Between 1919 and the establishment of the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO), Kensington's American Federation of Hosiery Workers (AFHW) built a remarkable movement for social justice in Philadelphia, that played an important role in the establishment of the CIO, the New Deal, and labor-based feminism. Most historical accounts have portrayed the years following World War I through the early 1930s as a period of reversals and apathy for both the labor and women's movements. Fractured by factionalism, racial and ethnic conflict, and government repression, it would not be until the Great Depression, and within the "culture of unity" of the CIO and New Deal, that this "doldrums" would be overcome enough to spark a revived labor movement and a "labor" feminism that emerged in the late 1940s and 1950s. The roots of the social movements of the 1930s and beyond are, however, longer and much more complex. In several places, working-class men and women continued to advance throughout the period of perceived "doldrums." In fact, the 1920s and early 1930s were a period of organizing, education, and network building that laid the groundwork for the later movements. This dissertation uses the AFHW and Kensington as a lens to examine these developments. A left-wing-Socialist-led union, the hosiery workers developed a subculture of radicalism that drew on the long working-class traditions of the textile unions of the community of Kensington. Representing an industry whose very product, silk full-fashioned hosiery, epitomized the "flapper," the union developed a movement that celebrated--and subverted--the 1920s "New Woman" and the culture of the Jazz Age youth rebellion. Hosiery workers developed a romantic, rights-based movement that promoted class solidarity across differences of age, ethnicity, race, and gender. Over the course of a campaign to organize the industry and rebuild labor, the AFHW developed a heroic movement that utilized pathbreaking female-centered imagery and propelled women and the union onto the national consciousness. Their activities put them in the forefront of a movement for social democracy and led in direct ways to the CIO, the New Deal, and labor feminism. / History

Much research has been done to explain how the late 2000s housing bubble burst, but little work has been done to see how working-class people responded and are responding to the issue of foreclosure in their communities. City Resistance, a grassroots community organization, transforms working class people from passive actors going through foreclosure to militant activists seeking to stay in their homes. My two-year ethnographic study chronicles the meetings, civil disobedience, and everyday lives of an organization of 300+ members in a medium sized, declining city, in the Northeast. It seeks to understand the multiple processes by which primarily Black and Latino members of the organization are transformed into radical subjects, but also the limits of that radicalism. A central contradiction is that the organizing model must address the immediate needs of members by servicing them and thus creating a belief in the legal system and the protections it offers, while simultaneously pushing them to think about housing as a human right, to move beyond their taken for granted conceptualizations of capitalism.

Human capital theory, the dominant approach to labor migration, assumes that workers who migrate improve their economic well-being. / Ph. D.

Research has shown that seat belt wearing among white-collar workers can be motivated through the use of incentives. Incentive strategies have not, however, been effective among blue-collar workers for several reasons: (1) lack of identification with the programs; (2) lack of influence on development of the programs; (3) the perception of the programs as a form of behavioral control; and (4) the blue-collar worker's perception of driving being a relatively riskless task and their "negative macho" image of seat belt wearing, among others. The incentive program evaluated in this study was developed with consideration of the points listed above and included, as its major component for combatting the aforementioned problems, an "awareness session" which attempted to make blue-collar workers aware of the value of vehicular safety belts while soliciting their opinions as to how a seat belt motivation program should be conducted. It was hoped that the latter component would foster identification with the program and allay any suspicion of management control. This program was very effective at motivating safety belt use among blue-collar workers, effecting an eight-fold increase in the percentage of seat belt wearers. In addition, the design enabled a conclusion that the "awareness session" was a necessary component of the intervention package. / M. S.

The effects of shiftwork can be complex and nonuniform. This study was conducted to determine the dietary patterns, behavioral/health perceptions, and nutrition knowledge of smoking and nonsmoking foodservice shiftworkers. Data were collected with the use of a questionnaire and food frequency list. Seventy- seven participants were used in the study: 41 smokers and 36 nonsmokers. These participants were employees of the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University foodservice system. Each was employed on a full- time basis and was considered to be bluecollar status. The smoking foodservice shiftworkers perceived a higher number of diagnosed medical conditions than the nonsmokers. They also consumed significantly less food than the nonsmokers in five of the six food/drink groups as indicated on the food frequency list. No significant differences were determined between smokers and nonsmokers for nutrition knowledge, food type selection- (sweets, fast foods, convenience foods/beverages, and cafeteria served foods), restfulness/relaxation, overall health perception, and organizational lifestyle. The need for smoker cessation education and for information regarding nutrition and health practices was identified by this study. Further investigation into each of the various aspects of this study is warranted. / Master of Science / Bibliography: leaves 69-72.

It is well established that the frequency of claims filed for benefits under the workers' compensation program is dependent not only on the number of workers employed but is influenced by work characteristics such as the nature of work performed, the type of job, and the level of employment. This thesis hypothesized that, in addition to work characteristics, the frequency of claims filed is significantly related to worker characteristics such as age and gender. Using data on the actual number of claims filed for workers' compensation benefits by university employees, this study investigated the relationship between worker and job characteristics, and the incidence of claims for workers' compensation benefits. It is found that, for the aggregated workforce in the institution, there are significant relationships between the claims filed and the function, sedentary / non-sedentary type of employment, the job-family, and the age of the worker. However, on disaggregation, no significant relationships were found between the claims filed by employees in administrative, faculty, and research positions, and their age, gender, and the type of their jobs. Non-sedentary nature of the job was found to be related to claims filed by male workers in technical jobs, and possibly related to claims fueled by workers in the clerical category. Age of the worker was found to be significantly related to claims filed by younger workers in support activities such as maintenance, groundskeeping, and food services, and possibly related to professionals in similar activities. Gender was not found to be related to claims filed by workers in any category. / Master of Science

Because of the increased number of large corporations offering tuition-aid programs to their employees, there is a need to collect data and study the motivation for participation and barriers to participation for this population. A questionnaire, with items identifying motivational factors and barriers to participation in tuition-aid programs, was developed and sent to a sample of employees of a major corporation who do and who do not participate in that corporation's tuition-aid program. This study found that cost and time considerations are overwhelmingly cited as the chief barriers for participants and nonparticipants. Barriers identified as significant by both participants and nonparticipants were examined through a review of literature as to possible solutions to their elimination. The chief decision-makers in the 23 operating companies of the corporation rated each of the recommendations as to their feasibility in being implemented. The decision-makers rated prepayment and paying for material costs as the two lowest possible solutions they would consider implementing in order to reduce the barriers. What emerges clearly is the point that management must take a hard look at their present policies that appear to be barriers to participation in tuition-aid programs. The researcher developed a set of final recommendations along with a rationale for each. / Ed. D.

Yes

Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong. / Bibliography: leaves 114-130.

郭康健. / 論文(博士)--香港中文大學, 2000. / 參考文獻 (p. 187-211) / 中英文摘要. / Available also through the Internet via Dissertations & theses @ Chinese University of Hong Kong. / Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, MI : ProQuest Information and Learning Company, [200-] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Mode of access: World Wide Web. / Guo Kangjian. / Lun wen (bo shi)--Xianggang Zhong wen da xue, 2000. / Can kao wen xian (p. 187-211) / Zhong Ying wen zhai yao.