Using Labor\u27s Trade Secretariats

[Excerpt] An international trade secretariat (ITS) is a world-wide federation of unions in a particular industry or industries. Since their inception, ITSs have operated with their primary focus in Europe. Only one, the International Union of Foodworkers (IUF), maintains a full-time North American office and staff. But in recent years U.S. unions are placing a much greater emphasis on the activities of the ITSs and on international solidarity activities in general. The ITSs are experienced in organizing international solidarity actions, and some, such as the ICEF, are establishing special programs to more effectively monitor the activities of multinational corporations

Organizing for Safe Work in a Safe World

[Excerpt] Health and safety is a promising issue for organizing workers, whether as new members or in revitalizing local unions. Working conditions have dramatically deteriorated over the past decade, and millions of workers now work in workplaces that are unbelievably dangerous and unhealthy. There are many different organizing strategies. The authors start from the premise that from day one the goal of any organizing campaign is union building. Recognizing that there are different ways to get there, and that resources and circumstances differ from campaign to campaign, we attempt in this article to outline the basic ingredients and a general strategic approach. While our focus here is on organizing new members, the general approach we outline is equally effective for union building in already constituted local unions

Patterned Responses to Organizing: Case Studies of the Union-Busting Convention

[Excerpt] In June 1993, the Industrial Union Department (IUD) of the AFL-CIO initiated a project to gather cases from affiliated unions that would highlight aspects of the National Labor Relations Board process deserving attention from those shaping labor law reform proposals. Based on the cases submitted, we conclude that in its current form the National Labor Relations Act serves to impede union organizing. Particularly problematic are NLRB policies that allow employers to wage no-holds-barred antiunion campaigns. Even where there are legal restrictions on specific actions, the penalties for violations are so meager that they serve no deterrent effect. The cases described below cover many industries, all parts of the country, large units and small, and collectively suggest that union busting has become the convention among U.S. employers

The aquaporins

Water is the major component of all living cells, and efficient regulation of water homeostasis is essential for many biological processes. The mechanism by which water passes through biological membranes was a matter of debate until the discovery of the aquaporin water channels. Aquaporins are intrinsic membrane proteins characterized by six transmembrane helices that selectively allow water or other small uncharged molecules to pass along the osmotic gradient. In addition, recent observations show that some aquaporins also facilitate the transport of volatile substances, such as carbon dioxide (CO(2)) and ammonia (NH(3)), across membranes. Aquaporins usually form tetramers, with each monomer defining a single pore. Aquaporin-related proteins are found in all organisms, from archaea to mammals. In both uni- and multicellular organisms, numerous isoforms have been identified that are differentially expressed and modified by post-translational processes, thus allowing fine-tuned tissue-specific osmoregulation. In mammals, aquaporins are involved in multiple physiological processes, including kidney and salivary gland function. They are associated with several clinical disorders, such as kidney dysfunction, loss of vision and brain edema

Protease-Dead Separase Is Dominant Negative in the C. elegans Embryo

Separase is a protease that promotes chromosome segregation at anaphase by cleaving cohesin. Several non-proteolytic functions of separase have been identified in other organisms. We created a transgenic C. elegans line that expresses protease-dead separase in embryos to further characterize separase function. We find that expression of protease-dead separase is dominant-negative in C. elegans embryos, not previously reported in other systems. The C. elegans embryo is an ideal system to study developmental processes in a genetically tractable system. However, a major limitation is the lack of an inducible gene expression system for the embryo. We have developed two methods that allow for the propagation of lines carrying dominant-negative transgenes and have applied them to characterize expression of protease-dead separase in embryos. Using these methods, we show that protease-dead separase causes embryo lethality, and that protease-dead separase cannot rescue separase mutants. These data suggest that protease-dead separase interferes with endogenous separase function, possibly by binding substrates and protecting them from cleavage

Time-resolved spectral densities of non-thermal electrons in gold

Noble-metal nanoparticles for photocatalysis have become a major research object in recent years due to their plasmon-enhanced strong light-matter interaction. The dynamics of the hot electrons in the noble metal are crucial for the efficiency of the photocatalysis and for the selective control of reactions. In this work, we present a kinetic description of the non-equilibrium electron distribution created by photoexcitation, based on full energy-resolved Boltzmann collision integrals for the laser excitation as well as for the electron-electron thermalization. The laser-induced electronic non-equilibrium and the inherently included secondary electron generation govern the dynamics of non-thermal electrons. Applying our method to gold, we show a significant dependence of hot electron dynamics on kinetic energy. Specifically, the timescales of the relaxation as well as the qualitative behavior are depending on the evaluated energy window. During the thermalization processes there are cases of increasing electron density as well as of decreasing electron density. Studying the influence of excitation parameters, we find that the photon energy and the fluence of the exciting laser can be tuned to influence not only the initial excitation but also the subsequent characteristics of the time-resolved electronic spectral density dynamics. The electronic thermalization including secondary electron generation leads to time-dependent spectral densities which differ from their specific final equilibrium values for picoseconds after irradiation ended