Organising the Unemployed? The TUC and the Unemployed Workers Centres

This article focuses on the development of the TUC's Unemployed Workers Centres. An empirical examination of their roles and activities is followed by an assessment of their aims and objectives.     

Contracting-Out: A Step Towards Competition

The Government has advocated contracting-out to improve services currently supplied by the state. Dr. Keith Hartly, Director of the Institute of Research at the University of York, argues that for the benefits of contracting-out to be fully realised it most avoid collusion between state and contractor and should be extended to all forms of state supply and their workforces. Contracting-out is nevertheless, merely a halfway-house on the path towards genuine competition.     

The Australian Wage System and Its Labor Market Effects

In Australia, quasi-judicial conciliation and arbitration tribunals set the terms and conditions under which the majority of employees work. Many commentators maintain that the activities of these tribunals have significantly affected the county's labor market and the operation of the economy. This paper outlines the distinguishing characteristics of Australia's wage determination system and reviews the research concerning its labor market consequences. Recent evidence suggests that critics of the system may have overstated their case.     

Reviews

“REDUNDANT SPACE?” Green, Howard and Foley, Paul, 1986: Redundant Space, A Productive Asset Harper & Row, London, on behalf of the Small Business Research Trust, £14.95.

“SMALL FACTORIES” Perry, M., 1986: Small Factories and Economic Development. Aldershot: Gower, £22.50.

“COMMUNITY PERSPECTIVES” Willett, R. 1985: Village Ventures. Rural Communities in Action. Rural Voice/Bedford Square Press, £3.25

Alexander, T. 1986: Value for People, Adult Education and Popular Planning. Popular Planning Project, Clapham-Battersea Adult Education Institute, 116 Battersea Park Road, London, £2.50

Ashby, P. 1986: Trade Unions and the Community, Working for Jobs. Bedford Square Press/N.C.V.O.£2.50

“COMMUNITIES IN BUSINESS” Centre for Employment Initiatives/Community Initiatives Research Trust, 1986: Communities in Business. London: Centre for Employment Initiatives, £6.95 paper.

“LONDON TECHNOLOGY STRATEGY” London Strategic Policy Unit, 1987: Britain's Industrial Renaissance? The Development, Manufacture and Use of Information Technology. London: L.S.P.U.

“EUROPEAN EMPLOYMENT INITIATIVES” Martinos, H., 1986: Employment Creation in Local Labour Markets — Four Case Studies (ILE Notebooks No 5). Paris: OECD, price FF 60.00

“CHALLENGING THE MSC” Benn, C. and Fairley, J. Editors: 1986: Challenging the MSC on jobs, training and education. London Pluto Press, £5.95 Paperback.

“SMALL FIRMS” Scott, M., Lewis, J., Gibb, A., Faulkner, T.; Editors: 1986: Small Firms Growth and Development Gower, £19.50     

The political economy of roll-call voting in the “multi-party” congress of the United States

The Congress of the United States can be characterized as a “multi-party” system where each legislator has a unique position on a liberal-conservative dimension. This dimension correctly classifies over 80 percent of individual roll-call votes. Previous attempts to explain roll-call voting by economic characteristics of constituencies have not been developed within a spatial model of choice. Within the context of a spatial model, constituency characteristics representing state “averages” do not succeed as explanatory variables and add little, if anything, to the explanatory power of liberal-conservative position. This point is documented by the analysis of 568 Senate roll calls for 1977 and a specific set of coal strip-mine roll calls previously analyzed by Kalt and Zupan.     

The Industrial Training Act and the hotel and catering industry: a case study*

The 1964 Industrial Training Act had three main aims. The first was a quantity objective, aimed at obtaining “an adequate supply of properly trained men and women at all levels in industry” second was a quality and efficiency objective, aimed at securing “an improvement in the quality and efficiency of industrial training” and the third was an equity objective, designed to “share the costs of training more evenly between firms”. In general, the Act attempted to achieve these objectives through Industrial Training Boards with their levy-grant systems and advisory services. The purpose of this article is to present the results of a case study which examined the effects of the 1964 Act on training in the hotel and catering industry. The methodology used will be outlined and then the results will be presented and interpreted. Some evidence will be provided on the extent to which the objectives of the Act have been achieved.