsychosocial perspective.     

Precarious work: A global perspective

Precarious work is universal, though its forms and consequences vary across countries due to institutional, cultural, and historical differences. This article reviews recent research on precarious work from a global perspective, emphasizing the comparative and interdisciplinary research needed for a comprehensive understanding of the structural transformations in contemporary capitalism that promote precarious work. The article has three foci. First, research that details the diverse forms of precarious work, which have become increasingly heterogeneous as national labor markets have been interwoven with global production networks. Second, research on precarious work that emphasizes its disparate impacts for women, youth, the elderly, racial and ethnic minority groups, and migrants, revealing an articulation of precarity and social cleavages. Third, research on the politics associated with precarious work and how some precarious workers have successfully organized and mobilized their interests, such as by unionizing and becoming involved in electoral politics. Still, questions remain regarding precarious work: how precarious workers differ from regular workers in representing their interests and demands and whether precarious workers are a new, independent social class or remain part of a changing working class. Finally, topics for future research on the global dimensions of precarious work are discussed.     

Work-family culture and job satisfaction: does gender and parenting status alter the relationship?

Previous studies on work-family culture have examined its relationship with different employee outcomes (e.g., work-family conflict, job satisfaction, commitment) but neglected one important question; namely, who are most likely to benefit from a supportive work-family culture in terms of positive employee outcomes? The aim of this study was to shed new light on the work-family culture–job satisfaction linkage by examining the moderator effects of gender and parenting status in this relationship. Specifically, we asked whether gender and parenting status would alter the association between work-family culture and job satisfaction. We hypothesized – on the basis of traditional gender roles – that women, and especially mothers, would benefit most from a family supportive organizational culture. We utilized three divergent samples gathered from male (N=768) and female (N=1364) employees in Finland: (1) a female-dominated sample from social and health care; (2) a male-dominated sample from paper industry; and (3) more gender-mixed sample from the ICT company. Work-family culture was described through its positive (work-family support) and negative facets (work-family barriers), whereas job satisfaction was operationalized via a facet-based scale. Hierarchical moderated regression analyses performed separately for the three different organizations revealed that the results for mothers and fathers under the condition of high work-family support differed in the paper mill and the information and communication technology (ICT) company. Thus, in addition to gender, the type of organization also moderated the relationship. Specifically, in the paper mill, mothers benefited more from high work-family support than fathers, whereas in the ICT company the reverse situation held: fathers benefited more than mothers. Thus, high work-family support was associated with higher job satisfaction among mothers in the paper mill and among fathers in the ICT company.     

Temporary Skilled Migration to Australia: Employers' Perspectives1

With the 1996 introduction of a new visa making it easier for employers to sponsor skilled foreign workers, temporary skilled migration has become a significant component of international migration flows to Australia. This paper examines employers' reasons for sponsoring skilled workers from abroad, their modes of recruitment, the occupational skills they require, and their industry profile. We also discuss issues relating to the perception of a shortage of skilled workers, the extent that sponsoring foreign workers substitutes for investing in local training, and the role of networks in recruiting overseas workers. Many employers' now have a global view of labour recruitment. While this is understandable for multinational companies with global operations, many small businesses and public sector institutions are adopting the same strategy to obtain skilled labour which they say is in short supply in Australia. With the internationalization of the Australian economy, there is also an increasing demand for people with specialized skills and knowledge that is not available in Australia's relatively small labour market. An understanding of the demand factors motivating temporary skilled migration is crucial to effectively managing Australia's migration and labour trends.     

Making a living at the interface of legality and illegality: Chinese migrant workers in Israel1

Since the late 1990s, Israel has become a new destination for Chinese migrant workers. In the view of many studies conducted in Israel, the Chinese migrant workers are often a neglected and almost invisible group. The purpose of this paper is to explore the initiation of this migration trend and its social consequences. The major discussion of this study focuses on how the whole process of migration is carried out at the interface between legality and illegality. Research in the sending area suggests that the urgent need for manual labour in Israel provides possibilities to attract both documented and undocumented migrant workers and therefore turns labour transportation into a profitable business. Although no one agrees that undocumented working activities should continue, all of the factors interact and result in a permissive situation allowing this particular combination of the illegal but licit to persist in transnational labour migration. More than anything else, this micro‐level study attempts to find the true story from the individual voices of local people.     

‘Something to Deal With’: Customer Sexual Harassment and Women's Retail Service Work in Canada

While sexual harassment in the workplace has been extensively researched over the past two decades, the majority of studies have focused on employer–employee or co-worker relationships. In contrast, the issue of ‘customer sexual harassment’ (i.e. the sexual harassment of employees by customers) has been less explicitly explored. This paper examines customer sexual harassment in the Canadian context, drawing on a study of 63 female retail service workers and 20 security workers. It focuses on the nature, prevalence, and consequences of this form of harassment for women who work in various jobs in retail sales (e.g. flower shops, book shops). Findings from the study suggest that customer sexual harassment is a significant problem. Not only have a majority of women been sexually harassed by customers in their current job, but they appear to be highly constrained in dealing with such behaviour. To the extent that the work environment privileges the customer, through its emphasis on customer satisfaction, women are reluctant to confront harassers and may engage in behaviours (e.g. avoiding male customers, being less friendly) which potentially impact their performance on the job. The paper examines the dilemmas facing female workers and the policy issues raised.     

Professional identity and continuing education: A study of social workers in hospital settings

In a Master of Social Work study, looking at Continuing Professional Education (CPE) for social workers, it was found that the profession's status and image are linked to the status of continuing professional education. Other major findings were that the schools of social work have not inculcated the concept of CPE into undergraduates as a norm, and that until the recent establishment of the National Continuing Professional Education and Practice Standards Project, the profession itself had not accorded CPE a high status. Such long-term neglect has impacted on the position of social work in organisations and on the professional identity of workers. The study was undertaken from a qualitative perspective, with the data arising from the field. Interviews were held in focus groups which consisted of social workers in teaching hospitals at various levels: new graduates of less than two years experience, experienced workers of more than five years experience and co-ordinators of CPE programs. The interviews were guided by an inquiry instrument, and conducted at six metropolitan hospitals in Melbourne with fifty social workers participating.     

Responses of the social work profession to unaccompanied children seeking asylum in the Republic of Ireland

The Republic of Ireland is rapidly developing immigration legislation and policies to respond to its relatively new status as a destination for asylum seekers and refugees within the European Union. New political definitions of asylum seekers and refugees are being constructed in a country with its own history of mass emigration. At the same time, the economic growth that is making Ireland a more attractive destination for asylum seekers and refugees has also fuelled an unprecedented expansion in the employment of social workers. Specialized services are now being developed for unaccompanied children who are seeking asylum. This expansion in the number of social workers and growth in service provision has led to little professional debate about the role of social workers with asylum seekers and refugees. This paper examines the questions raised by the provision of social work services to these children and considers the wider implications for the development of the social work profession and social work practices in Ireland.