Looking for HRM/Union Substitution: Evidence from British Workplaces

In this paper we test the HRM/union substitution hypothesis that human resource management (HRM) practices act as a substitute for unionization. We use British workplace data between 1980 and 1998 which allows us toexamine for the first time whether increased HRM incidence has coincided with union decline.First, we compare changes over time in the incidence of HRM practices across union and non-union sectors, finding little cross-time difference occurring between sectors. Second, we ask whether newer workplaces (strongly shown by other research as more likely to be non-union) have experienced differentiallyfaster HRM incidence; we are unable to find much evidence in support of this. Third, longitudinal changes alsofail to pick up any evidence of faster union decline in workplaces or industries with faster take up of HRMpractices. We find no evidence of HRM substitution operating in the hypothesised way of it replacing unions and conclude that increased HRM incidence does not seem to be an important factor underpinning union decline in Britain.Human Resource Management, Trade unions

Reviewing the Statutory Union Recognition (ERA 1999)

In 2000 the UK government introduced, under the Employment Relations Act of 1999, a new statutory union recognition procedure, while in 2003 it published a consultation document on its Review of the Act. The document concluded that th eunion procedure was broadly working and confirmed that the government would not be changing the procedure's basic features, but outlined some changes that it was proposing and issues on which it sought opinions. This paper assesses, on the basis of the authors' research, whether the procedure is indeed achieving the government's consultative document. The latter was submitted as the authors' response to the review. The authors concur with the document¿s overall judgement that in the first three years of its operation, the procedure is working effectively. It is providing a right to union recognition where the majority of workers want it, encouraging the voluntary resolution of recognition disputes and being used as a last resort, whilst no judicial reviews have, as yet, undermined its operation as happened with the last statutory procedure in the 1990s. Nonetheless there are problems particularly relating to the ability of employers to influence both how the CAC uses its discretion and workers exercise their rights with respect to union recognition, whilst the applications are in the procedure and during recognition ballots. On the basis of this, the author¿s response to the consultative document gauges that many of its arguments for making only limited changes in the procedure¿s fundamentals are sound, as are those where change is envisaged. However, in certain areas more consideration should be given to change, and particularly of ways of limiting the actions of employers that the document concedes might be deemed ¿unfair labour practices¿.trade unions, collective bargaining

Nucleation in binary polymer blends: A self-consistent field study

We study the structure and thermodynamics of the critical nuclei in metastable binary polymer blends using the self-consistent field method. At the mean-field level, our results are valid throughout the entire metastable region and provide a smooth crossover from the classical capillary-theory predictions near the coexistence curve to the density functional predictions of Cahn and Hilliard (properly transcribed into expressions involving the parameters of the binary polymer blends) near the spinodal. An estimate of the free energy barrier provides a quantitative criterion (the Ginzburg criterion) for the validity of the (mean-field) self-consistent approach. The region where mean-field theory is valid and where there can be a measurable nucleation rate is shown to be poorly described by the existing limiting theories; our predictions are therefore most relevant in this region. We discuss our results in connection with recent experimental observations by Balsara and co-workers

Favorite places: spatial and temporal dimensions of place attachment

From the editor: "Independent researcher Stephen Wood probes his interest in place attachment by examining two lived dialectics: the spatial tension between inward and outward aspects of place; and the temporal tension between repetitive and singular events relating to place.

Lichens and the cry of the Earth

From the editor: "Independent researcher Stephen Wood explores how we might become more alert emotionally to the current plight of the Earth.

A comparison between single sided friction stir welded and submerged arc welded DH36 steel thin plate

The adoption of the friction stir welding (FSW) process into the shipbuilding industry is being considered as a medium term issue. Currently the data on friction stir welded mild steels tends to be fragmented, with critical areas being short on specific data e.g. toughness. The work described has been put in place to directly compare friction stir welded and submerged arc welded thin plate. The plate thicknesses used were 4, 6 and 8mm thick DH36 grade steel, which are commonly used in the construction of vessels such and destroyers, frigates corvettes and offshore patrol vessels. Friction stir welding was carried out using the currently best established parameters for a single sided process and this was compared against Submerged Arc Welding (SAW) over the same thickness range. Distortion was found to be lower in friction stir welded steel, but the 4mm thick was still showing significant distortion. No issues were identified with weld metal strength, and toughness at -20OC was found to be comparable but more uniform across the weld area than with the submerged arc welded material. Microstructural observations have been linked to hardness, toughness and fatigue test data. The fatigue data includes the observation of preferential crack initiation relative to the trailing/leading side of the welding process. An assessment on the feasibility of the process in a shipbuilding environment will be included based on the data presented

Bicategories of spans as cartesian bicategories

Bicategories of spans are characterized as cartesian bicategories in which every comonad has an Eilenberg-Moore ob ject and every left adjoint arrow is comonadic

The Dynamical History of Chariklo and its Rings

Chariklo is the only small Solar system body confirmed to have rings. Given the instability of its orbit, the presence of rings is surprising, and their origin remains poorly understood. In this work, we study the dynamical history of the Chariklo system by integrating almost 36,000 Chariklo clones backwards in time for one Gyr under the influence of the Sun and the four giant planets. By recording all close encounters between the clones and planets, we investigate the likelihood that Chariklo's rings could have survived since its capture to the Centaur population. Our results reveal that Chariklo's orbit occupies a region of stable chaos, resulting in its orbit being marginally more stable than those of the other Centaurs. Despite this, we find that it was most likely captured to the Centaur population within the last 20 Myr, and that its orbital evolution has been continually punctuated by regular close encounters with the giant planets. The great majority (> 99%) of those encounters within one Hill radius of the planet have only a small effect on the rings. We conclude that close encounters with giant planets have not had a significant effect on the ring structure. Encounters within the Roche limit of the giant planets are rare, making ring creation through tidal disruption unlikely