Statement by FLA President on Freedom of Speech and Expression

This document is part of a digital collection provided by the Martin P. Catherwood Library, ILR School, Cornell University, pertaining to the effects of globalization on the workplace worldwide.  Special emphasis is placed on labor rights, working conditions, labor market changes, and union organizing.FLA_Statement_President_Freedom_of_Speech.pdf: 20 downloads, before Oct. 1, 2020

FLA Statement in Response to the USAS Website FLA Watch

This document is part of a digital collection provided by the Martin P. Catherwood Library, ILR School, Cornell University, pertaining to the effects of globalization on the workplace worldwide.  Special emphasis is placed on labor rights, working conditions, labor market changes, and union organizing.FLA_Response_to_USAS_Website.pdf: 30 downloads, before Oct. 1, 2020

Fair Labor Association 2007 Annual Report

Assesses the progress made by companies in the move towards sustainable corporate responsibility in their labor standards. Breaks up data by company

Cavitation erosion : the effect of fluid and flow parameters

This thesis describes an investigation into the effect of fluid and flow parameters on cavitation dynamics and cavitation erosion. A rotating disc test apparatus was developed fo: dow-type cavitation studies. A vibratory test device was also developed to study the role of cathodic and anodic potentials applied to cavitating bodies. Some major results are given below. Erosion "peaksat about 50°C in water, but under certain conditions material degradation caused by increased corrosion rate cancels out thermodynamic effects at higher temperatures. An erosion peak is also observed as a function of static pressure. Damage increases with velocity until cavitation is fully developed, at which stage the influence of velocity becomes negligible. The changes in erosion zone geometry and mass loss caused by temperature, velocity and pressure variations may be correlated with the effect these parameters have on the cavitation pressure profile. Efforts are described to develop a system for measuring this profile in the rotating disc device. Water quality including dissolved ions, as well as solid and gas impurities, influences both cavitation inception and the amount of cavitation damage caused. The synergism between cavitation erosion and corrosion causes high damage rates in corrosive, cavitating liquids. Solid impurities at medium concentrations may enhance or retard cavitation damage substantially, depending on the physical properties of the solid. Below the saturation level, increasing concentration of dissolved air in water results in a slight decrease in damage, but damage can be almost completely eliminated by the release of air bubbles into the cavitation region. Another important result is that the gas developed by the application of external potentials to a cavitating body provides protection against cavitation erosion through a gas cushioning mechanism. Cathodic protection of cavitating bodies will thus serve to decrease damage rates even in the case of corrosion-resistant materials like stainlessGR 201

Electronic properties of E3 electron trap in n-type ZnO

International audienceDeep level transient spectroscopy measurements were per- formed on three non-intentionally doped n-type ZnO samples grown by different techniques in order to investigate the electronic properties of E3 electron trap. The ionization energy and the capture cross-section are found respectively at 0.275 eV from the conduction band and 2.3×10^−16 cm2 with no electric field dependence. This center is present irrespective of the synthesis method. In view of its physical properties and recent works published in the literature, its physical origin is discussed. Based mainly on its insensibility to the macroscopic electric field, the best candidates turn out to be dual defects with opposite charges on adjacent sites, like the dual vacancy VO -VZn

Book-to-market ratio and returns on the JSE

Many firm-specific attributes or characteristics are understood to be proxies for what Fama and French (1992: p428) refer to as “the unnamed sources of risk”. Perhaps the most notorious of these is the size of the firm or its market value, first documented by Banz (1981). The relationship between size and average returns has become known as the “size effect”.KIM201

Participatory social auditing : a practical guide to developing a gender-sensitive approach

A participatory approach to codes of labour practice comes from a different perspective to more compliance focused snapshot social auditing. It puts greater emphasis on involvement of workers and workers organisations in the process of code implementation and assessment. It is based on developing partnerships between different actors (companies, trade unions, NGOs and preferably government) in developing a locally sustainable approach to the improvement of working conditions. This approach is sensitive to uncovering and thus addressing more complex issues such as gender discrimination and sexual harassment. These are issues more likely to be experienced by insecure non-permanent workers, who are often women, whose voices snapshot audits usually fail to pick up. They are less visible issues, that are unlikely to be resolved through a simple compliance approach. The goal of a participatory approach is a process of awareness creation and improvement that is more gender sensitive. A participatory approach can be developed at different levels. At a minimum it involves the use of participatory tools in the process of social auditing to ensure that the views and voices of workers, especially women workers, are captured in an audit. More genuine participation by workers also requires the involvement of workers representatives or shop stewards at site level, and sector trade unions and NGOs, both in awareness creation and auditing process. At its broadest level, it involves the development of local multi-stakeholder initiatives that bring companies, trade unions and NGOs together with government in forming an independent body able to oversee the implementation, and monitoring of a locally relevant code of labour practice. Such an approach faces many challenges, but it represents a shift away from a formal top down compliance orientation, to the greater empowerment of workers and their representative organisations as an essential part of the process of improving labour standards and working conditions. This paper is aimed primarily at policymakers and practitioners with a practical interest in developing a gender-sensitive approach to participatory social auditing and codes of labour practice. Keywords: codes of labour practice; participatory social auditing; gender

A comparative analysis of returns of various financial asset classes in South Africa: a triumph of bonds?

There is a popular view that equities always outperform other fi nancial asset classes; especially bonds. This study investigates the performance of three common asset classes to determine whether or not this view is validated in South Africa. Conceptually, the popular view is irrational. If one class consistently and materially outperforms other asset classes, in the absence of other reasons, the other asset classes would disappear. Accordingly, rationally, in the long run and on a risk-adjusted basis, returns on all asset classes should conceptually more or less converge. The results from this study, which concentrates on equities, bonds and cash, show that in South Africa, even before adjusting for risk, there was no material difference between the returns of equities over long bonds over the 27-year period covered by this study (1986–2013). This is equally true for other shorter fi xed periods with the end-date (28 February 2013) being the focal point. It is even more evident that bonds outperform equities when a system of rolling periods is used. On a nominal basis (before adjusting for risk), over any randomly selected rolling period, bonds outperform equities in six of the seven categories. This study does not take tax into consideration. After adjusting for risk using the Sharpe ratio or other risk measures, bonds outperformed equities.Key words: equities, bonds, cash, performance, asset classes, risk-adjusted basis, outperformanc