Union recognition in Britain's offshore oil and gas industry: implications of the Employment Relations Act 1999

The Employment Relations Act 1999 (ERA) has provided trade unions in the UK with new opportunities for achieving recognition. After a long history of anti‐unionism in the offshore oil and gas industry, employers have voluntarily ceded recognition to Trades Union Congress (TUC)‐affiliated trade unions. The legitimacy of this recognition process has been contested by the non‐TUC Offshore Industry Liaison Committee (OILC), an offshore workers’ union, seeking to act as a recognised bargaining agent. The ERA may be promoting ‘business friendly’ agreements at the expense of claims to recognition of other bargaining agents and of democratic employee choice.     

The Baltics: Continuing Boom or Bursting Bubble?

Since the late 1990s, the economies of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania have experienced unprecedented economic growth, which has attracted a large number of foreign investors. American companies were among the first to seek business opportunities and have invested over $1 billion in the three countries as of 2008. However, the boom—partly financed on a loose credit policy—has recently created a fragile economic situation due to soaring wages, double-digit inflation, and high current account deficits. The resulting economic deceleration in the first half of 2008 has led analysts to comment that the “Baltic Bubble” is about to burst, potentially leading to a long-term recession. Other experts, nevertheless, maintain that the three countries are only experiencing a natural consolidation, which does not seriously endanger business opportunities in the long run. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the current condition of the Baltic economies and the environment for businesses there in order to determine if the three countries will still be attractive destinations for foreign direct investment (FDI) in the future.     

„Problemsucher,Problemfinder und Problemlöser in einem sind gefragt“

Ohne Zusammenfassung Dr. Matthias Salge (43) leitet seit 2004 das operative und strategische Controlling der Volksfürsorge. Davor war er in der Corporate-Finance Beratung der Wirtschaftsprüfungsgesellschaft PricewaterhouseCoopers sowie bei der Frankfurter Allianz als Vorstandsassistent und im Vertrieb t?tig. Er hat an den Universit?ten G?ttingen, Kiel und Barcelona Volkswirtschaftslehre studiert und über ein kapitalmarkttheoretisches Thema an der Universit?t Kiel promoviert. Daniele Baldino (32) leitet seit 2005 im Controlling der Volksfürsorge die Abteilung Strategisches Controlling. Die berufliche Laufbahn in der AMB Generali Gruppe begann er 2002 als Vorstandsassistent, zun?chst in der Volksfürsorge, anschlie?end in der Konzernzentrale. Davor war er in der KPMG Unternehmensberatung sowie im Private-Equity-Umfeld t?tig. Baldino hat European Business Studies (EBS) in Regensburg studiert mit Aufenthalten in Frankreich und Gro?britannien.     

Subjective versus normative evaluation of housing quality

The decision to rent or buy a certain apartment is one of the most momentous choices a typical consumer can make. Both he and the architect who designed the dwelling would thus be helped a great deal if we could objectively measure housing quality. But apartments are highly complex products, too, and individual preferences may vary considerably, precluding any uniform evaluation. This study compared evaluations of apartment floor plans by three published normative systems with subjective preference rankings given by a sample of interviewees. Results showed respondents' rankings to be remarkably stable even over a 1-year interval. Inter-rater-agreement was slight. Mean agreement with even the best of the systems was rather modest. In addition, the three systems achieved less than perfect or even zero agreement among themselves. It is tentiatively concluded that normative evaluation of housing quality is a more or less futile endeavour. Alternative approaches are briefly discussed.     

Securing skills needed for success. Community job training for negroes

Business, unions, and community organizations will have to cooperate more closely than ever before to provide job training programs for Negroes, if explosive racial disturbances are to be avoided and a large section of unused manpower potential is to be developed. Much of this work was done during 1963-64 and some of its other findings will be published in “job Training Through Adult Education: A Second Chance for the Negro and the Community,” in Arthur Ross and Herbert Hill, eds., Employment, Race, and Poverty, Harcourt, Brace and World, 1966.