Search

Can a union be both democratic and administratively efficient, or are these goals always at odds? Building on the Webbs' focus on this critical question, this article analyses and compares the changing administrative policies and practices of US, UK and Australian trade unions over a 25‐year period. We conducted surveys of unions in all three countries to gather information on union policies and practices involving the unions' human resources, hiring, budgeting and strategic planning. Using these novel longitudinal data, we contribute to industrial relations scholarship by showing that unions have increasingly adopted formal, systematic practices in these areas. The article is grounded in theory and also has practical relevance given the important implications that our findings may have for the revitalization of unions in the three countries and beyond. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

India is in the grip of an agrarian crisis. Economic, social, environmental and political forces have adversely affected the relationship between the small-scale primary producer and the production process. In the context of this crisis, traditional knowledge-inspired food systems have given rise to 'islands of success' that have allowed small and marginal farmers to reclaim their livelihoods across the country. In this paper, we analyse three different islands of success using an agro-ecological framework, arguing that such islands of success based on traditional knowledge are becoming an increasingly necessary approach to agriculture. However, political will, political engagement and effective policies that support traditional knowledge in agriculture are required for these islands of success to become waves of change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: The objective of this study was to examine the factors that influence decision-making to forgo transplantation in favour of remaining on nocturnal haemodialysis (NHD). Design: A grounded theory approach using in-depth telephone interviewing was used. Setting: Participants were identified from 2 tertiary care renal programmes in Canada. Participants: The study participants were otherwise eligible patients with end-stage renal disease who have opted to remain off of the transplant list. A total of 7 eligible participants were interviewed. 5 were male. The mean age was 46 years. Analysis: A constant comparative method of analysis was used to identify a core category and factors influencing the decision-making process. Results: In this grounded theory study of people receiving NHD who refused kidney transplantation, the core category of 'why take a chance when things are going well?' was identified, along with 4 factors that influenced the decision including 'negative past experience', 'feeling well on NHD', 'gaining autonomy' and 'responsibility'. Conclusions: This study provides insight into patients' thought processes surrounding an important treatment decision. Such insights might help the renal team to better understand, and thereby respect, patient choice in a patient-centred care paradigm. Findings may also be useful in the development of education programmes addressing the specific concerns of this population of patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: BK virus infection has emerged as a major complication in kidney transplantation leading to a significant reduction in graft survival. There are currently no proven strategies to prevent or treat BK virus infection. Quinolone antibiotics, such as levofloxacin, have demonstrated activity against BK virus. We hypothesize that administration of a quinolone antibiotic, when given early post-transplantation, will prevent the establishment of BK viral replication in the urine and thus prevent systemic BK virus infection. Methods/design: The aim of this pilot trial is to assess the efficacy, safety and feasibility of a 3-month course of levofloxacin in the kidney transplant population. This is a multicenter, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial with two parallel arms conducted in 11 Canadian kidney transplant centers. A total of 154 patients with end-stage renal disease undergoing kidney transplantation will be randomized to receive a 3-month course of levofloxacin or placebo starting in the early post-transplant period. Levofloxacin will be administered at 500 mg po daily with dose adjustments based on kidney function. The primary outcome will be the time to occurrence of BK viruria within the first year post-transplantation. Secondary outcomes include BK viremia, measures of safety (adverse events, resistant infections,Clostridium difficile-associated diarrhea), measures of feasibility (proportion of transplanted patients recruited into the trial), proportion of patients adherent to the protocol, patient drop-out and loss to follow-up,and use of quinolone antibiotics outside of the trial protocol. Discussion: Results from this pilot study will provide vital information to design and conduct a large, multicenter trial to determine if quinolone therapy decreases clinically meaningful outcomes in kidney transplantation. If levofloxacin significantly reduces BK viruria and urine viral loads in kidney transplantation, it will provide important justification to progress to the larger trial. If the full trial shows that levofloxacin significantly reduces BK infection and improves outcomes, its use in kidney transplantation will be strongly endorsed given the lack of proven therapies for this condition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses various reports published within this special issue on community union coalitions and community unionism, including one by Upchurch, Taylor, and Mathers on trade union strategies in Great Britain, Germany, and France; one by Tattersall on the creation of coalition unions in Canada and Australia; and one by Wray on the Durham Miners Association in Great Britain.

These recommendations are the result of a national, multidisciplinary, year-long process to discuss whether and how to proceed with organ donation after cardiocirculatory death (DCD) in Canada. A national forum was held in February 2005 to discuss and develop recommendations on the principles, procedures and practice related to DCD, including ethical and legal considerations. At the forum's conclusion, a strong majority of participants supported proceeding with DCD programs in Canada. The forum also recognized the need to formulate and emphasize core values to guide the development of programs and protocols based on the medical, ethical and legal framework established at this meeting. Although end-of-life care should routinely include the opportunity to donate organs and tissues, the duty of care toward dying patients and their families remains the dominant priority of health care teams. The complexity and profound implications of death are recognized and should be respected, along with differing personal, ethnocultural and religious perspectives on death and donation. Decisions around withdrawal of life-sustaining therapies, management of the dying process and the determination of death by cardiocirculatory criteria should be separate from and independent of donation and transplant processes. The recommendations in this report are intended to guide individual programs, regional health authorities and jurisdictions in the development of DCD protocols. Programs will develop based on local leadership and advance planning that includes education and engagement of stakeholders, mechanisms to assure safety and quality and public information. We recommend that programs begin with controlled DCD within the intensive care unit where (after a consensual decision to withdraw life-sustaining therapy) death is anticipated, but has not yet occurred, and unhurried consent discussions can be held. Uncontrolled donation (where death has occurred after unanticipated cardiac arrest) should only be considered after a controlled DCD program is well established. Although we recommend that programs commence with kidney donation, regional transplant expertise may guide the inclusion of other organs. The impact of DCD, including pre- and post-mortem interventions, on donor family experiences, organ availability, graft function and recipient survival should be carefully documented and studied. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – This paper aims to examine the relationship between union renewal strategies and the adoption and implementation of information and communication technologies by trade unions. Design/methodology/approach – The research centres on a case study of an Australian trade union, exploring the fit between recent changes to the industrial strategy and information technology strategy. It involved interviews with union officials and a review of union documentation. Findings – Information and communication technologies have the potential to promote union renewal by enabling new forms of participation and activism. However, to achieve these outcomes the technologies must be part of an integrated union renewal strategy. The internal political processes of the union will shape both the union renewal strategies and the role and use of technology in implementing these strategies. Research limitations/implications – The research is based on a single trade union, thus limiting the generality of the conclusions drawn. Originality/value – The paper concerns a relatively new research area on trade unions and offers a critical perspective on the use of information and communication technologies by trade unions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Schimke immuno-osseous dysplasia (SIOD, MIM 242900) is an autosomal-recessive pleiotropic disorder with the diagnostic features of spondyloepiphyseal dysplasia, renal dysfunction and T-cell immunodeficiency. Using genome-wide linkage mapping and a positional candidate approach, we determined that mutations in SMARCAL1 (SWl/SNF2-related, matrix-associated, actin-dependent regulator of chromatin, subfamily a-like 1), are responsible for SleD. Through analysis of data from persons with Sled in 26 unrelated families, we observed that affected individuals from 13 of 23 families with severe disease had two alleles with nonsense, frameshift or splicing mutations, whereas affected individuals from 3 of 3 families with milder disease had a missense mutation on each allele. These observations indicate that some missense mutations allow retention of partial SMAECALl function and thus cause milder disease. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper traces the development of workplace industrial relations at McKay's from 1900 until the onset of the Depression in the late 1920s, highlighting the divergence in regulation between different sections of the workforce. Workers in the manufacturing sector faced an autocratic management, which rationalised the work process to deskill the workforce and introduced piecework and time and motion study, thus rendering the wage-effort bargain firmly in favour of management. While skilled workers employed by the firm on engineering work were not immune to these pressures, their labour market position and stronger union organisation gave them greater scope to resist management unilaterally determining working conditions. This paper assesses the influence of arbitration on the regulation of these developments in the employment relationship. It is argued that industrial tribunals had a limited influence at the works, with product and labour market conditions and management and union behaviour far more important in determining workplace outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper reviews decisions of the Conciliation and Arbitration Court in the 'metal industry' during the 1920s. The focus is on the nature of intervention by the court on three workplace issues: occupational structure, piecework, and shopfloor union organization. It is argued that the court's intervention must be analyzed in the context of the structural change that was occurring in the economy during the period under review, that is, the transition from craft to mass production. To fully understand the nature of the court's intervention it is necessary to be sensitive to the structure of the industry with which the court was dealing. The 'metal industry' covers a broad group of industries, some of which are engaged in craft production, and others where mass production techniques are appropriate. During the 1920s the court was primarily concerned with changing conditions in the manufacturing sector, not the craft sector. This involved facilitating fundamental changes to the occupational structure, as well as advocating payment-by-results schemes and shopfloor union organization. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]