EQUAL PAY – THE TIME-BOMB UNDER PAY STRUCTURES IN ROMANIA

One of the major consequences of Romania joining the European Union is its obligation to implement European Directives with regard to employment protection. One aspect of that is likely to have major social and cost implications is the legislation regarding equal pay for men and women. The dimension of equal pay for work that is the same or broadly similar is relatively straightforward. The more complicated and more far reaching requirement is for equal pay for men and women for work of equal value. In determining whether jobs are of equal value regard has to had in particular to effort, skill and decision making. Comparisons are valid with other jobs in the same organisation but not between organisations. In addition comparisons are only legally valid if they are on the basis that a person of the opposite sex is being paid more for work of equivalent value. Such comparisons are subjective and often very complicated. Job evaluation schemes can help in creating a framework for comparison but being inherently subjective are open to challenge. The situation is further complicated by the fact that comparisons can also be made on any one element of the remuneration package. Experience in the U.K. and other member EU countries is that equal pay claims are very much on the rise, can take years to resolve and can be hugely expensive. Although legal costs can be significant the main costs are in settling group claims and the ‘knock-on’ effect on the rest of an organisation’s pay structure. Whilst it may take time for this development to gather pace in Romania now is the time for organisations to review their pay structures and take preventative action to try and reduce the conflict that will inevitably occur.employment protection, equal pay, equal pay for work of equal value, pay structures

Nitrogen fixation and soil nitrogen in organic ley arable rotations

This report was presented at the UK Organic Research 2002 Conference. Nitrogen (N) fixation in a white clover/ryegrass mixture was measured in 1,2,3 and 4-year-old organically managed leys during 2000. N fixation varied between 73.7 in 1-year-old leys and 33.5 kg ha-1 in 4-year-old leys. Soil nitrate-N, grass N yield and N content of grass and clover were all lowest in 2-year-old leys and highest in 3-year-old leys. The proportion of clover nitrogen derived from the atmosphere (pNdfa) was significantly lower in 3-year-old leys

Avalanche multiplication in AlxGa1-xAs (x=0to0.60)

Electron and hole multiplication characteristics, Me and Mh, have been measured in AlxGa1-xAs (x=0-0.60) homojunction p+-i-n+ diodes with i-region thicknesses, w, from 1 μm to 0.025 μm and analyzed using a Monte Carlo model (MC). The effect of the composition on both the macroscopic multiplication characteristics and microscopic behavior is therefore shown for the first time. Increasing the alloy fraction causes the multiplication curves to be shifted to higher voltages such that the multiplication curves at any given thickness are practically parallel for different x. The Me/Mh ratio also decreases as x increases, varying from ~2 to ~1 as x increases from 0 to 0.60 in a w=1 μm p+-i-n+. The Monte-Carlo model is also used to extract ionization coefficients and dead-space distances from the measured results which cover electric field ranges from ~250 kV/cm-1200 kV/cm in each composition. These parameters can be used to calculate the nonlocal multiplication process by solving recurrence equations. Limitations to the applicability of field-dependent ionization coefficients are shown to arise however when the electric-field profile becomes highly nonunifor

Effect of impact ionization in the InGaAs absorber on excess noise of avalanche photodiodes

The effects of impact ionization in the InGaAs absorption layer on the multiplication, excess noise and breakdown voltage are modeled for avalanche photodiodes (APDs), both with InP and with InAlAs multiplication regions. The calculations allow for dead space effects and for the low field electron ionization observed in InGaAs. The results confirm that impact ionization in the InGaAs absorption layer increases the excess noise in InP APDs and that the effect imposes tight constraints on the doping of the charge control layer if avalanche noise is to be minimized. However, the excess noise of InAlAs APDs is predicted to be reduced by impact ionization in the InGaAs layer. Furthermore the breakdown voltage of InAlAs APDs is less sensitive to ionization in the InGaAs layer and these results increase tolerance to doping variations in the field control layer

Aspects of the ecology of the palmate newt (Triturus helveticus) in the flow country of Sutherland

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