Latinos and Middle Eastern Americans: Work Discrimination

This issue brief demonstrates how both Latinos and Middle Eastern Americans suffer from discrimination in the workplace. It highlights the issue that affirmative action is evidently not doing enough for the minority groups it is meant to affect, and should be applied to Middle Eastern Americans, many of whom are Muslim and thus suffer from work discrimination on the basis of their religion, too

A guest-worker state? The declining power and agency of migrant labour in Australia

This article presents an historical and comparative analysis of the bargaining power and agency conferred upon migrant workers in Australia under distinct policy regimes. Through an assessment of four criteria – residency status, mobility, skill thresholds and institutional protections – we find that migrant workers arriving in Australia in the period from 1973 to 1996 had high levels of bargaining power and agency. Since 1996, migrant workers’ power and agency has been incrementally curtailed, to the extent that Australia’s labour immigration policy resembles a guest-worker regime where migrants’ rights are restricted, their capacity to bargain for decent working conditions with their employers is truncated and their agency to pursue opportunities available to citizens and permanent residents is diminished. In contrast to recent assessments that Australia’s temporary visa system is working effectively, our analysis indicates that it is failing to protect temporary migrants at work

Migrant labour and low quality work: a persistent relationship

The marginalisation of migrants at work, especially those in industries and occupations characterised by low wages and low-skilled jobs, is a critical issue for scholarship, policy and practice. While the bulk of migration-related research and theory comes from other disciplines, the insights of employment relations perspectives are particularly valuable in explaining why vulnerability to marginalisation and mistreatment is so persistent for these groups of migrants. We explore this issue by reviewing the reasons why migrant workers, especially newly arrived and temporary migrants, are more vulnerable than other groups of workers, examining worker-focused, employer-focused and state-focused scholarship on this issue. After providing an overview of the articles published in the Journal of Industrial Relations special issue on ‘Migration and Work’, which relate to the theme of the persistent relationship between migrant labour and low-quality work, this introductory article uses insights drawn from our review to propose an agenda for future research

Spatial and temporal (non)binding of audio-visual stimuli: effects on motor tracking and underlying neural sensory processing

Objectives: Compare the steady-state evoked potentials (SSEPs) of spatially or temporally congruent and incongruent audio-visual stimuli and evaluate how congruency affects the motion tracking of visual stimuli. Research question: Does spatial or temporal congruency of audio-visual stimuli affect motion tracking and evoke differential SSEPs? Methods: We use EEG frequency-tagging techniques to investigate the selective neural processing and integration of visual and auditory information in the tracking of a moving stimulus and how spatial and temporal (in)congruency between the two modalities modulate these sensory neural processes and synchronization performance.Participants were instructed to track a red dot flickering at 15 Hz that oscillated horizontally with a complex trajectory on a computer screen by moving their index finger. An auditory pure tone with continuous pitch modulation at 32 Hz was presented with lateralised amplitude modulations in left and right audio channels (panning) that were, in Experiment 1, either spatially congruent or incongruent (same direction vs. opposite direction vs. no panning), and in Experiment 2, either temporally congruent or incongruent (no delay vs. medium or large delay), with the oscillating visual stimulus. Results: Both experiments yielded significant EEG responses at the visual (15 Hz) and auditory (32 Hz) tagging frequencies. Further, in Experiment 1 participants had lower performance and larger amplitudes at the auditory frequency during no panning condition. No significant correlation between the two measures was found. In Experiment 2 no changes in the amplitude of the EEG responses or in performance were found. Conclusion: The movement synchronization performance and the neural processing of visual and auditory information were not influenced by phase congruency manipulation. For spatial congruency, the moving auditory stimuli led to better performance, irrespective of congruency, when compared to the non moving sound. Importantly, there were no significant responses at 17 and 47 Hz corresponding to the intermodulation frequencies of 15 and 32 Hz, suggesting an absence of global integration of visual and auditory information. These results encourage further exploration of the conditions that may result in the selective processing of visual and auditory information and their integration in the motor tracking of moving environmental objects

Efficacy and safety of abrocitinib in patients with moderate‐to‐severe atopic dermatitis and comorbid allergies

Background: Abrocitinib efficacy by comorbidity status in patients with moderate‐to‐severe atopic dermatitis (AD) has not been previously assessed. This post hoc analysis evaluated the efficacy and safety of abrocitinib in patients with AD and allergic comorbidities. Methods: Data were pooled from patients who received abrocitinib 200 mg, 100 mg, or placebo in phase 2b (NCT02780167) and phase 3 (NCT03349060, NCT03575871) monotherapy trials. Patients with and without allergic comorbidities (allergic asthma, rhinitis, conjunctivitis, or food allergy) were evaluated for Investigator's Global Assessment (IGA) response (clear [0] or almost clear [1]), ≥75% improvement in the Eczema Area and Severity Index (EASI‐75), ≥4‐point improvement in Peak Pruritus Numerical Rating Scale (PP‐NRS4), and Dermatology Life Quality Index (DLQI) response (<2 with baseline score ≥2). Other outcomes were Patient‐Oriented Eczema Measure (POEM), SCORing Atopic Dermatitis (SCORAD), Pruritus and Symptoms Assessment for Atopic Dermatitis (PSAAD), and treatment‐emergent adverse events (TEAEs). Results: Of 942 patients, 498 (53%) reported at least one allergic comorbidity (asthma only, 33%; conjunctivitis only or rhinitis only or both, 17%; food allergies only, 15%; >1 allergic comorbidity, 34%). Regardless of comorbidity status, from Week 2 to Week 12, higher percentages of patients treated with either abrocitinib dose achieved IGA 0/1, EASI‐75, PP‐NRS4, or DLQI 0/1 versus placebo‐treated patients. Changes from baseline in POEM, SCORAD, and PSAAD were greater with abrocitinib than with placebo in patients with and without allergic comorbidities. Most TEAEs were mild or moderate. Conclusions: Efficacy and safety data support abrocitinib use to manage AD in patients with or without allergic comorbidities

Public health and valorization of genome-based technologies: a new model

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The success rate of timely translation of genome-based technologies to commercially feasible products/services with applicability in health care systems is significantly low. We identified both industry and scientists neglect health policy aspects when commercializing their technology, more specifically, Public Health Assessment Tools (PHAT) and early on involvement of decision makers through which market authorization and reimbursements are dependent. While Technology Transfer (TT) aims to facilitate translation of ideas into products, Health Technology Assessment, one component of PHAT, for example, facilitates translation of products/processes into healthcare services and eventually comes up with recommendations for decision makers. We aim to propose a new model of valorization to optimize integration of genome-based technologies into the healthcare system.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The method used to develop our model is an adapted version of the Fish Trap Model and the Basic Design Cycle.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We found although different, similarities exist between TT and PHAT. Realizing the potential of being mutually beneficial justified our proposal of their relative parallel initiation. We observed that the Public Health Genomics Wheel should be included in this relative parallel activity to ensure all societal/policy aspects are dealt with preemptively by both stakeholders. On further analysis, we found out this whole process is dependent on the Value of Information. As a result, we present our LAL (Learning Adapting Leveling) model which proposes, based on market demand; TT and PHAT by consultation/bi-lateral communication should advocate for relevant technologies. This can be achieved by public-private partnerships (PPPs). These widely defined PPPs create the innovation network which is a developing, consultative/collaborative-networking platform between TT and PHAT. This network has iterations and requires learning, assimilating and using knowledge developed and is called absorption capacity. We hypothesize that the higher absorption capacity, higher success possibility. Our model however does not address the phasing out of technology although we believe the same model can be used to simultaneously phase out a technology.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>This model proposes to facilitate optimization/decrease the timeframe of integration in healthcare. It also helps industry and researchers to come to a strategic decision at an early stage, about technology being developed thus, saving on resources, hence minimizing failures.</p

Managing from Afar: International Transfer of Employment Relations Policies and Practices in US Multinational Corporations

With their operations spanning numerous countries multinational corporations are capable of transferring across international borders not only goods and services, but also employment relations policies and practices. Multinational corporations maintain a significant presence in the world economy and particularly in the Australian economy, accounting for a large proportion of global, and Australian, gross domestic product, exports and employment. Multinationals headquartered in the United States of America account for the largest proportion of foreign direct investment in Australia. Transfer of employment relations policies and practices within multinational corporations has been the subject of considerable academic research. Dominant in the literature are institutional and strategic management theories ascribing development of employment relations practices in foreign subsidiaries of multinationals to the powerful influences of national patterns of business and of the rational will of firms’ headquarters management. More recently, transfer of policies and practices has been characterised as a power struggle between various individual actors within multinationals. Yet each approach has limitations for explaining transfer. Drawing on current theories, this research develops and empirically tests a modified political economy theoretical framework with which to better examine the issue of transfer of employment relations policies and practices. This framework integrates institutional, market-based strategic and political theoretical perspectives. The study also makes an empirical contribution to knowledge in this important area, particularly as it relates to the Australian economy that has so far received relatively little academic attention. This thesis answers two research questions intrinsic to understanding the nature and impact of multinational corporations, and of significance to researchers, practitioners and policy makers: To what extent do multinational corporations transfer employment relations policies and practices from headquarters to foreign subsidiaries? What factors account for transfer and non-transfer? To answer these questions, comparative case study research was undertaken in two United States-based multinational corporations and their Australian subsidiaries: the Ford Motor Company and the General Motors Company. The study examines development, transfer and non-transfer of policies and practices in three core areas of employment relations: work organisation and staffing; remuneration; and management-union relations and bargaining. The research was undertaken from 2008 to 2011, during the depths of the global economic downturn, in circumstances that provided dynamic context for a rich study. This thesis makes a number of significant findings relating to the factors influencing transfer of employment relations policies and practices. Key findings are: First, product, financial and labour markets provide the context in which businesses operate, shaping firm strategy and transfer outcomes. Second, national institutions provide dynamic influence over transfer outcomes. They do not determine outcomes, but are more in the nature of resources upon which actors draw in to achieve their desired outcomes. Third, policies and practices are developed and transferred through the agency of individuals. Politics is not limited to within the firm. Rather, agency impacting transfer outcomes is exercised by multinational headquarters management, subsidiary management as well as by the companies’ workers, their union representatives and the state. The central conclusion of this thesis is that employment relations policies and practices are developed, transferred and implemented within institutional and market contexts, influenced by a variety of actors utilising a range of powers. None of those factors is, by itself, determinative of outcomes. Rather, interactions among factors in particular circumstances are the primary determinants. Such complex influences naturally result in highly context-specific outcomes. The modified theoretical framework developed in this research allows an appropriate place for actors operating at various levels, both endogenous and exogenous to the firm, as well as taking into account both institutional and market forces which help shape the way in which employment relations policies and practices are developed, transferred and adapted by multinational corporations from their home country headquarters to foreign subsidiaries

Australian industrial relations in 2020: COVID-19, crisis and opportunity

This introduction to the Journal of Industrial Relations' 2020 Annual Review of Industrial Relations provides an overview of the six Annual Review articles, an international review and two practitioner reviews. The COVID-19 pandemic presented a crisis for the labour market, intensifying serious existing issues such as stagnant wage growth, the gender pay gap and employer non-compliance with minimum wage laws. The pandemic also presented an opportunity for the Australian government to direct its economic stimulus measures in a targeted manner that addressed these existing problems concurrently with the immediate pandemic-related issues. However, 2020 will be marked by this missed opportunity