“The Rise and Demise of PATCO” Reconstructed

[Excerpt] In his article The Rise and Demise of PATCO (Northrup 1984), Herbert Northrup presents a narrow and misleading explanation of the ill-fated air traffic controllers\u27 strike of 1981. Northrup\u27s thesis is that the goal of the Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization (PATCO) strike was to establish the right to bargain over wages within a private sector framework. He attributes the failure of the strike to the union\u27s inept leadership and praises the Reagan administration for its firm response to the challenge presented by PATCO. Although most of the facts he reports are accurate, Northrup omits crucial information regarding the management style of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the internal dynamics of PATCO. Based on this additional information, we will argue that PATCO\u27S primary goal was to address the work-related problems of the rank-and-file specifically by reducing the work week and improving the retirement system; that the primary cause of the strike was rank-and- file frustration with autocratic management; and that the Reagan administration joined forces with career FAA managers to destroy PATCO without giving sufficient consideration to less drastic alternatives

The management response to union organizing of registered nurses

In recent decades, employment in the service sector has swelled while the number of jobs in manufacturing has declined. Simultaneously, the percent of the workforce belonging to labor unions has fallen to about seventeen. It is the organization of service industry workers which unions expect to reverse the latter trend. However, a major obstacle facing union organizers of service workers is management\u27s increasing use of labor-management consultants to resist organization. In a growing, predominantly female, service occupation, registered nurses (RNs) in hospitals represent the type of workers unions must organize to increase membership. While dissatisfaction with job conditions makes nurses ripe for unionization, consultant-inspired management has responded with union election campaign tactics and personnel policies designed to discourage RN interest in unions. This dissertation seeks to determine the effectiveness of these strategies in limiting unionization among hospital RNs. Based on a review of relevant management, union, and academic literature, employers which have experienced union activity among workers appear to maintain different personnel policies than those which have not. Further, institutions employing consultants appear to use policies not used by their counterparts without such assistance. These observations are examined thoroughly in a case study of RN-management relations at the Portsmouth (N.H.) Hospital from 1979 through 1986. Analysis of a survey of hospital administrators in Maine and New Hampshire also seeks to identify the specific consultant-inspired techniques used to discourage RN organizing. The research indicates that, despite the consultants\u27 contention that they provide advice on preventive labor relations and on methods to defeat organizing drives, their use in the latter role predominates. Additionally, results found here are consistent with the view that consultant-inspired management changes its communication style and implements new personnel policies in response to perceived organizing threats. The revisions rarely occur in categories which administrators believe substantively affect nurses\u27 job satisfaction. But hospitals appear to make changes in communication programs believing that RNs will perceive them as responsive to their needs. Based on the survey analysis, the tactic appears to have contributed to management success in discouraging unions in Maine and New Hampshire hospitals

PRETA Air: Hazardous Air Pollutants

This report shows that people living in a 10-county region of southwestern Pennsylvania have a significantly higher than acceptable risk of developing cancer due to exposure to toxic air pollution released by manufacturing processes, energy production and diesel combustionThe Pittsburgh Regional Environmental Threats Analysis Report -- funded by The Heinz Endowments -- analyzes publicly available data on hazardous air pollutants (HAPs), also known as air toxics. Air toxics include approximately 200 pollutants identified by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as known or suspected to cause cancer or other serious health effects, such as respiratory, neurological and reproductive disorders. The report is the third in a series as part of a project examining major threats to human health and the environment in southwestern Pennsylvania

The perceptions of long-serving superintendents regarding specific behaviors that contributed to their longevity

Most public school district superintendents across this nation serve for fewer than five years. This relatively short tenure for a district chief can create uneven leadership and contribute to instability within the district. From an organizational standpoint, it is difficult to assess an environment, conceptualize a vision, implement strategies connected to that vision, and sustain those changes for a meaningful length of time in 5 years or less. While a superintendency of 5 years or longer does not ensure that the district chief will be innovative or transformational, longer tenures do create a wider window of opportunity if the leader seeks to make significant changes. The existing research and literature suggest communication and relationship-building are essential components in determining a superintendent’s effectiveness and longevity. But, much of the literature does not examine the specific leadership behaviors that long-serving superintendents use to communicate and build relationships. If novice superintendents become aware of specific communication and relationship-building behaviors that long-serving superintendents use, they may be able to replicate those behaviors and provide consistent leadership for a longer period of time. In this study, I focus on the specific communication and relationship-building behaviors that 7 long-serving (5 years or more in one district) superintendents believe supported their ability to successfully meet district challenges and increased their longevity. I also examine contextual factors connected to the superintendency along with training and support. I conducted a qualitative study that consisted of 2 one and a half hour interviews with each of the long-serving present or past superintendents. As a long-serving superintendent myself, my positionality seemed to create a level of trust with the participants that encouraged uninhibited responses and honest transparency. The findings in my study, based upon the data generated from the 2 interviews with each of the 7 superintendents, resulted in 4 themes. These themes express the common perceptions of the participants. The themes that emerged from the data are the following: *Long-serving superintendents recognize the importance of communication and relationship-building *Long-serving superintendents understand and give prominent attention to school boards and community *Long-serving superintendents attribute their longevity to specific communication and relationship-building behaviors *Long-serving superintendents express concerns about superintendent training and support approaches and services Based on my findings and the related literature, in this study I make 3 recommendations for superintendents who want to increase the likelihood of extended longevity. These 3 recommendations include 8 specific leadership behaviors that support communication and relationship-building. Each of the 8 behaviors in the recommendations were singled out by all of the long-serving superintendents as foundational in contributing to their longevity

Comparing the relationship between knowledge and support for hydraulic fracturing between residents of the United States and the United Kingdom

Our work examines the relationship between knowledge/familiarity with shale gas development in a comparative context. The United States (US) and United Kingdom (UK) represent very different cases of shale gas development, with development relatively mature in the US whilst, no extraction of shale gas has yet commenced in the UK. Comparing results from two national level survey efforts in 2014, we find higher levels of knowledge about the shale gas industry in the UK than in the US, as well as higher levels of support in the US (opposition levels were similar, but US respondents were much less likely than UK respondents to say that they did not know whether they supported or opposed development). With respect to the relationship between knowledge and support, increased knowledge in the UK is associated with increased support, while knowledge was unrelated to support in the US. We anchor these results within the information deficit model of science, suggesting that concentrated media and governance in the UK have played an important role in producing the demonstrated effects

Exploring support for shale gas extraction in the United Kingdom

The development of shale gas in the United Kingdom (UK) using hydraulic fracturing, more commonly known as ‘fracking’, remains in its infancy. Yet understanding public attitudes for this fledgling industry is important for future policy considerations, decision-making and for industry stakeholders. This study uses data collected from the University of Nottingham UK nationwide online survey (n=3,823) conducted in September 2014, to consider ten hypothesises about the UK public’s attitudes towards shale gas. From the survey data we can see that 43.11% of respondents support shale gas extraction in the UK. Furthermore, our results show that women, class DE respondents, non-Conservative party supporters, and respondents who positively associate shale gas with water contamination or earthquakes are less likely to support the extraction of shale gas in the UK. We also discuss potential policy implications for the UK government arising from these findings

Regional newspaper coverage of shale gas development across Ohio, New York, and Pennsylvania:Similarities, differences, and a lessons

In communities experiencing shale gas development, the local media are an important information source on potential impacts of development; their coverage generates and spreads social representations of this issue. We examine representations of natural gas development through a content analysis of six regional newspapers in the northern United States (n = 1,958 articles) – two each in Ohio, New York, and Pennsylvania. Previous research showed similarities between the New York and Pennsylvania newspapers; differences emerged in nearby Ohio’s coverage. In Ohio, similar percentages of articles mentioned economic impacts as in Pennsylvania and New York, but significantly fewer articles mentioned environmental or social impacts. Furthermore, valence of economic and social impacts was notably more positive in Ohio. This analysis highlights nuances inherent in regional discourse about shale gas development. In turn, these differences have implications for: (1) how politicians, journalists, activists, and researchers can better communicate about shale gas development, (2) policy/regulation of development, and (3) future research on social representations of emergent forms of energy extraction. We suggest the need, in social science research on energy development, to examine societal-level (not merely individual) influences on perceptions and to account for nuances inherent in regional variation – infrequently manifest in national sample studies