Workplace Issues Today: San Francisco Mayor has plan to avoid layoffs
A new plan was proposed by San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom to combat his cities $522 million deficit. The plan would reduce the workweek from 40 hours to 37.5 hours for a large number of the 26,000 full-time city employees. The proposal would limit the number of complete layoffs and would not affect most benefits. Some officials have already come out in favor of the plan, though they cautioned against favoring some sectors over others when it comes to layoffs. A spokesman for the Mayor said that the plan is designed to be the least disruptive to workers and to the city residents. Newsom has the power to make the cuts after conferring with labor leaders. The plan is expected to save about $50 million.
See “Mayor would cut San Francisco workers’ week to save cash,” by Heather Knight, San Francisco Chronicle, Feb 09 2010 (SD)
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Workplace Issues Today: Green jobs slow to materialize
Despite the President’s assertions about green energy jobs, some analysts are wondering when they are going to come. A tally of jobs that were created or saved by the stimulus came to 52,000, far off of the Obama’s promise to create 5 million green energy jobs in the next decade. Instead of hiring new workers to manufacture parts, companies are using their existing stock or buying from overseas. Many analysts say that few jobs have been created because employers are unclear about the government’s energy policy. They worry that no energy bill will be passed that will make them competitive in the industry. Analysts also to point to China as an example of how the United States needs to catch up in green energy production or it risks dependency on China for energy. A government spokesman said that they have a variety of different technologies that they are watching and that they are interested in creating competition amongst energy companies.
See “Wind energy job growth isn’t blowing anyone away,” by Jim Tankersley, Los Angeles Times, Feb 02 2010 (SD)
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Raising the Global Floor (Book of the Month)
Raising the Global Floor: Dismantling the Myth That We Can’t Afford Good Working Conditions for Everyone by Jody Heymann and Alison Earle is Catherwood’s Book of the Month. In addition to the book, there is a web site titled Raising the Global Floor: Adult Labour that is part of the WoRLD Database Project. The site measures governmental performance around the world in meeting the needs of working men, women, and their families.
“News stories on the impact of job loss appear daily in the media. Less reported is that working conditions in many countries around the world have deteriorated as rapidly as jobs have been lost–and this affects ten times as many people. Working conditions significantly impact our health, the amount of time we can spend with family, our options during momentous life events (such as the birth of a child or the death of a parent), and whether we keep or lose a job when the unexpected occurs. Inexplicably, the global community has nearly universally accepted the argument that any country that guarantees a floor of decent working conditions will suffer higher unemployment and will be less competitive.
Raising the Global Floor shatters this widely held view by presenting the first ever, global analysis of the relationship between labor conditions, national competitiveness, and unemployment rates in 190 countries. The authors’ findings are dramatic. They show that there is no relationship between unemployment rates and providing basic protections in a series of critical areas. Strikingly, data also indicate that good working conditions can make countries more competitive. There are no long-term economic gains to be had if workers are denied paid sick leave, paid annual leave, paid parental leave, the right to a day of rest, and many other basic protections that would improve the quality of their lives. ” [from publisher web site]
Stanford, Calif. : Stanford Politics and Policy, 240 pages
ISBN: 9780804768900 HD6971.8 .H49 2010
Workplace Issues Today: British teachers balk at standardized tests
The National Union of Teachers and the National Association of Head Teachers, two unions which represent teachers in Britain are calling on the government to stop giving standardized tests to around 600,000 middle schoolers. The two unions are planning on calling for a vote of their members on whether or not to boycott the standardized tests known as ‘Sats’. The two unions say that the tests make teachers spend time preparing kids to take them, and that the results are used in ways that just end up harming students in the end. A representative of the government said that the unions claims were false and that the tests are educationally helpful.
See “Sats boycott ballot for teachers in England,” BBC News Online, Jan 26 2010 (SD)
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Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research
Starting in February 2010, the journal Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research, will be published by SAGE on behalf of the European Trade Union Institute. This journal has been published since 1995, so the change in publisher is the news here.
From the publisher site:
Transfer stimulates dialogue between the European trade union movement and the academic and research community.
Transfer helps to foster understanding of significant developments in the field of European trade union policy and industrial relations.
Transfer contributes research findings of practical relevance to the trade unions. At the same time, it enables the academic research community to gain access to the world of industrial relations.
Transfer contains contributions from a wide range of disciplines (sociology, economics, politics, law and history).
Subscription access to the online version for the Cornell/ILR School community is provided by the Catherwood Library.
Workplace Issues Today: Detroit to benefit for Department of Labor green jobs plan
A newly announced $4.3 million jobs grant could help retrain unemployed workers in Detroit for jobs in so-called green industries. The grant, part of a nationwide plan announced Wednesday by the U.S. Department of Labor, would aid workers in finding jobs in the burgeoning energy efficiency field, and would provide a much-needed salve to a city that has been among the hardest-hit by the recent recession. The grant targets minorities, women and veterans in a bid to give workers the skills needed to compete with China, India, and other countries.
See “Labor Department unveils $100M in job training grants,” by David Shepardson, Detroit News, Jan 07 2010 (SBG)
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Workplace Issues Today: New labor chief continues fight against workplace injuries
After less than a year in office, Labor Secretary Hilda Solis has already made good on her promise to crack down on rates of workplace injuries and fatalities. In October, she levied the largest OSHA fine ever given against BP for failure to improve safety procedures since its 2005 Texas explosion. In December she hired 250 new workplace investigators to deal with wage and overtime cheats and started a committee to review workplace safety reports for accuracy. This fiscal year has already seen citations for six major violations – only four were recorded in the entire previous year. The National Federation of Independent Business’ is not entirely happy with Solis’ methods, saying that they prefer to work more cooperatively, in a ‘compliance assistance’ relationship instead of an aggressive ‘gotcha’ situation. For 2010, Solis has named over 90 regulations and laws that will be examined, including some regulating workers’ knowledge of the pay process, employer and anti-union regulations, etc.
See “’New sheriff’ moves quickly on job safety,” by Sam Hananel, Houston Chronicle, The Associated Press, Jan 05 2010 (JKW)
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Labor and Employment Law and Economics (Book of the Month)
Labor and Employment Law and Economics, edited by Kenneth G. Dau-Schmidt, Seth D. Harris, and Dorothy J. Solinger, is Catherwood’s Book of the Month.
The economic analysis of labor and employment law is a bold effort to apply economic theory to explain important empirical facts about the regulation of the employment relationship and to provide positive predictions and normative analyses that are useful to policy-makers. This book draws together 24 chapters, by leading scholars in the field, summarizing the important theoretical and empirical work that has been done to date on a wide spectrum of labor and employment law topics including: regulating employment contracts, unions, collective bargaining, minimum wages, health insurance, executive pay, workers’ compensation, unemployment, occupational health and safety, discrimination, needs of families, training and slave labor, to name but a few. [from publisher web site]
NOTE: This is Volume 2 of the Encyclopedia of Law and Economics, Second Edition.
See the publisher web site for Table of Contents.
Cheltenham, UK ; Northampton, MA : Edward Elgar. 738 pages
ISBN: 9781847207296 Call Number: K1705.6 .L32 2009
Happy Holidays from the Catherwood Library!
Today, December 24, will be the last day the Catherwood Library is open prior to Winter Break. The Library will reopen on January 4. We here at the Catherwood Library wish you all an enjoyable and relaxing holiday season, and a Happy New Year!
Also, please note that today will be the final day of posting for both this blog and for Workplace Issues Today. Both services will resume the week of January 4.
Thanks, and see you next year!
Workplace Issues Today: Downsizing means loss of expertise
Arizona has downsized its civil service and private sector employees (everyone from plumbers to garbage removal workers) by the hundreds this year, and experts say that the cuts will be back to haunt them as the baby-boom generation starts to retire and there are fewer experienced workers to come by. For example, Scottsdale downsized by 10% in 2009, losing 2,500 years of collective experience. The economic downturn has accelerated the loss of baby-boomer workers, about 35% of whom are within several years of retiring nationwide. Economically-forced buyouts have encouraged many more to retire earlier than expected. Finally, experts fear that the new generation will stray away from government careers in particular, because of declining trust in public governance.
See “Cities lose employees’ expertise, talent in workforce downsizing,” by Lynh Bui & Lily Leung, The Arizona Republic, Dec 22 2009 (JKW)
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