Throughout American history, there has been prejudice, discrimination and violence against religious, ethnic and racial groups. Negative attitudes and practices have originated both from the citizenry and from the government in the form of immigration restrictions. Some examples are documented in this article. (Author/GC)

Productivity increased in 1981 in the United States, Japan, and European countries studied. Gains ranged from 2 to 4 percent in the US, Japan, France, Germany, Italy, and the Netherlands, to 6 percent in England and Denmark, and more than 7 percent in Belgium. In Canada and Sweden, productivity remained essentially unchanged. (SSH)

A 1977 survey of over 100 males in small-scale enterprises in Zaria (Nigeria) shows both formal education and apprenticeship are mechanisms distributing economic benefits. By avoiding viewing the informal sector of the economy as distinct and separate, apprenticeship becomes an extension of the formal educational system. (LC)

A teaching unit uses the songs of sailors, loggers, coal miners, and other workers to illustrate how the United States was built in the nineteenth century. Words and music for seven songs are given, along with classroom activities to help children understand occupations and industries during that time. (PP)

Judgments by Australian courts that link two cases dealing with the role of teachers and labor law are analyzed in terms of the political motives of the claimants, the implications of the decisions, and the judicial interpretations. (Author/MLF)

This critique of the "orthodox radical" interpretation of social classes argues that the predominance of middle- class wage earners and women moving into the nonmanual job market constitutes a departure from the traditional "working class". Better working conditions and wages are the nonmanual workers' incentives to ally themselves with…

Presents comments spoken at a human rights conference by Han Dongfang, a Chinese activist who was jailed after an attempt to organize China's first independent union from a tent in Tiananmen Square during the democracy movement. Today, he is barred from the mainland but works from Hong Kong through Radio Free Asia. Comments focus on foreign…

California's strawberry industry offers a case study of both California agriculture's dependence on the exploitation of an imported peasantry, and the destructive consequences of the "free market" and a deliberate low-wage economy. Describes a new form of sharecropping, tantamount to debt peonage; lax federal enforcement of existing…

Examines three of the changes wrought by coal mining: (1) the miner's working conditions; (2) the establishment of company towns; and (3) the violence that ensued when miners from Harlan County, Kentucky, referred to as "Bloody Harlan," tried to better their lives by joining labor unions. (CMK)

Offers a poststructuralist analysis of the UK higher education sector's academic division of labor, exploring some new contradictions from a contract researcher's standpoint. Raises political, social, and methodological questions about these divisions by exploring their class and gender dimensions. Too many academics remain silent about adverse…

The Scandinavian working-life tradition is founded on ideas and values similar to the model of conductivity. However, although the Scandinavian working-life tradition is pragmatic and consensus seeking the model of conductivity is stringent following its principles. The pragmatic approach, here represented by the Danish program of "the…

Pertinent general and library specific stress studies are reviewed to demonstrate the importance and benefits of keeping job stress within healthy (normal) levels in libraries. Studies are cited to show the potentially adverse impact of stress on individuals and organizations, generally, and librarians and libraries, specifically. The results of a…

This paper contains an overview of labor market policy in Sweden. It refers to job placement services and other more or less selective measures to improve opportunities for people to obtain and retain a job. The paper first examines the objectives of labor market policies since the 1950s, then it highlights such labor market trends as the increase…

The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) is an independent federal agency created in 1935 by Congress to administer the National Labor Relations Act, the basic law governing relations between labor unions and business enterprises engaged in operations affecting interstate commerce. In its statutory assignment, the NLRB has two principal…

Readings and exercises for use with a course for Canadian workers on racism and the workplace are included in this book. The materials are organized to reflect the themes of the ten sessions of the course: (1) racism hurts workers; (2) analysing racial situations in the workplace; (3) the employer connection to racism in the workplace; (4)…