Beyond the Organizing Model: The Transformation Process in Local Unions

[Excerpt] The ideological foundations of traditional U.S. trade unionism have been called into question by world and domestic events. The post-World War II labor movement, founded on a social truce with capital and the apparent inevitability of a rising living standard, has hit a bulkhead-piercing iceberg of dramatic proportions. The global economy, economic restructuring, deregulation, and privatization have wrought destruction on U.S. unions. In the wake of this devastation, it has become common, even for union leaders, to define unionism in objectively negative terms (e.g., without a union, you have no protection from arbitrary management). As a movement, we have offered little in the way of a comprehensive explanation of what we stand for. The upheaval has forced new questions and problems to the surface and has set the stage for an internal debate about the future. The dialogue has included little that is fundamentally new. There have always been disagreements over labor strategy and tactics, the relationship of unions to capital, and the appropriate form of organization for the labor movement. This debate has taken on new urgency since the mid-1980s, however, and has concentrated on whether there is a viable alternative to the prevailing form of business unionism, which appears to be leading workers nowhere

Controllability of kinematic control systems on stratified configuration spaces

This paper considers nonlinear kinematic controllability of a class of systems called stratified. Roughly speaking, such stratified systems have a configuration space which can be decomposed into submanifolds upon which the system has different sets of equations of motion. For such systems, considering controllability is difficult because of the discontinuous form of the equations of motion. The main result in this paper is a controllability test, analogous to Chow's theorem, is based upon a construction involving distributions, and the extension thereof to robotic gaits

Laser surface fusion of plasma sprayed ceramic turbine seals

The thermal shock resistance of a ceramic layer is improved. An improved abradable lining that is deposited on a shroud forming a gas path seal in turbomachinery is emphasized. Improved thermal shock resistance of a shroud is effective through the deliberate introduction of 'benign' cracks. These are microcracks which will not propagate appreciably upon exposure to the thermal shock environment in which a turbine seal must function. Laser surface fusion treatment is used to introduce these microcracks. The ceramic surface is laser scanned to form a continuous dense layer. As this cools and solidifies, shrinkage results in the formation of a very fine crack network. The presence of this deliberately introduced fine crack network precludes the formation of a catastrophic crack during thermal shock exposure

Method of fabricating an abradable gas path seal

The thermal shock resistance of a ceramic layer is improved. The invention is particularly directed to an improved abradable lining that is deposited on shroud forming a gas path in turbomachinery. Improved thermal shock resistance of a shroud is effected through the deliberate introduction of benign cracks. These are microcracks which will not propagate appreciably upon exposure to the thermal shock environment in which a turbine seal must function. Laser surface fusion treatment is used to introduce these microcracks. The ceramic surface is laser scanned to form a continuous dense layer. As this layer cools and solidifies, shrinkage results in the formation of a very fine crack network. The presence of this deliberately introduced fine crack network precludes the formation of a catastrophic crack during thermal shock exposure

Low cycle fatigue behavior of conventionally cast MAR-M 200 AT 1000 deg C

The low cycle fatigue behavior of the nickel-based superalloy MAR-M 200 in conventionally cast form was studied at 1000 C. Continuous cycling tests, without hold times, were conducted with inelastic strain ranges of from 0.04 to 0.33 percent. Tests were also conducted which included a hold time at peak strain in either tension or compression. For the conditions studied, it was determined that imposition of hold times did not significantly affect the fatigue life. Also, for continuous cycling tests, increasing or decreasing the cycle frequency did not affect life. Metallographic analysis revealed that the most significant damage mechanism involved environmentally assisted intergranular crack initiation and propagation, regardless of the cycle type. Changes in the gamma morphology (rafting and rod formation) were observed, but did not significantly affect the failure

Overcoming Obstacles to Transformation: Challenges on the Way to a New Unionism

[Excerpt] The change to organizing requires more than a shift in resources. It is difficult to imagine a sustained commitment to organizing at the grass roots unless locals have the tools, skills, and strategic perspective necessary to mount successful organizing campaigns. Ultimately the commitment to building the labor movement inherent in the organizing priority challenges unions to alter organizational cultures that are often deeply imbued with traditional and conservative approaches to trade unionism. The struggle to succeed at organizing, to maintain representation, and to alter union culture is forcing national unions to define their role in this process and to reassess their relationships with locals. A key objective of the research reported here is to help clarify the issues at stake in the process of the change to organizing at the local level. Although there are few definitive answers, the experiences of locals struggling with the realities of juggling organizing and representational responsibilities should guide the search for sustainable conversion

Estimating Economic Benefits of Allowing a Flexible Window for Maryland Purchases of Sponge Crabs

We estimate that crabmeat industry revenues from processing sponge crabs can increase by at least 56% over the current estimated value of production, from $1.6 million to$2.5 million. This gain can be realized by moving from the current fixed opening of the season during which the Maryland industry can purchase sponge crabs to a flexible starting date to the season that lasts the same number of days as the current system. This change would have the added advantage of reducing the variability in revenues that come from processing sponge crabs. Our modeling of the decision to open the season is based on a minimum amount of information. It is expected that with more sophisticated analysis of the market situation during the season, experts can optimize the opening date and increase the revenues even further.Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

Low cycle fatigue of MAR-M 200 single crystals at 760 and 870 deg C

Fully reversed low cycle fatigue tests were conducted on single crystals of the nickel-base superalloys Mar-M 200 at 760 C and 870 C. At 760 C, planar slip (octahedral) lead to orientation-dependent strain hardening and cyclic lives. Multiple slip crystals strain hardened the most, resulting in relatively high stress ranges and low lives. Single slip crystals strain hardened the least, resulting in relatively low stress ranges and higher lives. A preferential crack initiation site which was related to slip plane geometry was observed in single slip orientated crystals. At 870 C, the trends were quite different, and the slip character was much more homogeneous. As the tensile axis orientation deviated from 001 , the stress ranges increased and the cyclic lives decreased. Two possible mechanisms were proposed to explain the behavior: one is based on Takeuchi and Kuramoto's cube cross-slip model, and the other is based on orientation-dependent creep rates

Surface recrystallization theory of the wear of copper in liquid methane

Copper was subjected to sliding against 440C in liquid methane. The normal load range was from 1/4 to 2 kilograms, and the sliding velocity range was from 3.1 to 25 meters per second. Over this range of experimental parameters, the wear rate of the copper rider was found to be proportional to the sliding velocity squared and to the normal load. Transmission electron microscopy was used to study the dislocation structure in the copper very near the wear scar surface. It was found that near the wear scar surface, the microstructure was characterized by a fine-cell recrystallized zone in which individual dislocations could be distinguished in the cell walls. The interiors of the cells, about 0.5 micrometer in diameter, were nearly dislocation free. Below the recrystallized layer was a zone that was intensely cold worked by the friction process. With increasing depth, this intensely cold worked zone gradually became indistinguishable from the partially cold worked bulk of the copper, representative of the initial condition of the material