Considers the interaction between school curriculum policy and student course selection in Detroit (Michigan) high schools during the 1930s, a period of substantial enrollment growth. This trend arose from changes in the youth labor market rather than from curriculum expansion. During the Depression, schools introduced "life adjustment"…

Through new attention to role expansion, physical environment design, hostility scalebacks, and information enlargement, we can make substantial new gains against off-the-job stresses that depress on-the-job performance. (Author)

Data on the health of employees, if the communication gap is closed between managers and occupational health experts, can be used to improve management's effectiveness. (AG)

Notes that about half of U.S. toys are made in China, mainly by young women who work extremely long shifts, 7 days a week, "amid sickening vapors and under draconian rules." Describes corporate codes of conduct, the role consumers can play in changing extremely poor working conditions, and the impact of international trade reforms.…

Survey of full and intern members of 10 state school psychology associations indicate that a higher proportion of women are entering the field. Results indicate no gender differences in the number of days worked yearly, number of hours worked daily, number of yearly evaluations completed, or the number of assigned schools. (RJM)

Discusses the rapid growth of the Workers Rights Consortium, a student-originated group with 44 member institutions which opposes sweatshop labor conditions especially in the apparel industry. Notes disagreements about the number of administrators on the board of directors and about the role of industry representives. Compares this group with the…

Highlights the life of Elizabeth Ross Haynes, an African American social welfare reformer, politician, and "race woman." Describes how Haynes's work focused on services for women and African Americans during the early 1900s and her dedication to women's labor issues. Discusses the implications of Haynes's womanist consciousness on social…

This paper, by a teacher of migrants, summarizes various farm labor laws and child labor laws pertaining to migrant and seasonal workers. The Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection Act of 1983 provides workers with assurances about pay, hours, and working conditions, including safety and health. This legislation permits anyone…

Texas Governor Mark White established a 28-member Governor's Task Force on Immigration on March 24, 1983 to: (1) examine the impact on Texas and its citizens of the legislative issues in the proposed federal Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1983; (2) hold public hearings to gain input from citizens, business, industry, labor, ranching and…

This report reviews the changing role of labor unions in the United States today and proposes actions to increase union membership and strength in the future. The report is organized in 10 sections. The first section describes changes in the work force, especially during the 1960s and 1970s. It is followed by sections describing (1) the failure of…

A reasonable definition of exploitation is an unjust or improper use of another person for one's own profit or advantage. Exploitation predates the age of industry; it is not the sole province of industry and business. Worker responses to exploitation in the evolving industrial democracy have taken the form of labor unions, political clubs, credit…

An experiment with variable work hours in one department of a large company was so successful that it has become standard procedure in various corporate areas, both staff and line. The result? Increased production, fewer errors, improved employee morale, and a significant reduction in lateness and absenteeism. (Author)

This paper discusses communication and physical-setting variables as a subset of organizational climate variables and attempts to provide a theoretical and methodological framework for organizational communication research. Attention is focused on the effects of immediate physical surroundings, the physical settings in which people work, and how…

In April 1975, a survey of community attitudes toward migrants was conducted in a small Indiana town in Henry County (population 450). A random sample of 19 males and 16 females, ranging in age from 20 to 60, reacted to a specially constructed 12 item Likert-type opinion poll. Items covered the areas of minimum wage, food stamps, camp supervision,…

Migrant mushroom workers suffer from poor housing and living conditions, low wages, poor health, unsafe working conditions, abuse from crew leaders, and isolation. Farm work advocates feel these abuses will continue without laws guaranteeing access to the camps, minimum standards for camp conditions, and the outlawing or strict regulation of crew…