State of the unions: Assessment by elite American labor leaders

One hundred and sixty-four elite union leaders in the United States completed a survey to assess the condition of the American labor movement and the factors affecting it. The respondents included high-level international union and state federation officers, central labor presidents, and 58 shop stewards. This study compares the responses of these labor officials and finds that they have similar, negative assessments of the condition of the American labor movement. The study also finds that these leaders agree that the most important factors affecting the labor movement are collective bargaining rights, union leadership, union member solidarity, and the NLRB.     

Discriminating characteristics of union members’ attitudes toward drug testing in the workplace

In this study of the acceptance by union members of drug testing in the workplace, 919 union members from 13 major unions were asked what drug-testing policy, if any, they preferred. Respondents evaluated particular aspects of a hypothetical drug-testing program. The results show that a large majority of union members agree with a limited drug-testing policy. Five theoretical models of union member attitudes were extrapolated to the drug-testing context and were examined by using discriminant function analysis. No support was found for the individual demographics theory, but empirical support was found for some elements of instrumental union, bargaining outcomes, general normative attitude, and workplace conditions theory. The discriminant function was 80.56 percent successful in classifying union members who accept drug testing.     

Open Road or Blind Alley? Welfare Reform, Mothers, and Children with Disabilities

Welfare reform was examined for 39 Michigan families whose children have significant health or intellectual and behavioral disabilities. As a group, these families received little specialized assistance or services to address their unique needs. Family-cited barriers to self-sufficiency included poorly trained welfare caseworkers, limited public transportation, and inadequate child care. Having an older child was the only discriminating variable between working and non-working mothers. However, working mothers only had temporary positions with no benefits and low pay. All families, whether employed or not, lived below the poverty line.     

The changing character of strikes involving permanent striker replacements, 1935–1990

Using NLRB cases reporting hiring of striker replacements, I provide a longitudinal analysis of 165 strikes from 1935–1990. Strikes since 1981 most closely resembled strikes occurring from 1938–1947: They lasted longer and involved more strikers and more replacements than strikes in the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s. Interestingly, NLRB disposition of employer unfair labor practice charges remained fairly constant throughout the 55 years analyzed and overwhelmingly favored unions. Although my findings are preliminary, they suggest that more empirical analysis of replacement strikes is warranted. I also suggest how some existing strike models can be readily adapted to explain replacement strike phenomena. I thank Stephanie Mason and Brian Dilley for their research assistance and an anonymous referee for insightful suggestions.     

Bootstrap confidence interval estimates of cpk: an introduction

The interpretation of C_pk:, a common measure of process capability and confidence limits for it, is based on the assumption that the process is normally distributed. The non-parametric but computer intensive method called Bootstrap is introduced and three Bootstrap confidence interval estimates for C^ are defined. An initial simulation of two processes (one normal and the other highly skewed) is presented and discussed     

A survey of social workers' attitudes and use of body and sex psychotherapies

Summary This article has indicated the use, and attitudes toward use, of newer, perhaps questionable, treatment modes by social workers and has considered some related problems. It suggests that it is imperative for the profession to begin exploring these problems and developing forums, instruments, and mechanisms whereby the issues can be addressed and policy formulated and implemented.The author wishes to acknowledge the assistance of graduate social work students Ronald Bailey, Sally King, Colleen McGuigan, Barbara Sejnoski, and David Stout, on questionnaire construction and evaluation.     

DISAGGREGATION IN MANUFACTURING AND SERVICE ORGANIZATIONS: SURVEY OF PROBLEMS AND RESEARCH

This paper addresses a class of problems, referred to as “disaggregation problems,” which lie between planning at the top level and the more detailed decisions of inventory control and scheduling at the bottom level. Most real-world problems are sufficiently complex to warrant a sequential or top-down approach to problem solving. However, researchers have paid scant attention to disaggregation until very recently. The resulting lack of an interfacing mechanism diminishes the utility of solution procedures for aggregate planning, inventory control, and scheduling. In order to draw attention to this gap, a taxonomy of disaggregation problems is developed for both manufacturing and service organizations. The purpose is to identify and classify problems, describe representative research, and identify unresolved issues.