An analysis of the drug testing decision

Two separate investigations were undertaken to better understand the factors that should be considered in the drug testing decision. In the first study, organizations were surveyed by telephone and were asked to identify the factors considered when making their decision. Safety seemed to be the most important reason for favoring a drug testing program, while employee rights was one of many reasons for not implementing a testing program. In the second study, the interest was in determining the impact of drug testing on the applicants' willingness to join the organization. It was found that salary was the most important factor, but that the drug testing policy did affect the job choice of about 20% of the students.     

Considering grievance mediation

This article uses a public sector case study and a review of the social science literature on disputing processes to question assumptions made by labor relations advocates of grievance mediation. The author argues that labor policy on alternative grievance resolution processes cannot be adequately made without consideration of the specific labor-management relationship within its social context. A model is proposed to assist parties considering grievance mediation by making the social context more explicit.     

Supervisory and nonsupervisory employee attitudes about drug testing

Both supervisory and nonsupervisory employees are divided in their support for drug testing n the workplace. Comparisons are drawn between employee attitudes displayed in this study with student and public attitudes reported in previous studies. Factors associated with employee attitudes toward drug testing include: occupational group, acceptance of related employer disciplinary rules, interest in training on assisting those with substance abuse problems, and the timing of discipline and referrals for assistance. The implications of these findings for drug-testing programs are discussed.     

A model of employee responses to drug-testing programs

Testing employees for drug use is an increasingly widespread organizational response to the problem of employee drug abuse. Despite this, little attention has been given to its effects on employee attitudes and behavior. This paper reviews the issue of drug testing in industry, provides a theoretical model of employee perceptions of and responses to drug-testing programs, and offers an agenda for future research directions.     

The Rise and Demise of Defined Benefit Pension Plans

The Defined Benefit Pension Plan (DBPP), once regarded as the gold standard of traditional corporate pension plans, has fallen upon hard times. Corporate sponsors regard the plans as financial drains, fountains of bad publicity, and targets for heavy-handed government regulation. Employees covered by the plans fear they will not deliver on the promises employers made to provide financial security after retirement. Legislative fixes for the system have hastened, not slowed down, the exodus of employers from DBPP. The authors of this paper agree that DBPP is, indeed, an endangered species in the private sector, but concur with the criticism that the conventional explanations for it – particularly in the trade literature – tend be self-serving, superficial and not convincing and often incomplete in their analysis. Using Porter’s model of competition to identify the relative strengths and weaknesses of competing influences we endorse the conclusion that the failure of DBPP is one of strategic choice by employers whose power and influence in the global economy is not effectively counter-balanced by labor, or by forces sympathetic to labor. The growing trend towards the Defined Contribution Pension Plan (DCPP) is consonant with employers’ interests but a setback for employees who had to give up the “gold standard” (DBPP). Even the paradoxical effect of ERISA hastening the demise of the pension system it was created to reform is less puzzling when examined in the context of who had influence in drafting the legislation, writing regulations and enforcing the law.     

Macroeconomic and financial stability in a monetary union: The case of Lithuania

In this paper, we study the implications of macroprudential policies in a monetary union for macroeconomic and financial stability. For this purpose, we develop a two-country monetary union new Keynesian general equilibrium model with housing and collateral constraints, to be calibrated for Lithuania and the rest of the euro area. We consider two different scenarios for macroprudential policies: one in which the ECB extends its goals to also include financial stability and a second one in which a national macroprudential authority uses the loan-to-value ratio (LTV) as an instrument. The results show that both rules are effective in making the financial system more stable in both countries, and especially in Lithuania. This is because the financial sector in this country is more sensitive to shocks. We find that an extended Taylor rule is indeed effective in reducing the volatility of credit, but comes with a cost in terms of higher inflation volatility. The simple LTV rule, on the other hand, does not compromise the objective of monetary policy. This reinforces the “Tinbergen principle”, which argues that there should be two different instruments when there are two different policy goals.     

Drug testing in the transportation industry: The maritime case

The maritime industry provides an interesting case study of the design and implementation of drug-testing programs in the transportation industry during the 1980s. It is clear that such programs were designed and implemented less because of empirical evidence of safety problems than for political reasons. The results in the maritime industry are indicative of a program that is expensive to operate, intrusive with regard to employee privacy, and which will have little or no impact on safety. Focusing such programs on the issue of impairment rather than on the issue of drug usage per se is likely to improve the outcome of the programs. Although, despite common belief, there is little evidence that drug usage or the “drug problem” in U.S. society as a whole had gotten worse in the preceding years (Schonsheck, 1989, 250–251).     

The trade union response to agency labour in Britain

The growth of agency work in recent years has posed a challenge to trade unions, which must decide if they will accept agency workers as part of their constituency and accept employment agencies as legitimate labour‐market actors. This article analyses the reaction of British unions to agency work and identifies four main responses: exclusion, replacement, regulation and engagement. It concludes with an evaluation of union policies, which stresses the need for unions to secure broad regulation of the agency labour market either through multi‐employer bargaining or employment law.     

Company and union commitment: evidence from an adversarial industrial relations climate at a Korean auto plant

This study examines the feasibility and antecedents of worker commitment to company and union at an automobile plant in Korea. It utilized a sample of 331 workers at the plant who were implementing new management techniques, e.g. human resources management, total quality management and lean production. The plant had a long history of adversarial industrial relations, and its workforce was organized by the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions, a union organization known for its militancy. The study found little evidence of workers' dual commitment to the company and the trade union, but instead discovered a competing commitment between company and trade union. Furthermore, company and union commitment were predicated on different factors, with workers' positive perceptions of the industrial relations climate positively affecting commitment to their company and negatively affecting commitment to their union. The findings were more consistent with those at other workplaces with an adversarial industrial relations climate rather than those with a co-operative one.     

Confronting the issue of substance abuse in the workplace: When organized labor and management work together

The focus of this report is to describe the efforts of management (Midwest Coca-Cola) and organized labor (Local 792, International Brotherhood of Teamsters) in attempting to confront the issue of substance abuse (drugs and alcohol) by employees covered by a collective bargaining agreement. The conclusion is reached that the experience at Midwest Coca-Cola's bottling facility is an excellent example of management and organized labor recognizing a common threat, arguing to deal with the threat, and attempting through joint action to confront the menace of substance abuse in the workplace.     

A better approach by management in drug testing

Discussed here are a number of drug abuse and drug testing issues. This article presents an overview of current developments in the area of drug testing in the workplace. There is an analysis of legislation, federal and state court decisions, and key legal arguments. These decisions and arguments are discussed in the context of employee rights and responsibilities. Also presented are the legal and ethical aspects of drug testing in the workplace. The authors make a case for a rehabilitative rather than a punitive approach to employee drug abuse.     

Trade union activism: The characteristics associated with becoming and remaining a shop steward

The paper investigates the motivation and experiences of shop steward office holders in a general union in the Republic of Ireland. Two approaches examining the differences between office-holders and non-office-holders are explored, one that is predominantly concerned with the variation in psychological and personal characteristics, needs, and attitudes of individuals, and a second that emphasizes the importance of social processes in the workplace. The results of the research suggest that the former approach provides only a partial explanation of the differences. Results indicate that where there are differences between office-holders and non-office-holders it is a result of union-related attitudes and values, which are in turn affected by a number of independent variables. Such salient factors as the existing shop steward organization in the workplace, the attitude of management to trade unions, the level of support from union members, and the union organization were also found to be important aspects which encourage or discourage potential candidates for the shop steward position. The level of satisfaction in the position expressed by a majority of the stewards and the stability of tenure would seem to indicate the existence of a supportive union organization and favorable management attitudes.     

新时期国有企业工会工作面临的问题及对策

当前,国有企业工会要想实践好科学发展观重要思想,必须清醒地认识和研究当前工会工作所遇到的新情况、新问题,以与时俱进的精神状态迎接挑战,才能探索出适应新形势要求的企业工会工作的新路子。     

Drug testing and the law

This article examines judicial and administrative rulings and legislation involving or related to the issue of drug testing in the workplace. It discusses the rights of employees in the public and private sector: constitutional rights; federal, state, and local statutory rights; rights of unionized employees; and common law rights. It analyzes both the current state of the law and future directions the law may take, as courts and administrative agencies decide more cases and governmental bodies continue to pass drug testing legislation.     

The effect of strike militancy intentions and general union attitudes on the Organizational Citizenship Behavior of university faculty

Using a sample of unionized faculty, this study investigated whether faculty members' militancy intentions and general union attitudes affected their level of organizational citizenship behavior (OCB). OCB was divided into three dimensions (OCB-teaching, OCB-faculty, and OCB-university), and separate predictions were made for each. Results indicated weak relationships at best between the predictor variables and OCB, suggesting that unionization is not likely to affect this important aspect of job performance.     

The prospect of decent work,decent industrial relations and decent social relations in China: towards a multi-level and multi-disciplinary approach

Abstract

Decent Work is a key initiative launched by the International Labour Organization in 1999. The initiative is to promote decent and productive employment with decent conditions of freedom, equality, security and human dignity. In reviewing academic literature on decent work, existing studies have been conducted primarily from a legal and political economic perspective. It is also largely situated outside any national industrial relations framework, both theoretically and practically. Decent work is an advocacy initiative of ILO, but the promotion of universal values embodied in the notion (e.g. equality, fairness, justice and dignity) needs to be tailored to specific societal contexts. Drawing on existing academic literature, this review article examines ideological, institutional and cultural distances between decent work and the reality of employment in China. It argues that achieving decent work requires an ideological transition of ‘traditional’ Chinese work ethics and a cultural transition from collectivism and altruism towards individualism and an emphasis on individual rights. This study also examines and highlights regulatory enforcement deficits and the inadequate role of the trade union in facilitating the advancement of decent work at various levels. Finally, the article argues that the study of decent work should be mainstreamed as an integral part of decent industrial relations and ultimately, decent social relations. It calls for a multi-level and multi-disciplinary approach to examining the historical, political, economic, ideological and cultural context of specific countries in fulfilling the ‘Decent Work’ agenda.     

压力容器检验中渗透检测的选择

随着科学技术的进步,渗透检测的应用越来越广泛,成为一种不可或缺的检测技术。渗透检测同其他无损检测方法一样,也是在不损坏被检对象的使用性能的前提下,以物理、化学、材料科学及工程学理论为基础,对各种工程材料、零部件和产品进行有效的检验,借以评价它们的完整性、连续性及安全可靠性。