How long can the term of office of the Polish parliament last? A legal-constitutional analysis

The main research aim of this article is an analysis of the length of the parliamentary term of office in Poland based on the analysis of legal rules. According to the art. 98 para. 1 of the Constitution, the parliamentary term of office starts on the day on which the Sejm assembles for its first sitting and ends on the day preceding the first assembly of the newly elected Sejm. Although the mentioned rule also expressly states that parliamentary term of office lasts 4 years, the length of the particular terms of office could be very different. If the parliamentary term of office is shortened, it could last even less than two months. If it is prolongated because of the introduction of the extraordinary measure, it could last approx. 5 years (in case of emergency state), or it maximal length can not be defined. Moreover, even in case of the “normal” terms of office they could have different length – slightly less than 4 years or longer than 4 years by even a few weeks. The presented considerations lead to the conclusion that there is need to make certain amendments of the rules of law concerning this area, which would ensure minimal 4 years length of the “normal” parliamentary term and regulate the organisation of the parliamentary elections after the termination of the extraordinary measure. Author analysed the legal rules basing on legal-dogmatic method and interpreted them by using such methods of their interpretation as: language-logical, teleological and systematic

Determining the Effect of the Minimum Wage on Income Inequality

Many recent studies have shown a significant increase to income inequality since the 1980s. One of the proposed methods for fixing this trend is to increase the minimum wage, since this policy would help those at the low end of the income spectrum to see economic growth. To analyze the effectiveness of this policy, we studied data from countries that are part of the Organization for Economic Development and Cooperation. By forming an econometric model to account for many factors that affect income inequality in nations around the world, including the real value of the minimum wage, we can determine the relationship and provide recommendations for future policy. We conclude that increases to the minimum wage can cause a decrease to income inequality until the minimum wage exceeds a maximum effectiveness value, at which point the effect starts to reverse itself. [excerpt

Do Living Wages alter the Effect of the Minimum Wage on Income Inequality?

Anker (2006) proposed a new methodology for calculating the living wage in countries around the world. By looking at OECD nations between 2000-2010, we look to see if countries with a national minimum wage higher than this living wage value see a notable difference in the effect of the minimum wage on income inequality. Our results show that countries with the minimum wage higher than the living wage value do see lower inequality, although there is a key value of the minimum wage, at which countries start to see disemployment effects that increase inequality

[Review of] M. Inez Hilger. Chippewa Child abd Its\u27 Cultural Background

Recent movies (e.g., Geronimo, Last of the Mohicans, and Dances with Wolves) have generally shown a sympathetic, if yet still stereotypical view of Native Americans. These cinematic treatments are replete with furious battles, frenetic romances, and the stuff of heroic legends. Hollywood, however, would not know what to do with M. Inez Hilger\u27s Chippewa Child Life and Its\u27 Cultural Background. It is a quiet book, a narrative of the everyday culture of the Chippewa Indians as she observed them on nine Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan reservations between 1932 and 1940

Collective Bargaining and Technological Investment: The Case of Nurses’ Unions and the Transition from Paper-Based to Electronic Health Records

Does the presence of a unionized nursing workforce retard U.S. hospitals’ transition from paper-based to electronic health records (EHRs)? After tying archival data on hospitals’ structural features and health information technology (IT) investment patterns to self-gathered data on unionism, I find that hospitals that bargain collectively with their registered nurses (RNs) appear to delay or forego the transition away from paper, consistent with existing theory and research in industrial relations and institutional economics. However, this relationship is fully mediated by a hospital’s payer mix: those serving a larger share of less lucrative, elderly, disabled, and indigent patients are more likely to adopt EHRs if they are unionized than if they are not, a result that holds even at the median payer mix. Indeed, this accords with research on the interplay of labour and technology as the aforementioned dynamics are driven entirely by RN-exclusive bargaining units for whom the new IT serves as a complement rather than as a substitute in production. Given the outsized role that unions play in the U.S. healthcare sector, the overall sluggish performance of the sector, and the expectations that policymakers have for EHRs, evidence that these unions are welfare-enhancing should be welcome news

Not Featherbedding, but Feathering the Nest: Human Resource Management and Investments in Information Technology

This study draws on employment relations and management theory, claiming that certain innovative employment practices and work structures pave the way for organizational innovation, namely investments in information technology (IT). It then finds support for the theory in a cross-section of UK workplaces. The findings suggest that firms slow to adopt IT realize that their conventional employment model hinders their ability to make optimal use of new technologies. Therefore, the paper advances the literature beyond studies of unionization’s impact on business investment to a broader set of issues on the employment relations features that make organizations ripe for innovation

Plasmoid impacts on neutron stars and highest energy cosmic rays

Particle acceleration by electrostatic polarization fields that arise in plasmas streaming across magnetic fields is discussed as a possible acceleration mechanism of highest-energy cosmic rays. Specifically, plasmoids arising in planetoid impacts onto neutron star magnetospheres are considered. We find that such impacts at plausible rates may account for the observed flux and energy spectrum of the highest energy cosmic rays.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, accepted for publication in Phys. Rev. Lett., uses REVTE

Complementary or Conflictual? Formal Participation, Informal Participation, and Organizational Performance

Most studies of worker participation examine either formal participatory structures or informal participation. Yet, increasingly, works councils and other formal participatory bodies are operating in parallel with collective bargaining or are filling the void left by its decline. Moreover, these bodies are sprouting in workplaces in which workers have long held a modicum of influence, authority, and production- or service-related information. This study leverages a case from the healthcare sector to examine the interaction between formal and informal worker participation. Seeking to determine whether or not these two forces—each independently shown to benefit production or service delivery—complement or undermine one another, we find evidence for the latter. In the case of the 27 primary care departments that we study, formal structures appeared to help less participatory departments improve their performance. However, these same structures also appeared to impede those departments with previously high levels of informal participation. While we remain cautious with respect to generalizability, the case serves as a warning to those seeking to institute participation in an environment in which some workers have long felt they had the requisite authority, influence, and information necessary to perform their jobs effectively

Trade Unions and Industrial Injury in Great Britain

Anecdotal evidence suggests that trade unions succeed in ameliorating workplace health and safety, but no attempt has been made to link specific workplace injury rates with a respective union presence. Relying on WERS98, this paper establishes a cross-sectional link between trade unions and occupational injury rates, revealing that unions gravitate to accident-prone workplaces and react by reducing injury rates within these types of employment units. However, the ability for unions to reduce injury rates does not appear to increase monotonically as they progress along a workplace instrumentality continuum from recognition alone to a pre-entry closed shop.Unions, industrial injury, occupational injury, health and safety