Labor Relations Commons^™

Containerization Of Seafarers In The International Shipping Industry: Contemporary Seamanship, Maritime Social Infrastructures, And Mobility Politics Of Global Logistics, Liang Wu

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation discusses the mobility politics of container shipping and argues that technological development, political-economic order, and social infrastructure co-produce one another. Containerization, the use of standardized containers to carry cargo across modes of transportation that is said to have revolutionized and globalized international trade since the late 1950s, has served to expand and extend the power of international coalitions of states and corporations to control the movements of commodities (shipments) and labor (seafarers). The advent and development of containerization was driven by a sociotechnical imaginary and international social contract of seamless shipping and cargo flows. In practice, this liberal, …

Inaccessible Interpolated Imagery: How Coffee Farmers In The State Of Chiapas Might Access Political Economic Opportunity Through Representation, Paolo Fiann Bicchieri

Master's Theses

Here is a useful parable to boil down the idea of this project and set the tone: when one goes to the bar to tell a story about a fight at the bar, they would never venture to place themselves as the hero of the brawl, taking out three drunkards in a single punch, unless they were really in the bar, at that time, fighting a good fight. One would never do this as the bartender, locals, and regulars would all know if this were the case or not. Yet transnational corporations, governments, and even consumers do this all the …

Cross-Cultural Examination Of Vacation Policy On Employee Satisfaction And Happiness, Ketan D. Parekh

CMC Senior Theses

With the advent of technological advancement, entrepreneurship, and a higher emphasis on meritocracy, societies across the globe have experienced intense competition to outdo one another. This has pushed companies to place increased importance on worker productivity; large and small companies want to see their employees work harder, longer, and faster. With this increased demand for work, companies today are making sure they have suitable reward systems to ensure worker satisfaction and quality work production. However, what these reward systems look like and how they function contrast significantly across cultures, especially as it pertains to corporate leave policies. This thesis examines …

Police Union Contracts And Impediments To Accountability: A Case Study Analysis Of Ppa Bargaining Agreements, Elizabeth Ott

University Honors Theses

Despite a growing widespread recognition that police unions represent a major component of policing and have major influences on aspects of policing such as disciplinary procedures, day-to-day management, and police-community relations, they have until recently been largely ignored by police scholars. In light of significant gaps in knowledge regarding police unions and the impacts that they have on law enforcement behavior and police accountability, this paper utilizes a case study approach to analyze all existing union contracts between the Portland Police Association (PPA) and the City of Portland in order to explore the prevalence of particular contract provisions that critics …

The Past And The Present: Two Paradigms Of The Sino-African Investment, Emma Weirich

International Political Economy Theses

Outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) has obvious economic and political connections between the recipient and donor countries. Such investment can benefit both sides and carry certain costs to both, whether through global scrutiny or domestic struggles. This these seeks to add to the ongoing discussion of China's OFDI to Africa by comparing China's investment during its socialist period (1949-1976) and its post-socialist era (1977 – present). This comparison reveals that China's foreign policy has transitioned from a socialist paradigm to a capitalist one in the last seven decades, which brought significant changes in its OFDI policies and practice. In the …

Runaway: A History Of Postwar New York In Four Factories, Andy Battle

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

At midcentury, New York City was among the preeminent manufacturing centers in the United States. Within a generation, this manufacturing economy suffered an extraordinary collapse. Beginning in the 1950s, workers and their unions began to use the term “runaway” to describe factories that pulled up stakes in New York and set them back down in other climes. This dissertation explores the deindustrialization of New York City through case studies of “runaway” plants, or factories that left New York for the American South or abroad between the years 1945 and 1975.

In general, the manufacturers that remained in New York at …

Brain Drain And Emigration: How Do They Affect Source Countries?, Nicholas Chura

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

This paper examines the effect of different skill levels of emigration on a country’s labor market, from high skill brain drain to low skill emigration. By utilizing an IADB Brain Drain data set to measure emigration rates among those with low, medium, and high educational attainment in a country, the effect of brain drain vs. low skill emigration on productivity and unemployment is examined. These data span from 1980 to 2010 with measurements every five years for 195 World Bank countries. By utilizing two two-way fixed effects models with GDP per capita and unemployment rate as the dependent variables, the …

Sewing Garments, Sowing Lives: Two Generations Of Migrant Workers' Back And Forth To The Chinese Coast, Alice Tzou

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Migrant workers in China have been at the center of popular news media and scholarly attention for three decades, since they started to migrate to work in factories on the coast in the post-1978 Economic Reform era. As western and central China has developed and work opportunities have arisen in these migrant-sending regions, internal migrants have started to return home. Push and pull factors of internal migration have been reversed. Poverty and lack of job opportunities used to be the push factors; they are now replaced by new push factors—long hours of work and long-distance travel to and from the …

Fair Labor Practices: Are Workers Truly Protected?, Xiaofei Xie

Honors Theses

Private businesses often claim that they employ fair labor practices and care about employees' well being. However, firms may face contradictory situations since fair labor practices can result in cost increases and lower profit. In this thesis, I examine historic and contemporary workers’ conditions and fair labor practices. Workers’ conditions during the Industrial Revolution and the basis of relevant Marxist theories are examined. Contemporary labor practices are also examined and a secondary analysis of data on worker attitudes in two major companies is conducted. Results and discussion suggest that although progresses in worker conditions have been made, there still needs …

Better Work And Global Governance, Paul Alois

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation is a case study of Better Work, a program run by the International Labor Organization and the International Finance Corporation. It aims to improve working conditions and productivity in the apparel industry. The purpose of this case study is to examine the role that international organizations can play in global governance. The research presented here comes from interviews, document analysis, and an examination of quantitative data on factories’ working conditions. In-person interviews were conducted in the United States, Switzerland, Vietnam, and Indonesia; many phone interviews took place with individuals in other countries. Both publicly available documents and internal …

United In Diversity? The Political Implications Of Intra- Eu Migration, Isabel Monteleone

Senior Theses and Projects

Intra-EU migration is a phenomenon innate to the structure of the European Union. A politico-economic union of twenty-eight countries, the EU does what no other alliance of countries has endeavored before, serving as a unique product of globalization and integration, in every sense of the word. Bound almost entirely by a common currency, the European Union is established in the belief that economic cooperation in Europe can be achieved through the principle of free movement, despite each member states’ individual way of life, language, and political, religious, and cultural ideology.

Since intra-EU migration allows for the possibility of EU integration …

A Study On Employee Turnover In Shanghai’S Fine Dining Restaurants, Yang Liu

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

No abstract provided.

Three Essays In Labor Economics, Benjamin Jack Van Kammen

Theses and Dissertations

There are three chapters in this dissertation, each of which consists of a journal-length article. They are on the following subjects.

The first chapter uses ordinances in San Francisco and Washington, D.C. to measure the effects of mandated paid sick leave on employment and wages. Using the Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages, an employment increase is observed in San Francisco and Washington, D.C. relative to places without an ordinance. This evidence suggests that sick leave mandates correct a market failure of under-provision of benefits.

The second chapter uses a novel measure of distance based on the O*Net Content Model …

Allowing For Low-Cost Labor In Underdeveloped And Developing Countries As A Method For Initiating Economic Industrialization, Jordon A. Wolfram

Selected Honors Theses

The topic presented here closely examines the link between low-cost labor and the affect that it has on initiating industrialization in underdeveloped and developed countries. It can ultimately create a better standard of living for a country’s general population in the future, but the initial conditions for the laborers can be harsh. The low wage labor force achieves this goal by creating a competitive labor market which has the ability to stimulate economic growth. Once the initial steps of creating manufacturing and industry are achieved, then the general standard of living has robust potential to increase in the country as …

The Pros And Cons Of Outsourcing, Angela Smith

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Outsourcing has become increasingly popular to the public since the mid-20th century and has become more controversial in the last decade. The United States economy has been under the microscope for the last 4 years due to an economic recession. Outsourcing has been a subject of interest that has been brought up numerous times by economists. Offshore outsourcing is the main type of outsourcing that is of concern in relation to the United States economy. This topic is highly debated because of the unemployment rate in America.

The Economic Impact Of Right-To-Work Laws On Employment And Living Standards In The State Of Arkansas, Brinkley Cook-Campbell

Economics Undergraduate Honors Theses

This reaseach paper looks at the effect that right-to-work laws have had on the economy of Arkansas. Analysis reveals that RTW laws have no effect on unemployment, labor force participation, and wage growth. However, RTW laws do have an economic impact on population growth in certain periods, as well as increased rates of GDP growth. This paper concludes that RTW has been good for Arkansas.

Arguments For A Living Wage In The United States: Prospects For Persuasion And Expansion, Corinne Bazzinotti

Honors Thesis Program in the College of Management

This thesis explores the living wage, and in particular the varied arguments that support the adoption and spread of the living wage. A “living wage” is a decent wage. “It affords the earner and her or his family the most basic costs of living without need for government support or poverty programs,” and takes into account a, “complete consideration of the cost of living.” The topic is timely, as the economy in the United States remains in decline, and now more than ever the American workforce is struggling to stay afloat, along with businesses across the country.

I want to …

Factors Related To The Unemployment Rate: A Statistical Analysis, Reanna Collins

Honors Program Theses

Current United States economic conditions have everyone searching for ways to solve the downward spiral that has instigated a crisis in the minds of many people. Rapidly increasing unemployment rates are key reasons leading to this feeling of emergency. A better understanding of unemployment trends over the past few decades and factors correlated to the rate could serve as future indicators of fluctuations in the unemployment rate. A statistical analysis was conducted to determine if any relationship between the unemployment rate and nine selected variables existed in order to identify trends in the unemployment rate and to produce a model …

The Role Of Patronage In Public Wage Determination, John Fessick

Business and Economics Honors Papers

Patronage politics and government behavior, in general, lend themselves to economic model building and empirical analysis. They both require human processes to function. They are human institutions - shaped and molded by people. Because human beings are so vital a part of government and the behavior of decision-makers within that institution, assumptions of self-interest and the rational man lead to important implications which are necessary to the understanding and reshaping of government in order for it to work for the "common good." Only by understanding the framework of government and presenting an accurate picture of human behavior within that framework …

The Protection Of The Laborer As A Creditor, Thomas F. Desmond

Bachelors’ Theses

The economic well being of any person, family, or social group is a vital factor which influences every apparent activity of their existence. At the same time, this financial status plays an important part in determining the mental .outlooks and ultimate status of both the individual and the organization. This monetary determination is peculiar to Western civilization, with the American people probably leading in the emphasis upon financial position. The goal set up and considered as. success- seems to be the acquisition of a fortune, with happiness in life, family considerations, or philanthropic endeavor regarded as secondary .and worthy of …