Outlines the history of Wisconsin's Municipal Employment Relations Act (MERA), details the new MERA procedures, and analyzes some of the procedure's implications for municipal labor relations. Concludes that the limitations placed on the right to strike may undermine the statute's long-term effectiveness. Journal availability: see EA 511 539.…

The doctrine of fair representation of employees by unions is first discussed in general terms, then the doctrine is discussed as it relates to a union's decision to take a case to arbitration, and, finally, the impact of the doctrine on the arbitration process is explored. Available from Syracuse University College of Law, Syracuse, New York…

Survey of 84 MSW union members from three unions in large urban area finds unionism and professionalism compatible. Differences among unions were demographic rather than attitudinal. Sample, mostly white, female under age 30, favors union arbitration, disapproves strikes. Prefers union with narrow economic focus, excluding professional or…

Argues that binding arbitration undermines the authority of public employers and that school boards should institute due process and the termination of striking teachers under applicable state law in those states in which teacher strikes are illegal. Journal availiability: see EA 511 612. (IRT)

Analysis of data from a 1998 telecommunications industry survey indicates that institutional pressures and human resource strategies contribute to adoption of nonunion dispute resolution procedures. Employment rights litigation and court deferral to nonunion arbitration led to an increase in mandatory arbitration procedures. Threat of unionization…

Discusses the issue of whether arbitrators possess the authority to take into account law outside the contract when not directed by the parties to do so, or whether arbitrators are confined to construing the contract. Favors the use of external law under certain circumstances. (MLF)

Describes the design and implementation of a mediation program for the resolution of child protection disputes in Nova Scotia. Focuses on the legal mandate for mediation, training programs for mediators, orientation programs for child protective workers, and the actual mediation process. (MDM)

In the Fall 1989 issue, Caraway discussed the advantages of grievance mediation, compared with arbitration. This article reexamines the issue from the viewpoint of the individual grievant and points to recent conflicting developments in the National Labor Relations Board's deferral doctrine. An introduction by Perry A. Zirkel summarizes the…

Investigates Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) and its potential as a topic for business communication practice and research. Explores what ADR is; how mediation and ADR are used in business; how mediation and ADR are similar to and different from negotiating; and two or three essential learning points or skills to teach business students about…

Macro-level data paint a detailed picture of the vulnerability of young people in employment, such as their concentration in casualised jobs, low average-weekly earnings and reduced access to collective representation, yet little is known about the internal conflicts that arise in individual workplaces that employ youth. This study seeks to…

The evidence indicates that the more research-oriented and institution is, the less receptive it is to collective bargaining. (Editor)

As part of an ongoing study of The Mediation Project at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst a mediation process was observed and recorded, followed by a group interview including both disputants and mediators. The two disputants had lived together for two years and had made several purchases together. They participated in the mediation…

A study evaluated the beginnings of the Minnesota Press Council in 1971, particularly the thinking of those involved in the earliest stages of the formation of the council. Oral history interviews with two people involved in the establishment of the council were supplemented with minutes of meetings and compared to an earlier study of the council…