Organize to Organize: The Case of a Successful Long-Haul Campaign for Collective Bargaining Rights

After nearly four decades of campaigning, faculty and academic staff union members across the University of Wisconsin (UW) System won the right to bargain collectively in June 2009 when the Governor signed legislation that modified state labor law. In this paper, I present historical and interdisciplinary analyses of the organizational structures that were critical to the campaign’s success. While the case study should be interesting for academics across disciplines, the Wisconsin experience carries generalizable lessons for union organizing in any sector of the economy. In addition to cataloguing the tens of legislative attempts that faculty and academic staff unionists undertook to win collective bargaining rights in Wisconsin, my paper juxtaposes the legislative goals with environmental variables such as which political party controlled state government and how many faculty and academic staff were committed to the campaign at any given time as regular dues-paying members. It is clear in this light that persistence paid dividends for the campaign and that leverage created by the Local unions in relation to their state and national affiliates was necessary for the campaign’s longevity and success. Against this backdrop, I also consider the degree to which tensions between a Local union and its larger affiliates might variably impact union organizing across different international unions. The case study has relevance for discussions of minority or non-majority unions as well as strategic decisions about how unions pursue level playing fields for organizing new members

Hormonal replacement therapy, prothrombotic mutations and the risk of venous thrombosis

Hormone replacement therapy (HRT) increases the risk of venous thrombosis. We investigated whether this risk is affected by carriership of hereditary prothrombotic abnormalities. Therefore, we determined the two most common prothrombotic mutations, factor V Leiden and prothrombin 20210A in women who participated in a case-control study on venous thrombosis. Relative risks were expressed as odds ratios (OR) with 95% confidence intervals (CI95). Among 7 7 women aged 45-64 years with a first venous thrombosis, 51% were receiving HRT at the time of thrombosis, compared with 24% of control women (OR = 3.3, CI95 1.8-5.8). Among the patients, 23% had a prothrombotic defect, versus 7% among the control women (OR = 3.8, CI95 1.7- 8.5). Women who had factor V Leiden and used HRT had a 15-fold increased risk (OR = 15.5, CI95 3.1-77), which exceeded the expected joint odds ratio of 6.1 (under an additive model). We conclude that the thrombotic risk of HRT may particularly affect women with prothrombotic mutations. Efforts to avoid HRT in women with increased risk of thrombosis are advisable

When Everyone Wins? Exploring Employee and Customer Preferences for No-Haggle Pricing

The organizational importance for interactions between frontline employees and customers has been examined in relation to dimensions such as climate or culture. In this article, we highlight the importance of pricing strategies – typically studied in relation to consumer preferences – for frontline employees. To do this, we apply an evolutionary perspective and present two complementary studies that focus on the relevance of price discipline in relation to employee attitudes and preferences. Focusing on the industry of new automobile sales since there is important firm-level pricing variation, Study 1 finds a faintly positive relationship among employee prosociality, customer satisfaction, and fixed or “no-haggle” pricing strategies. In Study 2, participants indicated a preference for working in environments that offered the same, non-disparate prices to all customers. While previous research has examined the relationships between employee and customer attitudes in relation to firm performance, our studies emphasize the role that pricing strategies can play as a mechanism in those relationships. Our studies illustrate the value of evolutionary frameworks for contemporary business problems

Hydro-bio-geo-socio-chemical interactions and the sustainability of residential landscapes

Significance statement: The paper presents major new insights into the multidisciplinary controls of nitrogen export (a widespread environmental concern) from residential landscapes. We conducted biogeochemical and social survey studies to identify locations (hotspots) or times (hot moments) with a disproportionate influence on this export. Results showed high variation in the vulnerability/sensitivity of individual parcels to cause environmental damage and in the knowledge and practices of individual managers. To the extent that hotspots are the result of management choices by homeowners, there are straightforward approaches to improve outcomes, e.g. fertilizer restrictions. If, however, hotspots arise from the configuration and inherent characteristics of parcels and neighborhoods, efforts to improve outcomes may involve more intensive and complex interventions, such as conversion to alternative ecosystem type