Dropping the Ax: Illegal Firings During Union Election Campaigns

This report finds a steep rise in illegal firings of pro-union workers in the 2000s relative to the last half of the 1990s. It uses published data from the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to update an index of the probability that a pro-union worker will be fired in the course of a union election campaign. By 2005, pro-union workers involved in union election campaigns faced about a 1.8 percent chance of being illegally fired during the course of the campaign. If we assume that employers target union organizers and activists, and that union organizers and activists make up about 10 percent of pro-union workers, our estimates suggest that almost one-in-five union organizers or activists can expect to be fired as a result of their activities in a union election campaign

Dropping the Ax: Illegal Firings During Union Election Campaigns, 1951-2007

This report updates an earlier report from January of 2007, which found a steep rise in illegal firings of pro-union workers in the 2000s relative to the last half of the 1990s. It updates the index of the probability that a pro-union worker will be fired in the course of a union election campaign, using published data from the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). It also takes into consideration the increase in card-check organizing campaigns that began in the mid-1990s and adjusts the index for this factor. By 2007, pro-union workers involved in union election campaigns faced about a 1.8 percent chance of being illegally fired during the course of the campaign. If we assume that employers target union organizers and activists, and that union organizers and activists make up about 10 percent of pro-union workers, our estimates suggest that almost one-in-five union organizers or activists can expect to be fired as a result of their activities in a union election campaign. Since 2000, illegal firings have marred over one-in-four NLRB-sponsored union elections, reaching 30 percent of elections in 2007.illegal firings, unions, NLRB, EFCA, organizing campaigns

Is the U.S. a Good Model for Reducing Social Exclusion in Europe?

This paper finds that the United States fares worse than Europe on a range of social and economic indicators, including most measures of poverty, health, education and crime.

The Decline in African-American Representation in Unions and Manufacturing, 1979-2007

This report details the sharp decline in African-American employment in manufacturing and in African-American unionization rates. The study, which analyzed data from the U.S. Census Bureau's Current Population Survey, shows that the share of American workers in unions continues to fall, but unionization rates for African-Americans have declined more sharply than for the rest of the workforce.African-Americans, unions, employment rate

The Decline in African-American Representation in Unions and Auto Manufacturing, 1979-2004

This report examines the unionization rates of African-American workers and finds that the relative representation of African Americans has been steadily declining in unions, manufacturing, and auto manufacturing.

The Decline in African-American Representation in Unions and Manufacturing, 1979-2006

This report details the sharp decline in African-American employment in manufacturing and the even sharper decline in African-American unionization rates. The study, which analyzed data from the U.S. Census Bureau's Current Population Survey, shows that the share of American workers in unions continues to fall, but unionization rates for African-Americans have declined more sharply than for the rest of the workforce.

Multifractality and Freezing Phenomena in Random Energy Landscapes: an Introduction

The Boltzmann-Gibbs probability distributions generated by logarithmically correlated random potentials provide a simple yet nontrivial example of disorder-induced multifractal measures. We introduce and discuss two analytically tractable models for such potentials. The first model uses multiplicative cascades and is equivalent to statistical mechanics of directed polymers on disordered trees studied long ago by B. Derrida and H. Spohn. Second model is the infinite-dimensional version of the problem in Euclidean space which can be solved by employing the replica trick. In particular, the latter version allows one to identify the freezing of multifractality exponents with a mechanism of the replica symmetry breaking (RSB) and to elucidate its physical meaning. The corresponding 1-step RSB solution turns out to be {\it marginally stable} everywhere in the low-temperature phase. In the end we put the model in a more general context by relating to the Gaussian Free Field and briefly discussing recent developments and extensions. The appendices provide a detailed exposition of the replica analysis of the model discussed in the lectures.Comment: Extended version of lecture notes for the International Summer School "Fundamental Problems in Statistical Physics XII" at Leuven, Belgium on Aug 31 - Sept 11, 2009 ; 34 page

Kinetic reactive transport modelling of column tests for uranium In Situ Recovery (ISR) mining

International audienceNumerical modelling of the interaction between solution and rock is examined in order to improve the management of U In Situ Recovery (ISR) mining. Two ‘classical’ types of leaching experiments were performed: (1) tests in batch reactors; and (2) extraction in flow-through columns. A comprehensive interpretation of the complete leaching test results (mineralogy of the samples and chemical analysis of leachates) led to the development of a conceptual model with reasonable assumptions about dissolution and precipitation reactions during the acid leach of the columns. This conceptual model was tested and validated by numerical modelling of the two types of laboratory experiments. Batch experiments were simulated with the geochemical code CHESS in order to model the leachate solutions and to calibrate the geochemical reaction paths and their kinetic laws. The geochemical models with kinetics successfully simulated the trend of leachate’ chemistry in the two types of experimental tests (batch and column). They resulted in a proposal of a 1D hydrogeochemical transport model of the ISR process at laboratory-scale. Furthermore, a sensitivity analysis conducted on the 1D-calibrated model made it possible (1) to determine factors controlling leaching reactions; and (2) to quantify their respective influence on the uranium recovery in terms of acid consumption and leachate volume to treat in the plant

Moduli of ADHM Sheaves and Local Donaldson-Thomas Theory

The ADHM construction establishes a one-to-one correspondence between framed torsion free sheaves on the projective plane and stable framed representations of a quiver with relations in the category of complex vector spaces. This paper studies the geometry of moduli spaces of representations of the same quiver with relations in the abelian category of coherent sheaves on a smooth complex projective curve $X$. In particular it is proven that this moduli space is virtually smooth and related byrelative Beilinson spectral sequence to the curve counting construction via stable pairs of Pandharipande and Thomas. This yields a new conjectural construction for the local Donaldson-Thomas theory of curves as well as a natural higher rank generalization.Comment: 61 pages AMS Latex; v2: minor corrections, reference added; v3: some proofs corrected using the GIT construction of the moduli space due to A. Schmitt; main results unchanged; final version to appear in J. Geom. Phy