Alleghany County, an extractive community, has depended heavily upon a single paper mill known as MeadWestvaco for over a century. The purpose of this study is to explore the degree to which MeadWestvaco utilizes paternalism and economic coercion as forms of power to control and maintain community quiescence regarding the company's negative environmental impact in Alleghany County. This paper mill has negatively affected Alleghany County relative to other Virginia communities. However, there has been very little local action against the paper mill's environmental impact. To define and recognize paternalism and economic coercion, I undertake a historical analysis of the cotton textile industry of the Southern Piedmont and coal mining industry of Southern Appalachia, where these systems of power have been documented. In applying the indicators of paternalism and economic coercion found in these nearby Southern industries to Alleghany County, Virginia, I find that MeadWestvaco utilizes both strategies to some degree to control and influence community awareness of and response to the company's environmental damage. / Master of Science

This study reviews historical current factors limiting Puerto Rican women in the area of educational preparation and in the island's work force. Attitudes are identified in Puerto Rican society as well as reactions to the increasing role of women in the island's work force. Three questions guided this study. (1) Is there evidence in the history of Puerto Rico indicating discrimination of women at work? (2) Have educational opportunities promoted or limited the participation of women in the island's labor force? (3) Are Puerto Ricans' attitudes obstacles deterring women from entry into occupations or professions traditionally male dominated? An instrument designed, tested and applied randomly on a cross section of voters in Jayuya and in Precinct Two of San Juan, provided a 68.66% return. After a careful analysis of the findings of the study the following conclusions could be made. (1) There is clear evidence in the history of Puerto Rico indicating discrimination towards women in the work place. This is evident in a perusal of the island's political, economic, social and educational history. An analysis of data gathered by governmental agencies and findings of studies done by private and public work places show a limited number of higher management positions held by women. Prevalent discrimination is evident by the need to pass laws to protect the rights of women and to eliminate gender bias in the work place. The low representation of women in administrative positions as well as in legislative, judicial and other jobs in government, have further limited professional growth for women. (2) Even when educational opportunities for women have advanced their participation in the labor force, they have served to limit their participation in the work force by leading them into jobs and professions that are extensions of traditional roles. (3) Beliefs persist that minimize the capabilities and potentials of women, creating low expectations of their contributions to the labor force. This attitude plays a negative role in educational practices resulting in additional discrimination against women in Puerto Rico.

The purpose of the study was to examine how a shift in elements of organizational culture impacted attitudes toward job satisfaction in a medium-sized, consumer-owned electric utility over a period of 13 years. The unit of analysis was a municipal utility distributing electrical energy to approximately 27,000 customers. Data collection included the Science Research Associate Employee Inventory, a review of the organization's documents, and a subjective Job Satisfaction Questionnaire. A one-tailed z-test was performed to test whether or not the proportion of employees answering favorable in one survey was greater than the proportion answering favorable in the other survey. It was also used to analyze certain cultural changes. The elements of job satisfaction assessed were: job demands, working conditions, pay, employee benefits, friendliness and cooperation of fellow employees, supervisor/employee interpersonal relations, confidence in management, technical competence of supervision, effectiveness of administration, adequacy of communication, security of job and work relations, status and recognition, identification with the company, and opportunity for growth and advancement. Elements assessed depicting culture were attendance, safety, United Way participation and turnover. Conclusions of the study emphasized that long-term cultural aspects including attendance, safety and United Way participation may be changed positively while maintaining or improving attitudes toward certain aspects of job satisfaction. Areas of attitude improvement were pay, benefits, and effectiveness of administration. It was also concluded that employees with higher education levels and more behavioral training may have higher expectations of their supervisors.

The purpose of this paper was to explore the influence individual and organizational factors exerted on technological innovations, programmatic innovations and combined technological and programmatic innovations. Student affairs divisions in Comprehensive I colleges and universities constituted the administrative unit examined. The two types of program innovations examined were substance abuse prevention/education programs and retention/academic support programs. The technological innovations examined were financial aid computerized award calculation and computerized career counseling. The individual factors examined were professionalism, gender and age of the chief student affairs officer. The organizational factors were vertical, horizontal and combined vertical and horizontal complexity, centralization and size. Size was measured as student body size, a combined staff size within the four units examined and combined student body and staff size. The method of study was survey. One hundred chief student affairs officers were surveyed for responses about their institutions' innovations and the factors of professionalism, age, gender, centralization, complexity and size. The findings were: (1) There was a significant relationship between professionalism and technological innovation. The more professional the chief student affairs officer was, the more technological innovation was reported. (2) There was a significant relationship between age and combined programmatic and technological innovation. The higher the age of the chief student affairs officer, the lower the level of combined technological and programmatic innovation was reported. (3) There was a significant relationship between complexity and programmatic innovation. The more complexity present, the more programmatic innovation was reported. This significance held across the three different measures of horizontal, vertical and combined complexity. (4) There was a significant relationship between complexity and combined technological and programmatic innovation. The more complexity, the more combined technological and programmatic innovation was reported. This significance held across vertical and combined measures for complexity. (5) There was a significant relationship between the size and programmatic innovation. The larger the size, the more programmatic innovation was reported. This significance held for staff size and combined size measures. The major conclusion was that different factors may impact programmatic innovation differently than technological innovation or combined programmatic and technological innovation. Future study of innovation should consider these differences.

A voz do trabalhador ocupa, ainda, um lugar secundário na interlocução capital x trabalho. Sua manifestação lingüística em instâncias de caráter oficial/institucional ocorre apenas nos momentos de maior tensão entre os interlocutores, em especial durante os processos trabalhistas, visando à validação/obtenção de um direito. Tal representatividade não se dá de forma direta, mas através da voz do advogado trabalhista, aqui chamado de locutor-advogado, porta-voz legitimado socialmente, que busca dirigir a argumentação no contrafluxo da voz predominante no universo do trabalho - a voz do capital. Esta pesquisa tem por objetivo mostrar como a voz do trabalhador é representada no discurso jurídico trabalhista e quais os significados dessa representatividade no mundo do trabalho. O escopo teórico utilizado é fruto do diálogo interdisciplinar entre as teorias do texto e do discurso (em particular a semântica global e seu conceito de interdiscurso, e a semântica argumentativa, com seus conceitos de polifonia e direção argumentativa) e as disciplinas direito trabalhista e sociologia do trabalho. A análise lingüístico-discursiva dar-se-á a partir de corpus composto por textos (orais e escritos) próprios a esse discurso e extraídos de um processo trabalhista típico. Os textos orais (não oficiais) produzidos no processo se constituem a origem discursiva dos textos escritos (oficiais e legais). Na transposição do oral para o escrito, a voz do trabalhador ganha estatuto diverso, porque passa a ser dirigida pela voz do locutor-advogado. Nesta pesquisa, verificar-se-á como nos textos escritos emergem, apagam-se ou permanecem de forma residual índices da voz do trabalhador. A pesquisa pretenderá ainda mostrar como é possível ao pesquisador lingüista encontrar pistas lingüísticas de heterogeneidade em discursos pretensamente homogêneos, como é o discurso jurídico trabalhista, contribuindo com subsídios de sua especialidade para a construção de um quadro do que é, ou está se tornando, o mundo do trabalho nas sociedades ocidentais modernas, nas quais o Brasil se espelha. / The worker´s voice still plays a secondary role in the interaction capital x labor. Its linguistic manifestation, of an official/institutional nature, occurs only in moments of maximum tension between interlocutors, particularly in judicial proceedings, in the area of labor relations, targeted at the authorization or obtention of a legal right. The worker´s voice is not directly represented in such processes, but rather through a specialized lawyer´s voice, herein named the locutor-lawyer, a socially sanctioned speaker, who addresses his or her arguments to a hegemonic voice in the discursive world of labor, namely the voice of capital. This research explores the representation of the worker´s voice in judicial proceedings discourse in the area of labor relations and deals with the question of the meanings attached to this kind of representation within the world of labor relations. The theoretical framework for this research is found in the interdisciplinary dialogue between theories of text and discourse (particularly global semantics with its concept of interdiscourse, and argumentative semantics with its concepts of polyphony and argumentative direction), as well as in the disciplines Law, in the area of Labor Relations, and the Sociology of Labor. The linguistic-discursive analysis focusses on a corpus of oral and written texts within the domain of Legal Discourse in the area of Labor Relations and is taken from a typical judicial proceeding in this area. The (non-official) oral texts produced in the course of the judicial proceedings constitute the discursive source for the written texts (in this case, both official and legal documents). In the transposition from the oral to the written proceedings, the worker´s voice acquires a different status, as it is now under the locutor-lawyer´s supervision. This research explores the ways in which the worker´s voice emerges, is deleted or leaves traces in the written texts that constitute the judicial proceedings. Another aim of the research is to demonstrate how the linguist–researcher may find linguistic clues of heterogeneity in discourses (as the legal discourse in the area of labor relations) which are, at first sight, homogeneous. Thus, the linguist–researcher, drawing on linguistic-discursive tools, may contribute to an understading of how representations of labor relations in contemporary Western societies, including Brazil, are being shaped.

A voz do trabalhador ocupa, ainda, um lugar secundário na interlocução capital x trabalho. Sua manifestação lingüística em instâncias de caráter oficial/institucional ocorre apenas nos momentos de maior tensão entre os interlocutores, em especial durante os processos trabalhistas, visando à validação/obtenção de um direito. Tal representatividade não se dá de forma direta, mas através da voz do advogado trabalhista, aqui chamado de locutor-advogado, porta-voz legitimado socialmente, que busca dirigir a argumentação no contrafluxo da voz predominante no universo do trabalho - a voz do capital. Esta pesquisa tem por objetivo mostrar como a voz do trabalhador é representada no discurso jurídico trabalhista e quais os significados dessa representatividade no mundo do trabalho. O escopo teórico utilizado é fruto do diálogo interdisciplinar entre as teorias do texto e do discurso (em particular a semântica global e seu conceito de interdiscurso, e a semântica argumentativa, com seus conceitos de polifonia e direção argumentativa) e as disciplinas direito trabalhista e sociologia do trabalho. A análise lingüístico-discursiva dar-se-á a partir de corpus composto por textos (orais e escritos) próprios a esse discurso e extraídos de um processo trabalhista típico. Os textos orais (não oficiais) produzidos no processo se constituem a origem discursiva dos textos escritos (oficiais e legais). Na transposição do oral para o escrito, a voz do trabalhador ganha estatuto diverso, porque passa a ser dirigida pela voz do locutor-advogado. Nesta pesquisa, verificar-se-á como nos textos escritos emergem, apagam-se ou permanecem de forma residual índices da voz do trabalhador. A pesquisa pretenderá ainda mostrar como é possível ao pesquisador lingüista encontrar pistas lingüísticas de heterogeneidade em discursos pretensamente homogêneos, como é o discurso jurídico trabalhista, contribuindo com subsídios de sua especialidade para a construção de um quadro do que é, ou está se tornando, o mundo do trabalho nas sociedades ocidentais modernas, nas quais o Brasil se espelha. / The worker´s voice still plays a secondary role in the interaction capital x labor. Its linguistic manifestation, of an official/institutional nature, occurs only in moments of maximum tension between interlocutors, particularly in judicial proceedings, in the area of labor relations, targeted at the authorization or obtention of a legal right. The worker´s voice is not directly represented in such processes, but rather through a specialized lawyer´s voice, herein named the locutor-lawyer, a socially sanctioned speaker, who addresses his or her arguments to a hegemonic voice in the discursive world of labor, namely the voice of capital. This research explores the representation of the worker´s voice in judicial proceedings discourse in the area of labor relations and deals with the question of the meanings attached to this kind of representation within the world of labor relations. The theoretical framework for this research is found in the interdisciplinary dialogue between theories of text and discourse (particularly global semantics with its concept of interdiscourse, and argumentative semantics with its concepts of polyphony and argumentative direction), as well as in the disciplines Law, in the area of Labor Relations, and the Sociology of Labor. The linguistic-discursive analysis focusses on a corpus of oral and written texts within the domain of Legal Discourse in the area of Labor Relations and is taken from a typical judicial proceeding in this area. The (non-official) oral texts produced in the course of the judicial proceedings constitute the discursive source for the written texts (in this case, both official and legal documents). In the transposition from the oral to the written proceedings, the worker´s voice acquires a different status, as it is now under the locutor-lawyer´s supervision. This research explores the ways in which the worker´s voice emerges, is deleted or leaves traces in the written texts that constitute the judicial proceedings. Another aim of the research is to demonstrate how the linguist–researcher may find linguistic clues of heterogeneity in discourses (as the legal discourse in the area of labor relations) which are, at first sight, homogeneous. Thus, the linguist–researcher, drawing on linguistic-discursive tools, may contribute to an understading of how representations of labor relations in contemporary Western societies, including Brazil, are being shaped.

Lack of research on the use of the leave fringe benefit (paid and unpaid time off) as it related to administrators in higher education was the problem of this study. The main purpose of this study was to increase the body of knowledge by analyzing the differences among paid and unpaid time off and selected demographic data for administrators at four selected public universities in Tennessee (Austin Peay State University, East Tennessee State University, Middle Tennessee State University, and Tennessee Technological University). This descriptive study was conducted to provide a historical data base on the use of paid and unpaid time off in higher education in Tennessee. Data collection was accomplished using specialized computer programs to select information from existing data bases of the four universities. Conclusions of this study were based on reported paid and unpaid time off for 480 administrative employees from four public universities in Tennessee. Female administrators used reported annual and sick leave at significantly higher rates. Administrators with 11 to 15 years of seniority had significantly higher reported use of annual leave. Administrators in the state retirement plan had a higher use of reported sick leave. Administrators with salary ranges of $55,001 to \$65,000 had the lowest use of reported sick leave. Employees with doctorate degrees had significantly lower use of reported sick leave. There were no significant differences for reported annual and sick leave between the four age categories and the four institutions in the study. Recommendations were based on the analyses that significant differences exist in the amount of paid leave used and various demographic variables. Calculations on the research questions indicated that the cost for unpaid leave and paid leave types (jury duty, civil leave, military leave, and bereavement leave) were minimal. However, the calculated mean cost per employee for paid leave types (holiday, annual leave, and sick leave) were more costly. Public institutions should manage and market the leave fringe benefit as a major component of personnel cost.

No description available.

It has long been argued that the organization of the U.S. health care system is shaped by the struggles between capital and labor, and this relationship is of increasing significance today. Transformations from an industrial to a service economy, rising insurance costs, neoliberal social policies, and decreased labor union power have increased the number of Americans with reduced access to health care, especially for service workers and women. This dissertation is an ethnographic study of how workers in two leading unions in the “new” unionism movement, the Retail, Wholesale, and Distribution Service Union (RWDSU) and the United Steelworkers (USW) in urban Central Appalachia, characterize union membership and economic (and benefit) transformations that threaten security for working and middle class families. Using health care as a case study, this dissertation demonstrates the ways in which economic transformations are making health care less affordable for working and middle class families. Through a discussion of the importance of union membership that highlights job protection in the face of the expansion and increasing feminization of service work and the decline in work sponsored benefits, this dissertation details how these processes reduce access to and affordability of health care. In so doing, this research highlights individual pragmatic action and broader union activism in seeking economic and health security for their families. More broadly, new unionism tactics are described in the actions of a Central Labor Council as it seeks to renew community alliances and link rank-and-file concerns of job security to current labor issues, including the Employee Free Choice Act and Right-to-Work legislation, on local, state, and national levels. This dissertation links access to health care problems in this community to broader national issues (e.g. job protection, service work, and outsourcing) and highlights how union members, individually and collectively, are participating in “new” unionism tactics to maintain job security and secure resources, including health care, for their families.

L'objectif principal de ce mémoire est d'évaluer le rôle modérateur de trois traits de personnalité, soit l'estime de soi, le sentiment de cohésion, ainsi que le centre de contrôle interne sur la relation entre les conditions de l'organisation du travail et la consommation d'alcool à risque, ainsi que la consommation de médicaments psychotropes des travailleurs canadiens. Les données sur lesquelles nous nous sommes basés proviennent de l'Enquête Nationale sur la Santé de la Population (ENSP) de Statistique Canada. Celle-ci a été conduite à des intervalles de deux ans, de l’année 1994 jusqu'à l’année 2003, et comprend ainsi cinq cycles longitudinaux. Les analyses multiniveaux que nous avons effectuées nous ont permises d’identifier cinq variables des conditions de l'organisation du travail qui s’associent de manière significative à la consommation d'alcool à risque, soit l’utilisation des compétences qui augmente de 7% le risque de faire partie du groupe de consommation d’alcool à risque par un travailleur, les demandes psychologiques qui augmentent ce risque de 69%, et les travailleurs confrontés à un horaire de travail irrégulier qui consomment 61% plus d’alcool à risque que les travailleurs qui ont un horaire de travail régulier. Inversement, l’insécurité d’emploi réduit de 12% le risque de faire partie du groupe de consommation d’alcool à risque, et les travailleurs bénéficiant d’un soutien social au travail courent 5% moins de risque de consommation d’alcool à risque. Pour ce qui est des médicaments psychotropes, nos analyses multiniveaux nous ont permises d’identifier deux variables des conditions de l’organisation du travail qui y sont associées de manière significative. Il s’agit de l’utilisation des compétences qui augmente de 8% le risque de faire partie du groupe de consommation de médicaments psychotropes, alors que le nombre d’heures travaillées diminue de 1% ce risque. En ce qui concerne les traits de personnalité, l’estime de soi augmente de 17% le risque de consommation d’alcool à risque, alors que le sentiment de cohésion diminue de 1% ce risque. L’estime de soi joue un rôle modérateur faible entre les conditions de l’organisation du travail et la consommation d’alcool à risque, puisque celle-ci diminue de 3% l’effet pathogène des demandes physiques imposées sur les travailleurs sur leur consommation d’alcool à risque. Pour ce qui est des médicaments psychotropes, nos résultats indiquent que l’estime de soi diminue de 4% le risque de consommation de médicaments psychotropes, le centre de contrôle interne diminue de 9% ce risque, et le sentiment de cohésion quant à lui, diminue ce risque de 3%. D’ailleurs, aucun trait de personnalité ne joue un rôle modérateur entre les conditions de l’organisation du travail et la consommation de médicaments psychotropes. / The main objective of this master's thesis is to determine the moderator effect of personality traits (self esteem, sens of cohesion, sens of control) on the relationship between work organization conditions, and risky alcohol consumption, as well as psychotropic medication consumption by canadian workers. In order to conduct our project, we relied on data that came from five cycles of the National Population Health Survey (NPHS). This survery was conducted at a two year interval, spanning from the year 1994 until 2003, and includes five longitudinal cycles. The multilevel analyis we performed, allowed us to identify five work organization conditions that increase the risk of risky alcohol consumption.Skill utilisation increases by 7% the risk of being part of a risky alcohol consumption group, while psychological demands increase risky alcohol consumption by 69%, and workers confronted to an irregular work schedule consume 61% more risky alcohol. However, job insecurity decerases by 12% the risk of being part of a risky alcohol consumption group, and workers that enjoy social support at work have a 5% lesser risk of being part of a risky alcohol consumption group. As for psychotropic medications consumption, our multilevel analysis allowed us to identify two work organization conditions that are associated in a significant manner to the psychotropic medication consumption. Skill utilisation at work increases by 8% the risk of being part of a pscyhotropic medication consumption group, while the number of hours worked decreases by 1% the risk of being part of a psychotropic medication consumption group. As for personnality traits, our results indicate that self esteem increases by 17% the risk of risky alcohol consumption, while sense of cohesion decreases by 1% this risk. In addition, self esteem plays a moderator role by diminuishing by 3% the pathologic impact of physical demands at work on risky alcohol consumption. Concerning psychotropic medications consumption, our results indicate that self esteem diminuishes by 4% the risk of psychotropic medications consumption, sense of control diminuishes by 9% the risk of psychotropic medications consumption, and sense of cohesion diminuishes by 3% this risk. In addition, none of the personnality traits plays a moderator role between work’s organization’s conditions and psychotropic medications consumption.