Strategies for Union Growth In Food Manufacturing and Agriculture

The labor force and employment conditions in agriculture differ considerably from those in food manufacturing. Furthermore, unionization in agriculture is at an embryonic stage, while in food manufacturing it is well established. Because of these dissimilarities prospects for union growth are not the same and the two industries are treated separately below

The Two Faces of Unionism

Our research demonstrates that the view of unions as organizations whose chief function is to raise wages is seriously misleading. For in addition to raising wages, unions have significant non-wage effects which influence diverse aspects of modern industrial life. By providing workers with a voice both at the workplace and in the political arena, unions can and do affect positively the functioning of the economic and social systems. Although our research on the non-wage effects of trade unions is by no means complete and some results will surely change as more evidence becomes available, enough work has been done to yield the broad outlines of a new view of unionism.

The production of school numbers (1871-1931): contributions to a critical approach to statistical sources in History of Education

O presente artigo pretende contribuir para a reflexão acerca das estatísticas educacionais como fonte para as pesquisas em História da Educação. Buscou-se aqui, principalmente, desvelar a maneira pela qual foram produzidas, no âmbito central, as estatísticas educacionais referentes ao período de 1871 a 1931. Foram analisados relatórios oficiais - da Diretoria Geral de Estatística - e repertórios estatísticos editados por aquela repartição, onde se buscou localizar as recomendações e definições para a realização dos trabalhos. Pretendeu-se, problematizando as fontes documentais de estatística educacional e suas interpretações mais comuns, diminuir o desconhecimento sobre a origem de números escolares, que, eventualmente, são utilizados em pesquisas atuais sem o conveniente exame crítico.Abstract This article intends to contribute to the reflection on the Educational Statistics as being source for the researches on History of Education. The main concern was to reveal the way Educational Statistics related to the period from 1871 to 1931 were produced, in central government. Official reports - from the General Statistics Directory - and Statistics yearbooks released by that department were analyzed and, on this analysis, recommendations and definitions to perform the works were sought. By rending problematic to the documental issues on Educational Statistics and their usual interpretations, the intention was to reduce the ignorance about the origin of the school numbers, which are occasionally used in current researches without the convenient critical exam

Accounting For The Decline in Union Membership

Since the early 50s, the percent of the workforce organized by unions has declined considerably. In the most recent decade that rate of decline has accelerated sharply. In an attempt to discover what factors can account for the overall decline and the further deterioration during the 70s, we decompose the sources of growth and decline to determine the relative importance of changes in organizing activity, success in certification elections, decertifications, and net growth due to economic causes. We find that all factors except decertifications account for a substantial part of the change. In addition, interactions between the factors are very important. A significant finding is that while organizing activity and success rates have been declining over time, the net growth (or loss) of membership due to economic causes has remained stable controlling for the aggregate level of economic activity. We argue that this finding is inconsistent with the prevailing view that the decline in the percent of the workforce organized is primarily due to the decline of the heavily unionized core industries.

Structural Changes in Unionization: 1973-1981

This paper presents a decomposition of the decline in union density into structural and within sector components using CPS data for private sector workers. We find that 58 to 68 percent of the decline in private sector unionization between 1973 and 1981 can be accounted for by structural changes in the economy, particularly in the occupational, educational and gender distribution of the workforce. This is a large impact, but we find that while structural change is important, its importance was not appreciably greate during the 1970s than during previous decades. At the same time, we find that the decline of private sector unionization within sectors has been pervasive, accounting for 32 to 42 percent of union decline. As part of this analysis we find that the decline in union density has been greater in those sectors of the economy where employment decline has been greater. This fact can help reconcile previous divergent findings on the importance of structural change.

No. 07: The Urban Food System of Mexico City, Mexico

This report provides an overview of Greater Mexico City and its food system. The city’s history, demographic characteristics, geography and economy are first discussed. The city’s urban food system and urban food security are then examined with a particular focus on formal and informal food retail, food expenditure patterns, and policies to combat hunger and food insecurity. Meeting the daily food demands of Mexico City’s over 20 million inhabitants requires the agricultural production of Mexico’s rural areas, its fishing industry and food imports. Food products arrive in the city from around the country in a combination of traditional and highly sophisticated modern systems of food supply and distribution. Structural changes in recent decades have led to modifications in the systems of supply, distribution and food consumption with vertically integrated companies now controlling aspects of the food chain. The system of supply and marketing of food products is also characterized by competition between public markets, large wholesale and retail companies, and neighbourhood convenience stores. While levels of household food insecurity (undernutrition) are lower than in other global cities of the South, Mexico City faces an epidemic of overnutrition, obesity and non-communicable diseases

Union Maids: Unions and the Female Workforce

How have women fared in unions in recent years? The major findings of this paper are that unions have been more beneficial for women in the public sector than in the private sector, and that unionism for women is primarily a public sector wriite collar phenomenon distinguished from that of males. According to our analysis:(1) Women have come to be an increasingly large proportion of the unionized work force, and are critical in the one area in which unions have recently succeeded --the public sector.(2) In the public sector and in white collar occupations where women unionists are concentrated, unions raise women's wages more than they raise the wages of men.(3) In the private sector unions have essentially the same effect on women in wages, turnover, employment and so forth, and do not deter affirmative action programs to raise female employment. (4) Comparable worth presents a rare confluence of interests of unions in search of members, particularly in the public sector,and women in search of higher wages, and will likely continue to be used by both especially within the confines of collective bargaining.

An Analysis of Annual Turnover Rates for Canadian Union Presidents

On a fait beaucoup de recherches sur la direction des syndicats et le concept fumeux de la démocratie syndicale. Les études en la matière portent sur le postulat explicite ou implicite de la stabilité de la direction des centrales syndicales au Canada. De ces travaux, on tire généralement des conclusions d'une certitude plus ou moins assurée.C'est ainsi qu'on soutiendra qu'il n'y a que peu de roulement parmi les présidents des centrales canadiennes, que ce roulement, lorsqu'il advient, résulte d'oppositions à l'intérieur du syndicat, qu'il est un bon indicateur du degré de démocratie syndicale et qu'il y a une relation entre le taux de fréquence du roulement et certains facteurs ambiants comme la structure du syndicat, l'action de grève et la situation économique.On retrouve de telles hypothèses tant dans des études de cas sur l'activité interne des syndicats que dans des travaux théoriques sur la démocratie syndicale.L'article précédent étudie de nouveau l'affirmation selon laquelle le renversement des présidents est plutôt rare, qu'il est souvent la résultante de forces politiques et qu'il est une mesure valable de la démocratie syndicale. En outre, il expose et vérifieles postulats qu'on a tirés de ces études pour déterminer dans quelle mesure les facteurs ambiants ont pu avoir d'influence sur le taux de changement de présidents dans les syndicats canadiens. L'étude porte sur une très longue période, c'est-à-dire de 1912 à 1971, et les résultats permettent de mieux comprendre les facteurs qui peuvent exercer une influence sur la stabilité de la direction des syndicats.De cette étude, sont tirées les conclusions suivantes. On note que la croissance du syndicat semble être une motivation de la capacité et du désir des présidents de demeurer en poste et que celle-ci n'a pas d'incidence marquée sur les changements de président. Le recours à la grève ne paraît pas non plus jouer un rôle majeur dans le renversement ou le départ des présidents. L'activité économique, par ailleurs, est plus déterminante, les mutations coïncidant avec les changements de cycles économiques et de variations dans les prix.Un certain nombre de changements ne sont pas attribuables à des facteurs politiques. Aussi, est-il extrêmement difficile de distinguer entre un changement qui est d'ordre politique et un autre qui ne l'est pas, sauf en certains très précis comme la mort pendant la durée du mandat, la prise de la retraite en raison de l'âge et une défaite électorale. Il se peut fort bien qu'une très forte proportion des cas de départ n'aient rien à voir avec les modifications des structures syndicales, l'activité de grève ou la situation économique.Dans l'ensemble, les résultats de l'étude tendent à indiquer un certain déclin dans le taux de roulement des présidents de syndicat. Reste à faire une analyse plus approfondie du rapport entre l'activité de grève et le taux de roulement et il est souhaitable que de nouveaux travaux contribuent à résoudre les questions que pose la présente analyse.This paper re-examines the common views that presidential turnover occurs infrequently, is often the result of political forces and provides an adequate measure of union democracy. Moreover, the authors try to determine to what extent environmental factors influence annual presidential turnover rates among Canadian national unions

Social Networking Individual vs. Crowd Behavior (Connected Intelligence)

The study of Human behavior is much more complicated in various situations, especially on the spectrum of Social Networks. The study of individual behavior cannot be replicated for a group/crowd behavior which can have many social and behavioral dimensions. In the connected world where intelligence is shared among individuals and groups, there exists another kind of complexity which needs to be examined.The complexity of human behaviors as an individual or as a group on the social networks is much more versatile and erratic. The research work studies and analyzes these behaviors in a connected networked intelligent environment and as to how these behaviors are reflected towards Connected Intelligence. Consequently it defines how they can affect the intelligent analytical outcomes. Finally it comes up with a generic model which can be applied in any setup