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This article explores recent trade union efforts in Ireland to re-engage activists and members and promote revitalization following the termination of a 22-year period of tripartite social partnership. It analyses four case studies of major unions' strategies to involve activists and members in a workplace-anchored model of firm-level collective bargaining. The findings indicate that decentralized bargaining has become the preferred model of pay determination for Irish unions, and they express little interest in returning to national-level centralized bargaining. Union leaders are enthusiastic about company-level bargaining primarily for three reasons. First, it revitalizes unions by sustaining and expanding union membership at the workplace. Second, it supports local bargaining arrangements that produce tangible benefits for workers, showcasing the effectiveness of unions in advocating for their members. Third, workplace arrangements enhance union influence over management decision-making, both directly through firm-level collective bargaining and indirectly by fostering incentives for continuous dialogue and information exchange. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Patterns of feeding and growth of Atlantic salmon Salmo salar L. in the marine environment are critical to understanding how observed declines in recruitment may reflect warming or other oceanic drivers. The isotopic composition of scales can provide insight into differences in marine feeding location and possibly temperature regime. The authors used archived scale samples to measure δ13C and δ15N deposited in the scales of one sea‐winter (1SW) salmon during their last season of growth at sea before they returned to five Irish rivers. δ13C values were related statistically to observed salmon body condition (Fulton's K), and fish with higher δ13C values tended to show significantly better condition. In contrast, δ15N values were negatively related to body condition. There was no important effect on condition of length at smolt migration, and the effect of duration of marine residence varied among rivers. It is likely that δ13C values partly reflected ambient ocean temperature and recent marine feeding environment before return migration, such that the observed relationship between higher δ13C values and increased body condition may express an advantage for adult fish feeding in warmer, potentially closer, waters. If greater body condition influences fitness, then a changing temperature regime in the Northeast Atlantic may drive shifts in salmon survival and reproduction. This study provides evidence that there is spatial and trophic variation at sea between salmon from rivers of origin that are located relatively close to each other, with potential consequences for body condition and, consequently, fitness and life history; this suggests that salmon populations from geographically proximate rivers within regions may exhibit differential responses to ocean‐scale climatic changes across the Northeast Atlantic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reviews human resource management (HRM) reforms in the Irish public service over the past twenty-five years. The narrative is based around five HRM themes which have been the main focus of public service reform efforts: performance management, public service careers, leadership, strategic HRM and employment relations. The paper examines all available independent empirical research as well as internal and external reviews commissioned by the public service. The paper contributes to the empirical literature on HRM in the public service and in Ireland, and locates the pattern of HRM reform in the public service in Ireland in comparative context. The paper concludes by noting that while progress has been made, further energy is required in respect of HRM reform.

This paper examines the development of procedures for conflict resolution in workplaces in Ireland and the more recent emergence of alternative dispute resolution (ADR) practices. Based on a synthesis of data from a series of studies and on a review of reports of conflict resolution innovations, the paper shows how conventional procedures for resolving collective disputes and individual employment grievances had become almost standard by the 1980s, while a series of ADR practices became features of conflict resolution from the 1990s. The changing character of conflict resolution procedures and practices is attributed to a series of influences that include the professionalisation of personnel and human resource management, the changing pattern and context of workplace conflict, the growing importance of multinational firms, and the emergence of professional training and expertise in the provision of ADR support services. The paper projects a continuing rise in the incidence and use of ADR practices but questions the extent to which organisations in Ireland are likely to adopt conflict management systems based on integrated sets of conflict resolution practices.

This article examines the features and effectiveness of 11 'private dispute resolution arrangements' (PDRAs) established by employers and unions in Ireland since the early 2000s to resolve collective disputes within organizations. These PDRAs are groundbreaking in redrawing the rules aligning internal dispute resolution with services provided by external state agencies. The article extends the boundaries of our knowledge of alternative dispute resolution (ADR) by highlighting the features of PDRAs and by identifying the conditions contributing to their evenhandedness, fairness and independence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the effectiveness of private dispute resolution arrangements (PDRAs) established voluntarily by employers and unions in private- and public-sector firms and agencies in Ireland. PDRAs comprise three-person panels or sole adjudicators and combine binding or non-binding adjudication with internal mediation. PDRAs seek to rewrite the established rules and conventions governing dispute resolution within workplaces and to change the ways in which internal dispute resolution is aligned with external dispute resolution by state agencies. The majority of the eleven PDRAs examined are shown to be effective. One is described as 'semi-dormant' and two are shown to be less effective. Variations in the effectiveness of PDRAs are attributed to features of the internal and external contexts of the firms and agencies in which they have been established: the persistence of significant commercial and industrial relations challenges; the absence of disjunctures in organisations or industrial relations; the presence of champions; and the effects of industrial relations legacies. The paper contributes to the literature by systematically accounting for variations in the effectiveness of adjudication and arbitrations arrangements and concludes by considering whether the incidence of PDRAs is likely to continue rising. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Until relatively recently commercial fisheries have been considered the main driving factor for elasmobranch population declines. However, this belief has begun to shift with the realization that recreational elasmobranch catches may equal or exceed commercial catches in some regions. Many recreational angling fisheries for elasmobranchs involve high participation in catch-and-release angling practices. However, high release rates may not necessarily equate to high survival rates. Therefore, to assist accurate assessment of the potential impact of recreational angling on elasmobranchs, we attempted to summarize and integrate currently available information on specific risk factors associated with recreational angling, alongside associated mortality rates, as well as information on angler behaviour as it relates to identified risk factors. We categorized the major angling-related effects into two groups: injury-induced effects; and biochemical disruption-induced effects; providing a summary of each group and outlining the main lethal and sub-lethal outcomes stemming from these. These outcomes include immediate and delayed post-release mortality, behavioural recovery periods (which may in-turn confer increased predation risks), chronic health impacts and capture-induced parturition and abortion. Additionally, we detailed a range of angling practices and equipment, including hook-type, hook removal and emersion (i.e. air exposure), as well as inter- and intra-specific factors, including aerobic scope, respiratory mode, body size and species-specific behaviours, which are likely to influence injury and/or mortality rates and should therefore be considered when assessing angling-related impacts. We then utilized these data to provide a range of actionable recommendations for both anglers and policymakers which would serve to reduce the population-level impact of recreational angling on these enigmatic animals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]