This article responds to Do Social Workers Make Better Child Welfare Workers than Non-Social Workers? by Dr. Robin E. Perry. The article articulates National Association of Social Workers'support for a professional social work labor force to serve children and their families and for continued federal investment in the training of these workers. Professionally educated and trained social workers in child welfare agencies have good retention rates, report high satisfaction with their work, and have a solid understanding of the child welfare service arena. Children and families in crisis deserve access to the best resources available, including professional social workers.
We consider the hiring of public sector workers through legislated rules and exam-based rankings, as is done in many countries and institutions around the world. In them, workers take tests and are ranked based on scores in exams and other pre-determined criteria, and those who satisfy some eligibility criteria are made available for hiring in a "pool of workers." In each of an ex-ante unknown number of rounds, vacancies are announced and workers are then hired from that pool. We show that when the scores are the only criterion for selection, the procedure satisfies desired fairness and independence properties. We show, with the aid of details of procedures used in Brazil, France and Australia, that when compositional objectives are introduced, such as affirmative action policies, both the procedures used in the field and in the literature fail to satisfy those properties. We then present a new rule, which we show to be the unique rule that satisfies those properties. Finally, we show that if multiple institutions hire workers from a single pool, even minor consistency requirements are incompatible with compositional objectives.
State workers' compensation laws have been subjected to criticism since their inception; pressure to change them is now increasing. Most of the current challenge arise from dissatisfaction with the level of benefits available to disabled workers or their survivors, and, to a lesser degree, with the extent of program coverage. In response to this challenge, changes will occur that my range from reform-simply raising benefit levels and extending coverage-to program redesign, implying major structural revisions or abolishment of the system. For several reasons, including public apathy, the role of interest groups, and experience with other social insurance programs, it seems likely that basic structural shifts will not occur in the near future. While the criticism of these state laws is widespread, the problems can be dealt with in the existing framework. One area, however, could conceivably arouse sufficient public and legislative interest to upset this forecast. If it develops that the system is excluding large numbers of individuals disabled or killed by occupational diseases, workers' compensation laws could be placed in jeopardy. While evidence on this is scarce, it is clear that the current system compensates only a small number of serious cases of disability arising from occupational diseases.
As China urbanizes, more migrants need and expect public services. Many municipalities, however, resist and undermine elements of the central government's urbanization strategy by deflecting demands for benefits instead of accepting or denying them outright. Urban authorities sometimes do so by establishing nearly impossible eligibility requirements or requiring paperwork that outsiders struggle to obtain. At times they also nudge migrants to seek healthcare or education elsewhere by enforcing dormant rules or by shutting down a locally available service provider. Limiting access to public services saves cities a vast amount of money and isolates and disempowers migrants. Phantom services are a consequence of the localization of the household registration system (hukou 户口) and a sign that new axes of inequality and gradations of second-class citizenship have emerged.
There has been much recent discussion internationally about the emergence in modern society of a new class of workers – the precariat – with a common consciousness based on features such as low wages, insecurity, short-term jobs, minority status and restricted rights. This paper critically explores the extent to which the growing, large-scale group of personal support workers (PSWs) can be viewed as part of a new precariat in terms of their position in the healthcare labour market. Drawing on currently available empirical data, this issue is examined particularly with reference to PSWs in Canada – drawing out some of the implications for government health policy in this sphere.
In order to assess the feasibility of an agro-industrial enterprise (food, livestock and dairy), a potential investor must consider number of issues ranging from marketing strategies to technological, financial, and organizational concerns. The proper formulation and analysis becomes necessary for the success of any agro-industrial development programme. Decision Support System (DSS) can serve as an effective means to minimise difficulties associated with preparing and evaluating an investment project proposal. Software systems to support preparation and evaluation tasks, such as computer model for feasibility analysis and reporting (COMFAR); from the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) and others specifically developed by donors and financing institutes, are known to exist. However, none of these is distinctively designed to deal with the specific characteristics of agro-processing projects. In fact, the agro-processing industry operates under a set of special constraints primarily related to the biological nature of their raw materials. These are largely perishable, inconsistent in quality characteristics and seasonality based supply. Agro-industries also have a wide range of product mix alternatives, a feature that imposes unique challenges to production planning and control. Hence, in view of the importance of agro-processing projects, a decision support system (DSS) addressing the issues of project planning and evaluation has been an excellent alternative. Thus, the need was felt for development of DSS to provide a simple tool for initial feasibility assessments on agro-processing related projects for related entrepreneurs in the country. This paper discusses the concept and development of decision support system and illustrates its application. ; The decision support system (DSS) was developed to address the special characteristics of agro-processing related enterprise in the production catchment. A process flow diagram for a decision support system was developed to facilitate organizing the technical and economic information needed to assess financial feasibility to make business decisions easy. The system is an "information application". The typical information that a decision support application might gather and present would be comparative sales figures between one week and the next, projected revenue figures based on new product sales assumptions, the consequences of different decision alternatives and given past experience. The developed system is useful for State government bodies, village level workers, NGO's, SHGs, etc. who deal with information on post-harvest agro-processing activity and related technologies/projects. This paper basically focuses on concept and development of a Decision Support System on agro-processing project preparation and evaluation at production Catchments. ; Not Available
Much has been written about older workers, including how to adequately manage a more mature workforce. Currently, the bulk of research concentrates on the push-pull factors for early retirement vs. the continuation of work life until the pensionable age. This article focuses on a different and rarely investigated group and explicitly addresses an issue up to now overlooked: for those who continue work beyond the age at which full government pension benefits are available (i.e., post-retirement workers), is the meaning of work related to their employment status? To answer this question we compared the work motives of Dutch volunteers and agency workers aged 65 years (i.e., the official Dutch pensionable age) and older. Contrary to the presumptive prevailing common convictions, we found that for post-retirement agency workers financial motives or needs seem less important than personal motives, and the employment status itself is not a good indicator for decision- making on human resource practices. We conclude that for these 'indisputable seniors' the satisfaction of esteem needs through work remains unremitting, and may even be increasingly important as time goes by. ; Im vorliegenden Artikel wird untersucht, ob ehrenamtliche MitarbeiterInnen und LeiharbeiterInnen im Alter von 65 Jahren und älter ihrer Arbeitstätigkeit mit verschiedenen Motiven und Bedürfnisse begegnen. Durch demografische Entwicklungen sind Arbeitgeber zunehmend auf ältere Beschäftigte angewiesen. Auch die Erhöhung des offiziellen Rentenalters hat zur Folge, dass Arbeitgeber und insbesondere das Personalmanagement sich der Frage stellen müssen, wie ältere Arbeitnehmer für den Betrieb erhalten bleiben können. Dabei ist die Einsicht in die Motive und Bedürfnisse dieser Arbeitnehmer essentiell: Nur wenn Arbeitgeber adäquat auf diese reagieren, kann eine zufriedenstellende Arbeitsbeziehung realisiert werden. Nach Mor-Barak (1995) unterscheiden wir finanzielle, soziale, persönliche und 'generative' Bedürfnisse. Die quantitative Studie unter niederländischen ehrenamtlichen MitarbeiterInnen (n = 54) und LeiharbeiterInnen (n = 178) zeigt, dass sogar für die Letztgenannten finanzielle Motive weniger wichtig sind als persönliche. Desweiteren zeigen die Ergebnisse keine signifikanten Unterschiede zwischen ehrenamtlichen MitarbeiterInnen und LeiharbeiterInnen in Bezug auf soziale, persönliche und generative Motive. Basierend auf diesen Ergebnissen wird diskutiert, ob die vertragliche Arbeitsbeziehung als Entscheidungskriterium für das Personalmanagement dienen kann und sollte.
Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Increasing retirements and declining fertility rates, among other factors, could affect the labor force growth in many developed countries. To maintain the size and productivity of the labor force, many governments and employers have introduced strategies to keep workers who face greater challenges in maintaining jobs and incomes, such as women and low-skilled workers, in the workforce. This testimony discusses our work on (1) describing the policies and practices implemented in other developed countries that may help women and low-wage/low-skilled workers enter and remain in the labor force, (2) examining the change in the targeted groups' employment following the implementation of the policies and practices, and (3) identifying the factors that affect employees' use of workplace benefits and the resulting workplace implications. The testimony is based on a report we are issuing today (GAO-07-817). For that report, we conducted an extensive review of workforce flexibility and training strategies in a range of developed countries and site visits to selected countries. Our reviews were limited to materials available in English. We identified relevant national policies in the U.S., but did not determine whether other countries' strategies could be implemented here. The report made no recommendations. The Department of Labor provided technical comments; the Department of State had no comments on the draft report."
Many of Zimbabwe's 320,000 permanent and semi-permanent farm workers live in squalid conditions. Economic reforms driven by the IMF and World Bank have resulted in an erosion of labour protection, aggravating the farm workers' plight. This study explores some of the urgent issues affecting farm workers today. Chapter 1 looks at the relations between farm owners and farm workers. Chapter 2 reviews the decline in wages and the struggle to improve working conditions for workers, while the following chapter covers amenities available to farm communities and environment health issues. Chapters 4 and 5 examine the special problems faced by women and children on commercial farms, while the following section looks at migrant workers. The final chapter attempts to situate farm workers within a context of increased globalisation and the impact of market forces in Zimbabwe. (DÜI-Hff)
Much has been written about the precarious nature of platform work, whether in high-income or less advanced economies. The lack of alternative employment opportunities and the high level of informal work in the latter are often assumed to be the key incentive for local workers to take on platform work. There is however little research on how exactly local conditions affect workers' choices and most importantly on the factors making them accept the precariousness of platform labour. Based on 40 interviews with ride-hailing drivers in Tbilisi, the capital of the Republic of Georgia, this article argues that, rather than the lack of alternative opportunities, the poor quality of available jobs and the lack of social protection are the factors leading workers to accept and internalise precariousness, making the inherent features of app-based work seem normal.
Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Over 130 million workers are protected from substandard wages and working conditions by the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). This act contains specific provisions to ensure that workers are paid the federal minimum wage and for overtime, and that youth are protected from working too many hours and from hazardous conditions. The Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division (WHD) is responsible for enforcing employer compliance with FLSA. To secure compliance, WHD uses enforcement actions, partnerships with external groups, and outreach activities. In response to a congressional request, we examined (1) the trends in FLSA compliance activities from fiscal years 1997 to 2007, (2) the effectiveness of WHD's efforts to plan and conduct these activities, and (3) the extent to which these activities have improved FLSA compliance."
The M. H. Ross Papers contain information pertaining to labor, politics, social issues of the twentieth century, coal mining and its resulting lifestyle, as well as photographs and audio materials. The collection is made up of five different accessions; L2001-05, which is contained in boxes one through 104, L2002-09 in boxes 106 through 120, L2006-16 in boxes 105 and 120, L2001-01 in boxes 120-121, and L2012-20 in boxes 122-125. The campaign materials consist of items from the 1940 and 1948 political campaigns in which Ross participated. These items include campaign cards, posters, speech transcripts, news clippings, rally materials, letters to voters, and fliers. Organizing and arbitration materials covers labor organizing events from "Operation Dixie" in Georgia, the furniture workers in North Carolina, and the Mine-Mill workers in the Western United States. Organizing materials include fliers, correspondence, news articles, radio transcripts, and some related photos. Arbitration files consist of agreements, decisions, and agreement booklets. The social and political research files cover a wide time period (1930's to the late 1970's/early 1980's). The topics include mainly the Ku Klux Klan, racism, Communism, Red Scare, red baiting, United States history, and literature. These files consist mostly of news and journal articles. Ross interacted with coal miners while doing work for the United Mine Workers Association (UMWA) and while working at the Fairmont Clinic in West Virginia. Included in these related files are books, news articles, journals, UMWA reports, and coal miner oral histories conducted by Ross. Tying in to all of the activities Ross participated in during his life were his research and manuscript files. He wrote numerous newspaper and journal articles on history and labor. Later, as he worked for the UMWA and at the Fairmont Clinic, he wrote more in-depth articles about coal miners, their lifestyle, and medical problems they faced (while the Southern Labor Archives has many of Ross's coal mining and lifestyle articles, it does not have any of his medical articles). Along with these articles are the research files Ross collected to write them, which consist of notes, books, and newspaper and journal articles. In additional to his professional career, Ross was adamant about documenting his and his wife's family history in the oral history format. Of particular interest are the recordings of his interviews with his wife's family - they were workers, musicians, and singers of labor and folk songs. Finally, in this collection are a number of photographs and slides, which include images of organizing, coal mining (from the late 19th through 20th centuries), and Appalachia. Of note is a small photo album from the 1930s which contains images from the Summer School for Workers, and more labor organizing. A few audio items are available as well, such as Ross political speeches and an oral history in which Ross was interviewed by his daughter, Jane Ross Davis in 1986. All photographic and audio-visual materials are at the end of their respective series. ; Myron Howard "Mike" Ross was born November 9, 1919 in New York City. He dropped out of school when he was seventeen and moved to Texas, where he worked on a farm. From 1936 until 1939, Ross worked in a bakery in North Carolina. In the summer of 1938, he attended the Southern School for Workers in Asheville, North Carolina. During the fall of 1938, Ross would attend the first Southern Conference on Human Welfare in Birmingham, Alabama. He would attend this conference again in 1940 in Chattanooga, Tennessee. From 1939 to 1940, Ross worked for the United Mine Workers Non-Partisan League in North Carolina, working under John L. Lewis. He was hired as a union organizer by the United Mine Workers of America, and sent to Saltville, Virginia and Rockwood, Tennessee. In 1940, Ross ran for a seat on city council on the People's Platform in Charlotte, North Carolina. During this time, he also married Anne "Buddie" West of Kennesaw, Georgia. From 1941 until 1945, Ross served as an infantryman for the United States Army. He sustained injuries near the Battle of the Bulge in the winter of 1944. From 1945 until 1949, Ross worked for the International Union of Mine, Mill and Smelter Workers, then part of the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO), as a union organizer. He was sent to Macon, Georgia, Savannah, Georgia and to Winston-Salem, North Carolina, where he worked with the United Furniture Workers Union. He began handling arbitration for the unions. In 1948, Ross ran for United States Congress on the Progressive Party ticket in North Carolina. He also served as the secretary for the North Carolina Progressive Party. Ross attended the University of North Carolina law school from 1949 to 1952. He graduated with honors but was denied the bar on the grounds of "character." From 1952 until 1955, he worked for the Mine, Mill and Smelter Workers as a union organizer, first in New Mexico (potash mines) and then in Arizona (copper mines). From 1955 to 1957, Ross attended the Columbia University School of Public Health. He worked for the United Mine Workers of America Welfare and Retirement Fund from 1957 to 1958, where he represented the union in expenditure of health care for mining workers. By 1958, Ross began plans for what would become the Fairmont Clinic, a prepaid group practice in Fairmont, West Virginia, which had the mission of providing high quality medical care for miners and their families. From 1958 until 1978, Ross served as administrator of the Fairmont Clinic. As a result of this work, Ross began researching coal mining, especially coal mining lifestyle, heritage and history of coal mining and disasters. He would interview over one hundred miners (coal miners). Eventually, Ross began writing a manuscript about the history of coal mining. Working for the Rural Practice Program of the University of North Carolina from 1980 until 1987, Ross taught in the medical school. M. H. Ross died on January 31, 1987 in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. ; Digitization of the M. H. Ross Papers was funded by the National Historical Publications and Records Commission.
Many different professional staff members in children's services systems interact with foster parents. In Canada, the title "resource worker" is used in many jurisdictions for those who work most directly and closely with licensed foster parents. There is, however, limited research on the experiences of resource workers. In the study, 68 resource workers from 14 agencies within a large metropolitan area in Canada were asked: "What challenges do you face as a foster parent resource worker?" The results were analyzed using concept mapping methodology and resulted in nine concepts: balance diverse stakeholder needs, motivate foster parents, manage dual roles, respond to foster parent misconduct, deal with disagreements, maintain credibility, meet demands of organization, stay up to date on changes, and lack of support. The results were compared and contrasted with the available literature.
