Barriers to Freedom of Contract in the Public Sector

Currently twenty-four states have "right-to-work" laws, which primarily restrict the rights of workers and employers in the private sector from entering into certain kinds of labor contracts. Federal labor law mandates that unions represent all workers at a workplace, whether they are dues-paying members of the union or not. Meanwhile, state "right-to-work" laws prohibit workers and employers from signing contracts that require all covered workers to contribute to the costs of representation regardless of whether or not the workers choose to join the union

Regulation of Public Sector Collective Bargaining in the States

While the unionization of most private-sector workers is governed by the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), the legal scope of collective bargaining for state and local public-sector workers is the domain of states and, where states allow it, local authorities. This hodge-podge of state-and-local legal frameworks is complicated enough, but recent efforts in Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio, and other states have left the legal rights of public-sector workers even less transparent.In this report, we review the legal rights and limitations on public-sector bargaining in the 50 states and the District of Columbia, as of January 2014. Given the legal complexities, we focus on three sets of workers who make up almost half of all unionized public-sector workers: teachers, police, and firefighters, with some observations, where possible, on other state-and-local workers. For each group of workers, we examine whether public-sector workers have the right to bargain collectively; whether that right includes the ability to bargain over wages; and whether public-sector workers have the right to strike

State Union Membership, 2012

On January 23, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) released its estimates for union membership in the United States in 2012. This issue brief focuses on the union membership numbers by state. In addition to presenting the BLS estimates for overall union membership in each state, we also provide our own breakdown of state union membership in the private and public sector

No-Vacation Nation Revisited

This report reviews the most recently available data from a range of national and international sources on statutory requirements for paid vacations and paid holidays in 21 rich countries (16 European countries, Australia, Canada, Japan, New Zealand, and the United States). In addition to our finding that the United States is the only country in the group that does not require employers to provide paid vacation time, we also note that several foreign countries offer additional time off for younger and older workers, shift workers, and those engaged in community service including jury duty. Five countries even mandate that employers pay vacationing workers a small premium above their standard pay in order to help with vacation-related expenses. Most other rich countries have also established legal rights to paid holidays over and above paid vacation days. We distinguish throughout the report between paid vacation -- or paid annual leave, terms we use interchangeably -- and paid holidays, which are organized around particular fixed dates in the calendar. Our analysis does not cover paid leave for other reasons such as sick leave, parental leave, or leave to care for sick relatives

Exploring the Third Step: Are Students Eating the Healthy Foods That They are Taking?

America is in the throes of an obesity epidemic that is affecting younger and younger populations. Because millions of American children receive free or reduced cost lunches through the National School Lunch (NSLP) program, improving NSLP could have a major impact on student health. Effective improvement requires three\ud main steps: first, introduction of healthier foods; second, students’ acceptance of\ud healthier foods onto their lunch trays; and, third, students actually eating the\ud healthier lunch. This paper focuses on the second and third steps: if healthy choices\ud are available, will students choose them and, if so, will they actually eat them once\ud they sit down at the lunch table? The consumption behavior of students in two\ud public high schools in Philadelphia serves as a sample to address these questions. This paper examines the choices students made, both in accepting items onto their trays and in consuming items they chose. Approximately half the students studied\ud chose to take healthier fruit or vegetable offerings. However, their behavior was also consistent with trends identified by earlier research. The students were more likely to eat a larger proportion of unhealthy items on their plates and more likely to\ud throw away a larger proportion of the healthy items. This paper proposes that\ud additional study of peer-focused nutrition education interventions to improve outcomes at the third step

Potassium Use Efficiency of Plants

International audienceThere are many terms used to define aspects of potassium (K) use efficiency of plants. The terms used most frequently in an agricultural context are (1) agronomic K use efficiency (KUE), which is defined as yield per unit K available to a crop and is numerically equal to the product of (2) the K uptake efficiency (KUpE) of the crop, which is defined as crop K content per unit K available and (3) its K utilization efficiency (KUtE), which is defined as yield per unit crop K content. There is considerable genetic variation between and within plant species in KUE, KUpE, and KUtE. Root systems of genotypes with greatest KUpE often have an ability (1) to exploit the soil volume effectively, (2) to manipulate the rhizosphere to release nonexchangeable K from soil, and (3) to take up K at low rhizosphere K concentrations. Genotypes with greatest KUtE have the ability (1) to redistribute K from older to younger tissues to maintain growth and photosynthesis and (2) to reduce vacuolar K concentration, while maintaining an appropriate K concentration in metabolically active subcellular compartments, either by anatomical adaptation or by greater substitution of K with other solutes in the vacuole. Genetic variation in traits related to KUpE and KUtE might be exploited in breeding crop genotypes that require less K fertilizer. This could reduce fertilizer costs, protect the environment, and slow the exhaustion of nonrenewable resources