bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
General anaesthesia for surgery can influence circulating melatonin during daylight hours
Authors: Reber A. , Huber P. R. , Ummenhofer W. , Gürtler C. M. , Zurschmiede C. , Drewe J. , Schneider M.
Published: January 2009

Background: Both melatonin and anaesthetics have been shown to affect sleep and behaviour. The effect of general anaesthesia on circulatory melatonin has not been reported, but anaesthetic‐related alterations in hormone profiles are known. We hypothesize that differences in recovery from anaesthesia may be associated with differences in circulatory melatonin levels because of melatonin's sedative effect in humans.

Methods: The influences of general anaesthesia and surgery on circulating melatonin, prolactin, and Cortisol concentration were investigated in 32 female patients scheduled for elective gynaecological surgery to study differences in hormone profiles and responses during anaesthesia and the recovery period. Patients were randomly assigned to one of two groups. General anaesthesia was induced with either thiopentone/fentanyl (Group 1: n=16) or propofol/fentanyl (Group 2: n=16). Maintenance of anaesthesia was achieved with either isoflurane (0.8–1.0 vol%)/fentanyl (Group 1) or propofol (6 mg · kg−1· h−1)/fentanyl (Group 2) with a N2O/O2 flow ratio of 2:1 in both groups. During anaesthesia, patients' eyes were carefully taped shut to prevent light effects. Blood samples were taken before and after premedication, immediately before induction of anaesthesia, every 15 min during anaesthesia, and hourly in the recovery room for 8 h. The control group consisted of 6 healthy women who were not subjected to surgery, but who were in a similar environment, including light conditions, as the study groups.

Results: Isoflurane and propofol anaesthesia as well as darkness elicited elevated plasma melatonin levels that persisted in the recovery period in patients anaesthetized with isoflurane, but gradually decreased during the recovery of patients anaesthetized with propofol. Circulating prolactin and Cortisol values were also elevated during anaesthesia and had similar decreases during the recovery period.

Conclusion: Higher plasma levels of melatonin during the recovery period following isoflurane anaesthesia may, in part, explain increased sedation in these patients compared with patients who received propofol anaesthesia. However, the relationship between recovery from anaesthesia and plasma melatonin levels may not be simple and straightforward.
Thyroid function during and after cardiopulmonary bypass in children
Authors: Saatvedt K. , Lindberg H. , Geiran O. R. , Fiane A. , Seem E. , Michelsen S. , Pedersen T. , Hagve T. A.
Published: January 2009

Background: The aim of the study was to elucidate the changes in thyroid function during and after cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) in children.

Methods: Triiodothronine (T3), thyroxine (T4), free thyroxine (FT4) and thyroid‐stimulating hormone (TSH) were determined preoperatively, at specific times throughout CPB, and serially up to 48 h postoperatively, in 10 children (median age 35, range 23–68 months) undergoing elective surgery for congenital heart disease.

Results: T3 decreased from 2.01±0.08 preoperatively to 0.94±0.10 nmol/1 24 h postoperatively (P<0.05). T4 levels followed a pattern similar to changes in T3. FT4 increased from 17.4±0.7 preoperatively to 30.0±0.4 pmol/1 after 30 min of CPB (P<0.05). TSH decreased from 2.44±0.43 preoperatively to 0.93±0.21 24 h postoperatively (P<0.05).

Conclusion: T3, T4 and TSH are significantly depressed after open heart surgery in children.
Physiological responses of cork oak and holm oak to infection by fungal pathogens involved in oak decline
Authors: Linaldeddu B. T. , Sirca C. , Spano D. , Franceschini A.
Published: January 2009

The aim of this research was to study the changes in net photosynthesis and stomatal conductance values in 3‐year‐old cork oak and holm oak seedlings growing in natural conditions and inoculated with Apiognomonia quercina, Biscogniauxia mediterranea, Botryosphaeria corticola and Pleurophoma cava. Throughout the 4‐month experimental period, the evolution of visual external symptoms and the values of physiological variables were periodically recorded. All pathogens caused stem lesions around the infection point; however, the lesions caused by B. corticola were longer in both oak species. On cork oak seedlings, all pathogens induced a significant and gradual reduction in net photosynthesis and stomatal conductance values, whereas other physiological disturbances were induced only by B. corticola infections on holm oak seedlings.
Corneal stromal invasive squamous cell carcinoma: a retrospective morphological description in 10 horses
Authors: Kafarnik Christiane , Rawlings Melanie , Dubielzig Richard R.
Published: January 2009

Objective To describe the pathomorphological features of corneal stromal invasive squamous cell carcinoma (CSI‐SCC) in horses.

Material and methods A total of 87 equine SCC in the Comparative Ocular Pathology Laboratory of Wisconsin database were retrieved. The signalment and anatomical distribution were summarized. Ten CSI‐SCC out of 87 SCCs were further investigated focusing on pathomorphological description. All 10 cases were stained with H&E, periodic acid–Schiff stain and Verhoeff's elastic stain.

Results Four Appaloosas, two Quarter horses, two American Paint, one Pinto and one Thoroughbred horse were affected. The mean age at the time of enucleation/keratectomy was 16.7 ± 5.2 years. Out of 10, five horses were clinically diagnosed as chronic stromal keratitis, 3 of 10 had a previous biopsy diagnosed as SCC, 1 of 10 was described as stromal mass, and 1 of 10 as invasive SCC. Previous keratectomies before enucleation were performed in 3 of 10 horses, of which 2 also had additional lasertherapy/cryotherapy.

Seven of 10 cases showed tumor infiltration in the anterior‐mid stroma, 3/10 in the mid‐deep stroma. The anterior epithelium had no contact with the CSI‐SCC in 8 of 10 cases, 7 of 10 had intact and normal epithelium, and 3 of 10 showed intact, dysplastic corneal and conjunctival epithelium. The limbus was not pigmented in 8 of 10 specimens. There was a mild‐moderate lymphoplasmacytic inflammation between the neoplastic islands. Solar elastosis was present in 2 of 10 samples.

Conclusion The CSI‐SCC shows a distinctive intrastromal tumor growth pattern with a smooth, intact corneal epithelium. The tumor can be underestimated and misdiagnosed as chronic active stromal keratitis. A deep biopsy is necessary for the definitive diagnosis.
Hormographiella aspergillatakeratomycosis in a dog
Authors: Rampazzo Antonella , Kuhnert Peter , Howard Judith , Bornand Valérie
Published: January 2009

A 4‐year‐old, female, Border Collie was presented to the University of Bern Veterinary Teaching Hospital, because of a corneal lesion of 10 days duration. The axial cornea presented a whitish fluorescein‐positive plaque with irregular margins. A diagnosis of keratomycosis was made based on cytology. Medical therapy with local broad‐spectrum antibiotic and fluconazole was instituted. After 1 week of treatment, the improvement was deemed unsatisfactory. Therefore, a lamellar keratectomy and conjunctival pedicle flap were performed. After surgery, the cornea healed uneventfully. Histology confirmed the diagnosis of keratomycosis. The fungus could not be grown in culture and a precise etiological diagnosis could only be obtained with genetic identification of the fungus. A PCR technique was used to amplify the fungal genome from the cornea.Hormographiella aspergillata, the asexual reproductive form of the basidiomyceteCoprinopsis cinerea, was identified. As advised in human medicine, we encourage the use of this molecular technique to obtain an early species diagnosis, allowing targeted medical therapy.
Phylogenetic analysis of the scorpion genusBrachistosternus(Arachnida, Scorpiones, Bothriuridae)
Authors: Ojanguren‐Affilastro Andrés A. , Ramírez Martín J.
Published: January 2009

A phylogenetic analysis of the scorpion genusBrachistosternusPocock (Bothriuridae) is presented. The analysis is based on a data set including 38 of the 41 described species ofBrachistosternusplus eight outgroup representatives of seven additional bothriurid genera and one buthid, scored for 116 morphological characters. The cladistic analysis of this matrix under implied weighting results in four most parsimonious trees. The monophyly of genusBrachistosternusis well supported; its subgeneric subdivision is redefined: the subgeneraBrachistosternusPocock andMinisternusFrancke are considered valid, whereasLeptosternusMaury is synonymized withBrachistosternus. Illustrations of diagnostic structures are provided. The hemispermatophores ofBrachistosternus peruvianusToledo‐Piza andBrachistosternus pegnaiCekalovic are illustrated for the first time. A key to species ofBrachistosternusand maps with the distribution of the subgenera and main groups of species are provided.
Molecular phylogenetic interrelationships of the south Asian cyprinid genera Danio, Devario and Microrasbora (Teleostei, Cyprinidae, Danioninae)
Authors: Fang Fang , Norén Michael , Liao Te Yu , Källersjö Mari , Kullander Sven O.
Published: January 2009

Molecular analysis of mitochondrial cytochrome b sequences from 159 species of the family Cyprinidae supports the subfamily Danioninae, of which Rasborinae is shown to be a junior synonym. Analysis of combined cytochrome b and a fragment of the nuclear rhodopsin gene from 68 species, including 43 species representing the subfamily Danioninae, supports phylogenetic distinctness of Danio and Devario. In the combined molecular analysis Microrasbora rubescens, Chela, Laubuca, Devario, and Inlecypris form a clade with M. gatesi, M. nana and M. kubotai being in sister group position to the rest. The sister group of this Devario clade is Danio. Inlecypris is synonymized with Devario. Microdevario, new genus, is proposed for M. gatesi, M. nana and M. kubotai, supported by morphological characters. In the cytochrome b analysis, M. rubescens falls outside Devario, and there is no morphological support for including M. rubescens in Devario. In the cytochrome b analysis Esomus + Danionella is the sister group of Danio and Devario clades, whereas in individual rhodopsin and combined analyses Esomus is the sister group of Danio, and of Danio and the Devario clade, respectively. Sundadanio presents at least one strong morphological synapomorphy with Danio, but is positioned in molecular trees either as a member of the Cyprininae or as sister group of the remaining Danioninae. In the morphological analysis, small‐sized species grouped together based on shared reductions that are not necessarily synapomorphies. In the molecular analysis, small‐sized species such as Danionella and Sundadanio possess long branches and their position varies, but they did not group together. This suggests morphological homoplasy, but phylogenetic positions are not well supported in the molecular analyses
Governing Capital? Corporate Social Responsibility and the Limits of Regulation
Authors: O'Laughlin Bridget
Published: January 2009

The current concern with corporate social responsibility must be seen in the context of major shifts in the functioning of the market, the state and civil society, and of the boundaries between them, and in the ways that we envision them. Capitalism has been reconfigured as an ethical order in which transnational corporations can, indeed must, be accountable for the global well‐being of citizens be they rich or poor, capitalists or workers. This ethical commitment to global justice is to be promoted by the mobilization of civil society, governing with integrity both large corporations and a somewhat marginalized regulatory state. In short, regulation is being privatized. Contributors to the debate which follows vary in the extent to which they accept this vision of how capital is to be governed. There are three principal grounds for scepticism. First, in a world so marked by sharp inequalities of both income and conditions of life, how can corporate initiatives be both profitable and consistent with the interests of the poor? Second, how can global civil society, which is itself structured by relation of power and class, be counted on to regulate corporations in the interest of the poor? Third, do limited corporate reforms undercut alternative transformative projects? Those with greater sympathy for civil society involvement in governing corporate capital point out that transformative projects grow out of everyday experiences of progressive change, not out of defeatist visions of an untransformable hegemonic capital. Readers — please decide.
The Struggle for Corporate Accountability
Authors: Utting Peter
Published: January 2009

The nature of activism concerned with the activities of transnational corporations has changed in recent years. In the 1990s, an increasing number of NGOs opted for collaboration as opposed to confrontation. By the turn of the millennium, there were signs that another approach was gaining ground, one that involved new campaigns for corporate accountability and legalistic regulation. This article examines the changing contours of contestation and civil society–business relations. It identifies two sets of conditions that are driving the contemporary ‘corporate accountability movement’: transformations occurring in the nature of capitalism that connect TNCs with global inequality and injustice; and the failures and limitations of the mainstream corporate social responsibility (CSR) agenda. It then highlights core conceptual and strategic elements that distinguish the CSR and corporate accountability ‘movements' and assesses the potential of the latter to reassert social control over corporate capitalism.
Contract Labour: The ‘Achilles Heel’ of Corporate Codes in Commercial Value Chains
Authors: Barrientos Stephanie
Published: January 2009

Codes of labour practice implemented by corporate buyers in their global production networks are one dimension of corporate social responsibility (CSR). Research indicates the benefits of codes for workers are limited and they fail to reach the most vulnerable workers, particularly those employed by labour contractors who face the worst employment conditions. This contribution argues that the commercial dynamics of global production networks provides an opening for civil society organizations to pressure for codes, but simultaneously drives the use of a vulnerable and insecure workforce that is the ‘Achilles Heel’ of codes. Whilst codes have a role to play, inherent tensions underpinned by a commercial logic mean they should only ever be viewed as one strand in broader strategies that address the rights of the most vulnerable workers in global production.
The Global Sourcing and Codes of Conduct Debate: Five Myths and Five Recommendations
Authors: Lund‐Thomsen Peter
Published: January 2009

Much attention has been devoted to corporate social responsibility (CSR) in recent years. Codes of conduct — or the ethical principles that companies use to guide their practices — have been at the heart of the debate about how global companies should manage their supply chains in a socially and environmentally responsible manner. What characterizes the debate today? Exaggerated claims are often made about the benefits that codes supposedly bring to workers and the environment in the developing world. The risk is that codes of conduct may do more harm than good, because much of the academic and policy‐oriented rhetoric on the topic is largely divorced from the realities faced by many developing country suppliers, workers and communities. Using insights from recent fieldwork in the Pakistani sporting goods industry, this contribution attempts to bust five myths that continue to characterize the codes of conduct debate and introduce five recommendations that could lead to a more fruitful engagement with future research, policy, and practice in this area.
Social Movements and Corporate Social Responsibility in South Africa
Authors: Bond Patrick
Published: January 2009

If Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is often reduced to ‘greenwashing’ for naïve middle‐class consumers, is there a more durable force to address excessive profit taking and consequent underdevelopment? While the post‐apartheid era in South Africa has been celebrated, with little foresight, for an ‘economic boom’ that restored relative corporate profitability to levels last witnessed during apartheid's heyday, the same period saw world‐class social opposition to corporate power. Three areas are illustrative: the Treatment Action Campaign's street pressure and legal strategy to acquire anti‐retroviral drugs for HIV‐positive people; Sowetans whose street protests helped drive Suez Lyonnaise des Eaux out of Johannesburg and whose constitutional case over the right to water attacked its commercialization policies; and climate activists who oppose carbon trading. Meanwhile, activists also demanded reparations from apartheid‐tainted transnational corporations in the US courts through the Alien Tort Claims Act, while a ‘Corpse Awards' was launched by activists in part to mitigate against CSR efforts. The critiques of corporations — and CSR — and the motivation for social activism are informed by strategic principles of ‘decommodification’ and ‘deglobalization of capital’; the first cannot work without the second.
THE IMPORTANCE OF NATIONAL WAGE AGREEMENTS*
Authors: Elliott R. F. , Steele R.
Published: January 2009

It is a commonplace of the literature on labour economics and industrial relations that the post‐war period has seen the emergence of a substantial gap between minimum or standard wage rates agreed in official industry‐wide negotiations and actual earnings in the workplace throughout many leading sectors of the economy.
THE PLACE OF MANAGERS IN INDUSTRIAL DEMOCRACY
Authors: Fogarty Michael P.
Published: January 2009

The discussion of industrial democracy in Britain has exploded in the last few years, but the result has been to write an agenda which has still to be worked through, not to reveal a consensus which can be written into action at once.
THE FINANCIAL COSTS AND RETURNS OF STRIKES
Authors: Gennard John
Published: January 2009

‘Next to the study of their causes, the assessment of the results of strikes whether in the short or long term, seems a question of the greatest practical interest and the most tantalizing theoretical difficulties’.
PRODUCT AND LABOUR MARKETS IN WAGE DETERMINATION: SOME AUSTRALIAN EVIDENCE
Authors: Brown William , Haylest John , Hughest Barry , Rowe Lyndon
Published: January 2009

The study is concerned with the extent to which workplace wage drift is influenced by establishment‐specific or occupation‐specific factors. It demonstrates, by analysis of variance of pay data from a survey of 44 occupations in 198 workplaces, that the sources of variation are predominantly establishment‐specific. There is evidence of a link between the amount of discretion an employer exercises in the labour market and the degree of concentration in his product market. It is argued that discussions of pay determination have been unduly preoccupied with labour market processes and have neglected the variation in employer behaviour arising from differences in product market.
Water Notes Dry Up: The Impact of the Donovan Reform Proposals and Thatcherism At Work on Labour Productivity in British Manufacturing Industry
Authors: Metcalf David
Published: January 2009

Britain's industrial strategy was not equal to the task of overcoming the massive inertial resistance to change manifested by the British industrial system—not least because it still failed altogether to address the problem of the trade unions, possibly the strongest single factor militating against technical innovation and high productivity
Strike‐free Deals and Pendulum Arbitration
Authors: Lewis Roy
Published: January 2009

This article analyses the legal and procedural aspects of strike‐free deals, focusing in particular on their contractual status, the drafting of their no‐strike clauses, and the ‘binding’ nature of their provisions on pendulum arbitration. Drawing on the author's experience as an arbitrator, it is argued that there is considerable diversity within the strike‐free format but that in general the similarities between strike‐free and conventional procedures are greater than their differences.
Reasonableness and Section 4 of the Employment Act 1980
Authors: Miller Kenneth
Published: January 2009

This article explains the origins of s.4 of the Employment Act 1980 and assesses the place of this provision in the corpus of labour legislation enacted by the Conservative government since 1980. Its principal aim is to concentrate upon the concept of reasonableness which is central to the operation of the provision and to evaluate critically the role of the EAT and the industrial tribunals in interpreting it. Finally, the article seeks to assess the impact of the tribunaľs interpretation of s.4 on union admission and expulsion procedures.
Union Presence and Labour Productivity in British Manufacturing Industry. A Reply to Nolan and Marginson
Authors: Metcalf David
Published: January 2009

Evidence on the association between union presence and labour productivity in British manufacturing industry is surveyed. The weight of the evidence suggests that around 1980 highly unionized organizations had a lower level of labour productivity than corresponding less highly unionized organizations, but that during the first half of the 1980s unionized work‐places, firms and industries had superior productivity growth to their less unionized counterparts. Various criticisms made by Nolan and Marginson of earlier studies on unions and productivity are evaluated.
British Coal Mining Strikes 1893–1940: Dimensions, Distribution and Persistence
Authors: Church Roy , Outram Quentin , Smith David N.
Published: January 2009

Strikes in manufacturing are known to be highly concentrated in a small number of plants. This study extends the analysis of strike concentration to coal mining and is the first study of strike concentration with significant temporal scope. The authors show that strikes were also highly concentrated in coal mining; that the prevalence of recorded strike activity was far from complete; that there was a rapid turnover in the population of highly strikeprone collieries and places; and that persistent strike activity was rare. These results afford a new perspective on strike concentration, the research implications of which are drawn out in the final section.
The Effect of Unions on Productivity Growth, Investment and Employment: A Report on some Recent Work
Authors: Wadhwani Sushil
Published: January 2009

Using two British microeconomic data sets, this paper reports the following. (1) Union firms experienced faster productivity growth during 1980–4, but there was no difference in performance in 1975–9, or 1985–6. So unions do not necessarily reduce productivity growth. It is also unlikely that the above pattern can be explained by changes in union legislation. (2) Unionism appears to have no significant effect on in vestment, once one allows for the effects of differential productivity growth. (3) Wages in union and non‐union firms are equally responsive to changes in the capital–labour ratio. (4) Contrary to what is often alleged, unionism per se does not reduce employment growth. Instead, the negative correlation observed in 1980–4 probably arises from a significant reform of working practices in unionized firms during 1980–4.
Bargaining Levels and Relative Earnings in Northern Ireland in 1987
Authors: Harris Richard I. D.
Published: January 2009

Individual level data is used to consider the effects of the union mark‐up on earnings in Northern Ireland and in particular to find out if a differential exists between bargaining groups as well as across covered and not covered workers. The results show that company (and to a lesser extent, UK industry‐wide) agreements have a much lower mark‐up than might be deduced by simply analysing mean wage levels across groups. This suggests that most of the differential is actually the result of a productivity advantage attached to (these) covered workers and not because of union power per se.
‘Them and Us’: Social Psychology and ‘The New Industrial Relations’
Authors: Kelly John , Kelly Caroline
Published: January 2009

This article sets out to examine the impact of ‘new industrial relations’ techniques on worker attitudes to management and to worker‐management relations. We found 17 case studies of share schemes, profit‐sharing, quality circles and autonomous work‐groups which reported relevant evidence on worker attitudes. Although workers often welcome new industrial relations techniques, there is very little evidence of any impact on ‘them and us’ attitudes. Drawing on social‐psychological theories of attitude change, the persistence of ‘them and us’ attitudes can be explained by the ways in which new industrial relations techniques have been implemented and managed in organisations. Workers have often lacked choice over participation in new schemes; there has been a lack of trust between the parties involved, together with inequality in status and benefits and a lack of institutional support for the schemes among senior management. It is argued that these conditions explain the failure of new organisational initiatives to bring about changes in ‘them and us’ attitudes.
Trade Union Recognition and Employment Contraction. Britain, 1980–1984
Authors: Beaumont P. B. , Harris R. I. D.
Published: January 2009

Information contained in the two work‐place industrial relations surveys reveals that the proportion of employees, both manual and non‐manual, in private sector establishments which recognised trade unions declined in the period 1980‐84. The various pieces of analysis undertaken in this paper reveal that establishment closures and employment reduction concentrated among relatively large sized establishments were a major source of the observed decline in union organisation.
Determinants of Trade Union Membership in Australia
Authors: Deery Stephen , De Cieri Helen
Published: January 2009

This paper uses Australian cross‐sectional data to examine the determinants of individual union membership. It analyses the separate effect of three groups of variables on the probability of unionisation: personal attributes, occupational and industry‐related characteristics, and social and attitudinal factors. While the personal attributes of an employee were found to have little effect on union status, the other two groups of variables added significantly to the explained variance in union membership. An important finding of the study was that certain attitudes, ideologies and social values were clearly associated with variations in union status.
Recent Developments in the German Apprenticeship System
Authors: Casey Bernard
Published: January 2009

After passing through a period of relative crisis in the first half of the 1980s, by the end of the decade the ‘dual system’ appeared once again capable of providing Germany with the highly skilled work force it needed to meet the challenges of the twenty‐first century. This paper reviews the changing nature of apprenticeships and apprentices that has taken place over the last decade and the responses of government, the training authorities and employers to the sharp decline in the number of young people entering the labour market in recent years. Particular attention is given to the process of reforming and updating training regulations — a major concern of the parties involved in training over the last two decades. Finally, the paper suggests that unification of the two Germanies makes the future of the youth labour market and the labour market for skilled workers very unclear.
Strategy and Circumstance: The Success of the NUJ's New Technology Policy
Authors: Noon Mike
Published: January 2009

This article assesses the success of the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) in negotiating the introduction of computerised editorial systems (direct input) into provincial newspapers. It employs a quantitative and qualitative analysis to suggest that the NUJ has been exemplary in using the New Technology Agreement (NTA) as a bargaining tool in order to limit the negative effects of technological change and to secure notable benefits — particularly pay increases. This contrasts with other survey evidence which concludes that NTAs have fallen short of the TUC's original objectives in advocating their use. The success of the NUJ is attributed to an appropriate match between the union's new technology policy/strategy and the particular industrial circumstances. It may also explain the recent moves towards decollectivisation in the newspaper industry.
Sex Discrimination in Job‐Related Training
Authors: Green Francis
Published: January 2009

Women and men have unequal chances of obtaining training. Estimates of market discrimination in access to training are obtained using the 1984 Labour Force Survey. These show that young women suffer considerable discrimination, their chances of receiving training being reduced by a third or more, and their chances of receiving job‐specific training being reduced by one‐half or more, in comparison with young men. By contrast, older women either suffer much less discrimination or are even slightly favoured in comparison with older men.
Root Metaphor in Industrial Relations: A Reply to Tom Keenoy
Authors: Dunn Stephen
Published: January 2009

Where Keenoy takes liberties, I try to correct him. I did not say that the ‘old’ industrial relations has been superceded by the ‘new’. Nor did I suggest a Kuhnian paradigm shift. Nor did my argument hinge upon these things happening. Quite the opposite, in fact. The root metaphors are a problem precisely because little is scientifically decided between ‘old’ and ‘new’. Once such wrinkles have been ironed out, Keenoy and I seem to agree on a great deal. His conclusion, however, is more comforting than mine.
Determinants of Union Recognition and Employee Involvement: Evidence from London Docklands
Authors: Milner Simon , Richards Edward
Published: January 2009

This article examines the determinants of union recognition and of employee involvement structures in London Dockland's workplaces, by means of multivariate analysis. The authors found that the respective dependent variables are significantly associated both with each other and with certain enterprise and establishment‐level characteristics. Significant independent variables include workplace size, ownership status, the presence of a personnel manager and the incidence of skill shortages.
Taiwan: An Exploration of Labour Relations in Transition
Authors: Kleingartner Archie , Peng Hsueh‐yu (Shara)
Published: January 2009

This paper explores the emerging relations between workers and employers in Taiwan. The lifting of martial law in 1987 and other reforms have set in motion a basic restructuring of the industrial relations system. A union movement dominated by the interests of employers and the ruling political party has given workers little leverage in the employment relationship. Constrained collective bargaining plus consultation with employers offers the best long‐term prospect of providing a systematic basis for worker participation in the workplace and broader business and economic decision‐making.
Does Technological Change Affect Union Wage Bargaining Power?
Authors: Betcherman Gordon
Published: January 2009

This paper uses data from a survey of Canadian establishments to consider the effects of computer‐based process technological change on wage bargaining power. The analysis finds that union wage differentials for blue‐collar workers as a whole were lower among firms that had introduced process computerization than among those that had not. The relationship between technological change and the union wage premium differed, however, for skilled and unskilled labour. The union wage effect was lower for skilled workers and higher for general manual occupations in the sub‐sample where process computerization had occurred. Explanations for these observed relationships appear to involve both economic and institutional components.
Institutional Aspects of Youth Employment and Training Policy in Britain: A Comment
Authors: Chapman Paul G.
Published: January 2009

This paper compares the merits of occupational and internal labour markets focusing on the issues of skills shortages, human capital theory, wage efficiency and youth training policy in the UK.
The ‘Skill‐oriented’ Strategies of German Trade Unions: Their Impact on Efficiency and Equality Objectives
Authors: Mahnkopf Birgit
Published: January 2009

In the present debate about options for the modernization of trade unions, the predominant argument being propounded is that trade unions and workers' representatives at plant level should take more ‘responsibility’ for the competitiveness of the firms. Among other things, they are advised to enter into ‘alliances’ with management at the level of qualification politics. This paper considers some important collective bargaining arrangements which the German trade unions have negotiated over the last few years in order to improve mutually beneficial further training decisions within German firms. The emphasis is on the potential of different agreements for achieving efficiency and equality objectives in the context of contemporary changes in production and restructuring processes.
Third among Equals: An Analysis of the 1989 Ambulance Dispute
Authors: Kerr Allan , Sachdev Sanjit
Published: January 2009

This article traces the course of the 1989–90 ambulance dispute, reviews the unions' industrial, parliamentary and media strategies and evaluates the outcome. The decision by the ambulance unions to maintain an accident and emergency service throughout the dispute, to try to win public support and to use a single spokesperson were critical factors in determining the outcome.
Australian Experiments in Wage Policy
Authors: Hancock Keith , Isaac J. E.
Published: January 2009

Industrial conciliation and arbitration have been pivotal in pay determination in Australia throughout the twentieth century. This paper examines how these institutions influence macroeconomic performance, paying special reference to their impact on cost inflation. It goes on to evaluate the contribution of the Accord (incomes policy) in the last decade. Consensus and participation within the institutional framework are shown to be essential for effective wage policy.
Recent Trends in British Trade Union Density: How Much of a Compositional Effect?
Authors: Green Francis
Published: January 2009

The fall in aggregate trade union density in Britain between 1983 and 1989 is analysed. The influence of the changing composition of employment, according to gender, full‐time or part‐time status, establishment size, age, occupation, region and industry, is measured. The total effect of compositional change accounts for an estimated 30 per cent of the fall in aggregate density.
Integration Theory and European Labour Markets
Authors: Grahl John , League Paul
Published: January 2009

Standard integration theory assumes that the law of the price holds within individual countries which can thus be treated as homogeneous units. Integration of two or more countries then amounts to removing the barriers to free exchange between them. Recently this conventional approach has been increasingly called into question. In the first place, as economic interpenetration grows, it becomes more important to recognize that national systems display many internal disparities and heterogeneities. Moreover, as recent advances in economic theory emphasize, transaction costs and lack of information prevent market agents from taking advantage of all profitable exchanges. As a result, most market situations cannot be seen as self‐clearing or capable of integrating spontaneously. Thus, institutional interventions and other co‐ordination mechanisms are required to promote economic adaptability. Viewed from this standpoint, the Social Charter and related initiatives can be seen as promoting orderly integration of the Community's labour market.
Behind the European Works Councils Directive: The European Commission's Legislative Strategy
Authors: Hall Mark
Published: January 2009

The aim of the draft European works councils Directive is to bridge the gap between increasingly transnational corporate decision‐making and employees' nationally‐defined information and consultation rights. The proposal seeks to accommodate existing national systems of employee representation, but in the UK auxiliary measures would be needed to designate employee representatives in the absence of voluntary trade union recognition by employers. Although the Directive is strongly opposed by the UK government, the Maastricht social policy protocol has boosted its prospects of being adopted by the other 11 EC countries, with important repercussions for UK‐based multinationals.
Corporatism and the European Labour Market after 1992
Authors: Henley Andrew , Tsakalotos Euclid
Published: January 2009

This paper addresses the question of the effect of labour market institutions on economic performance. It reviews evidence to show that the performances of highly centralized, or ‘corporatist’ economies, such as Sweden and Austria, have in the past been superior to those of the current EC members. It considers the implications of this for European labour markets given the process of European integration. It seems likely that Europe as a whole will gravitate to a weak form of corporatism which may be associated with poor economic performance. Therefore we contrast the prospects of a neo‐liberal deregulatory with a more corporatist strategy as the optimum response for the Europe Community of the 1990s.
Incomes Policy for Europe? or Will Pay Bargaining Destroy the Single European Market?
Authors: Marsden David
Published: January 2009

With European economic and monetary union, pay bargaining encounters a new set of constraints: devaluation is no longer available to compensate for inflation, and economic restructuring for the Single Market will place great strain on wage structures. The article analyses the problems posed to pay bargainers, and argues that, instead of pressing for more centralized bargaining, greater encouragement should be given to pay systems that favour more flexible use of labour and reduce the tendency to transmit inflationary pressures from one group to another. Joint regulation has a critical part to play in the effectiveness of these systems.
The State and Industrial Relations: Background to the Adoption of Compulsory Arbitation Law in Australia and Nigeria
Authors: Omaji Paul Omojo
Published: January 2009

Conventional wisdom maintains that industrial turmoil accounts largely for the enactment of the compulsory arbitration law, the Conciliation and Arbitration Act 1904 and the Trade Disputes (Emergency Provisions) Decree 1968, in Australia and Nigeria respectively. Considering this view as patently inadequate, the paper investigates a broader background of this law in both countries and finds more critical factors at work. Important as the industrial turmoil was, this factor turned out to be merely a symptom of a more fundamental phenomenon, namely the lack of an institutionalized consensual collective bargaining system, arising largely from a similar form of interaction between the state and industrial relations in both countries.
Whither Solidarity? Transitions in Swedish Public‐Sector Pay Policy
Authors: Wise Lois Recascino
Published: January 2009

As part of a drive for efficiency and decentralization in government operations, Sweden is implementing a new system of pay administration in the public sector that is marked by a clear movement away from centralized wage negotiation and fixed salary increases towards more flexible and individualized pay rates. Despite rhetoric about performance and efficiency, the changes appear to be focused mainly on expanding wage differentials among occupational groups and offering market premiums to recruit and retain valued employees. Although the new pay system has not been integrated into a general management approach, it offers considerable challenge to the norms and values of solidarity that have traditionally been held so strongly in Sweden.
Union Exclusion and the Decollectivization of Industrial Relations in Contemporary Britain
Authors: Smith Paul , Morton Gary
Published: January 2009

A major focus of the Conservative government's employment policy since 1979 has been the reduction of union power within the labour market, the employment relationship and as representatives of a separate ‘labour interest’ in society ' union exclusion. The principal impact of the legislative changes is to deny workers access to resources of collective power, thereby commensurately increasing employers' discretion to determine the terms of the employment relationship. When forming new subsidiaries and establishments, or purchasing non‐union subsidiaries, employers have been able to resist unionization and recognition except on their own terms, but comparatively few have terminated existing union recognition agreements, preferring to marginalize the role of unions through the adoption of partial exclusion policies ' joint consultation, direct communication, performance‐related pay, and the fragmentation of common employment and bargaining.
Co‐operation or Control? Capital Restructuring and Labour Relations on the Docks
Authors: Turnbull Peter , Weston Syd
Published: January 2009

The abolition of the National Dock Labour Scheme in July 1989 resulted in a massive restructuring of Britain's ports which in many respects has mirror‐imaged that of the rest of the economy over the previous decade. In this context, the growth of small firms in the port transport industry since 1989, and in particular the emergence of workers' co‐operatives, can only be explained as a process through which capital has sought to regain or strengthen control over the labour process and offset the (highly variable) costs of fluctuating labour demand. The result has been increased productivity and control for the port authorities that own Britain's ports.
From Donovan to … Wherever
Authors: Dunn Stephen
Published: January 2009

The Donovan Report is twenty‐five years old. Since publication it has been at the centre of debate about industrial relations in the UK. Though much criticized, it laid down the pattern of decentralized collective bargaining which is prevalent today in the unionized private sector. Re‐reading the Report, three things stand out: its defence of abstentionist law, its failure to explain how voluntary reform would work, and its fixed ideas about the shape such reform should take. These are discussed. The focus is particularly on management, especially whether the reforms acted as a drag on management's ability to change in the 1980s

This is the fifth Royal Commission, we are reminded in the opening paragraph, to have been appointed during the last hundred years to enquire into industrial relations. One of the few predictions which can be made with any confidence, after reading the thousand or more paragraphs which follow, is that it will not be the last. For the Commission has failed ….
The Contraction of Collective Bargaining in Britain
Authors: Brown William
Published: January 2009

Collective bargaining has been transformed since the Donovan Commission reported. Their prescription for reform has been fulfilled by both the decline in multi‐employer agreements and the greater control exercised by the single‐employer agreements that have displaced them. It has, however, been confounded by the substantial contraction in the coverage of collective agreements, the narrowing in the scope of bargaining, the decline in the depth of union involvement and the erosion of unions' organizational security. In so far as this has been caused by the recent reversal of government policy towards collective bargaining, it cannot be assumed to be permanent.
In Search of HRM
Authors: Sisson Keith
Published: January 2009

HRM has been the industrial relations issue of the 1980s and early 1990s. Although it has very few direct references to HRM, WIRS3 sheds considerable light on a number of the debates involved. Not only does it suggest that some of the ideas and practices associated with HRM appear to be taking root; its most striking, and paradoxical, findings are that these fragments of HRM are to be found in union rather than non‐union workplaces. These findings have considerable implications for policy and practice as well as for future WIRSs.
Procedures and Third Parties
Authors: Kessler Sid
Published: January 2009

Procedural reform, with the help of third‐party intervention, was at the heart of the Donovan Commission's recommendations. This paper looks at what happened since then, and why. In the 1970s considerable progress was made, although this was hidden from public perception by a number of economic and industrial relations traumas. In the 1980s, with the swing in the balance of power to employers, change was often imposed, rather than negotiated, and the role of third parties diminished. The proportion of workplaces recognizing unions and the proportion of employees covered by collective bargaining was much reduced. Formal procedures remained in place, but this hid major changes in the conduct of workplace industrial relations.
Industrial Relations and Economic Performance
Authors: Metcalf David
Published: January 2009

Postwar concern about our industrial relations system has been dominated by three issues: pay; performance at workplace, company and national level; and industrial action. In each case the focus of interest is the link between the institutions, procedures and processes of the system and the outcomes that it generates. This paper evaluates evidence on these three issues for the last quarter‐century, since the publication of the Donovan Report in 1968. Special attention is given to information from successive WIRSs. The evidence suggests that (i) industrial action is of minor importance; (ii) the industrial relations system can no longer be held to stymie company performance; (iii) the pay‐jobs trade‐off is as intractable as ever.
Ballots and Union Government in the 1980s
Authors: Smith Paul , Fosh Patricia , Martin Roderick , Morris Huw , Undy Roger
Published: January 2009

During the 1980s the Conservative government argued that trade unions' leaders and policies did not accurately reflect the views of their members. Accordingly, the Trade Union Act 1984 required that all voting members of union principal executive committees be periodically elected by individual members in a workplace or postal ballot, and the Employment Act 1988 required that all executive committee members and all officers in attendance for the purpose of policy deliberation and formulation be periodically elected by members in a postal ballot. This legislation has left an indelible mark upon the processes of union government but it has failed to initiate a transformation in the political complexion of union leadership or a redirection of union policy.
Internalization v. Decentralization: An Analysis of Recent Developments in Pay Bargaining
Authors: Walsh Janet
Published: January 2009

It is commonly assumed, particularly within the human resource management literature, that decentralized bargaining, performance‐related pay and individualized wage‐setting arrangements represent a further extension of the internal labour market and a source of efficiency gains in production. Drawing on new data on company pay policies, this paper advances an alternative interpretation of recent innovations in pay and bargaining. It is argued that moves to fragment bargaining and reward systems threaten to undermine the organizational principles of internal labour markets and may, therefore, raise the costs of managing the employment relationship.