This case study offers an organizational perspective on the ways in which a collective bargaining agreement shaped the administrative functioning of schools within an urban district. The data demonstrate how rational choice assumptions failed to account for the everyday site interactions between principals and teachers. Using complexity theory as…

This article examines the postdoctoral unionization movement at the University of California (UC) using case study methodology. More specifically, we examine postdoctoral union organizers involved in the United Automobile Workers of America (UAW) Local 5810, focusing on their efforts to unionize postdoctoral employees at the UC. The study is…

The aim of this study is to develop a reference model for intervention in the language processes applied to the transformation of language normalisation within organisations of a socio-economic nature. It is based on a case study of an experiment carried out over 10 years within a trade union confederation, and has pursued a strategy of a…

When California legislators passed the California Charter School Act of 1992, it allowed parents the choice of sending their children to public charter schools, places where teachers would have more autonomy and where schools faced exemptions from state education codes and from collective bargaining contracts. Hope Charter School (a pseudonym;…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to analyze learning in a Swedish trade union board in a workplace, according to contemporary challenges in working life and conditions, of decentralization and local independency of trade union work and learning. Design/methodology/approach: The paper is based on ethnographic studies of two Swedish local trade…

The concept of Educational Ambassadors is embedded within the so-called "Danish model" of industrial relations. The Danish industrial relations system is characterised by strong collective organisations with national coverage, which conclude the collective agreements for various industries or sectors and which are mostly grouped under…

Purpose: Trade unions, like many other membership-based social movement organisations, are confronted by the challenge of growth and revitalisation. Declining membership numbers, an increasingly restrictive legislative framework, and dramatic changes in modes of employment have combined to challenge many unions to rethink the way they work. In…

A combination of crises and innovative attempts to manage them that began in 1980 transformed the relationship between Xerox Corporation and the Amalgamated Clothing and Textile Workers Union, which represents most of Xerox's manufacturing employees. Eight pivotal episodes were largely responsible for the transformation. The first was a joint…

Examines unionization and job satisfaction among professional librarians in academic research institutions. A comparison of survey results of union and nonunion participants revealed the presence of unions has a negative relationship with job satisfaction; salaries and part-time status are also considered as predictors of job satisfaction.…

Union Learning Representatives (ULRs) are a relatively recent phenomenon and are a new category of lay representation within the workplace in the United Kingdom. They are part of the present New Labour administration's drive to expand and improve lifelong learning and create the new "learning society"--in this case, particularly amongst…

This special report examines the labor movement's growing interest in benefits that help two-income families and single parents. The report also: (1) examines benefits that unions have won for their members and employers' reactions to labor's increasing advocacy on behalf of working parents; (2) profiles the results of union activism for work and…

This collection of papers, which is intended as a contribution to the body of knowledge known as labor studies, examines the ways in which labor unions have and are continuing to respond to technological change in the workplace. The introduction by Donald Kennedy, Charles Craypo, and Mary Lehman traces the impact of technological change on the…

A study examined why employers use temporary agency and contract company workers and implications of these practices for wages, benefits, and working conditions of workers in low-skilled labor markets. Case studies in manufacturing (automotive supply), services (hospitals), and public sector (primary and secondary schools) industries defined the…

Reviews research on teacher work tasks and individual and collective teacher resistance. Based on a case study of four teachers at an urban, unionized, middle school; distinguishes between institutional political resistance and cultural political resistance. (FMW)

A study of 10 schools in 3 school districts examined how labor relations affect teachers' work attitudes and behavior, and how labor relations and contract provisions take on practical significance in the school and classroom. A three "generation" model of labor relations development--based on levels of conflict and the legitimacy accorded the…