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In social stratification research, the most frequently used social class schema are based on employment relations (EGP and ESEC). These schemes have been propelled to paradigms for research on social mobility and educational inequalities and applied in cross-national research for both genders. Using the European Working Conditions Survey, we examine their criterion and construct validity across 31 countries and for both genders. We investigate whether classes are welldelineated by the theoretically assumed dimensions of employment relations and we assess how several measures of occupational advantage differ across classes. We find broad similarity in the criterion validity of EGP and ESEC across genders and countries as well as satisfactory levels of construct validity. However, the salariat classes are too heterogeneous and their boundaries with the intermediate classes are blurred. To improve the measurement of social class, we propose to differentiate managerial and professional occupations within the lower and higher salariat respectively. We show that implementing these distinctions in ESEC and EGP improves their criterion validity and allows to better identify privileged positions.

The study evaluated students' experience of learning with virtual classrooms facilitated by Google Classroom at the Institute of social work, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. The study employed the Activity Theory (AT) as a theoretical framework using the first triangle of the activity system, which includes three components - Subject-Tool-Object (STO). This study adopted an anonymous online survey for data collection and the quantitative method was used to analyze data. Additionally, the survey questionnaires were prepared and distributed using the KoBo Toolbox. The sample size of 79 (96%) questionnaires was considered from a subgroup of institute students, which includes a Bachelor's degree in Labor Relations and Public Management (BLRPM), an Ordinary Diploma in Labor Relations and Public Management (ODLRPM), and a Basic Technician Certificate in Labor Relations and Public Management (BTCLRPM) from the labor studies departments. The findings revealed that the student's opinions specified that overall students were more interested in learning activities using the Google Classroom platform as a learning tool and they managed to achieve learning goals in the ICT module. Alternatively, the findings from ANOVA comparing the differences between the groups of students concerning the use of Google Classroom as a learning tool revealed that the ODLRPM and BTCLRM students demonstrated higher online/blended learning experiences of using Google Classroom for the ICT module compared to BLRPM students. In conclusion, the study calls for institute policymakers to plan and offers the use of web 2.0 tools such as Google Classroom to facilitate online/blended teaching and learning at the institute.

From the 1960s until his death in 1997, Albert Shanker was a major force in expanding the labor movement, defending and improving public education, and fighting for all people to live freely in democracies. As president of the United Federation of Teachers in New York City and the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), he became known internationally as an education statesman devoted to making all public schools excellent and as a fierce labor leader determined to ensure that working people had a voice and dignity on the job. The AFT established the Albert Shanker Institute in 1998 to carry on his intellectual tradition of being open to--and debating--any idea that might enrich the lives of working people and their families. In 2021, executive director Leo Casey handed the reins of the Albert Shanker Institute to Mary Cathryn D. Ricker, and that seemed like a perfect time to reflect on the institute's past and present. This article is a conversation between Casey and Ricker on Albert Shanker's legacy and how the institute can ensure that public education, unionism, and democracy are mutually reinforcing.

Many often identified the Catholic Church with the cause of labor and worker's rights in the United States. However that was not the common situation encountered by laborers throughout most of the nineteenth century. The proclamation of the social encyclicals: Pope Leo XIII's Rerum Novarum (1891) and Pope Pius XI's Quadragesimo Anno (1931) elevated the status of the worker, endorsed worker associations and placed the Catholic Church as an advocate of worker's rights. But for the worker to clearly understand this change as well as his rights and duties education was vital. For workers in Pennsylvania, especially in Pittsburgh and Philadelphia, the formation of Catholic labor schools was the catalysis for education and guidance in labor-management issues. Eventually their programs expanded to include anti-communist instruction. This article examines the historical narrative of the Catholic labor schools in Pennsylvania and the curricula and policies developed mutually by the laity and clergy to educate workers (both Catholic and non-Catholic) about their rights and duties and how to apply Christian social teachings in the workplace. These schools became a fundamental part of the labor movement where Catholic labor education endeavored to build a Christian partnership of labor and management to ensure industrial democracy.

Inspired by Psychology of Working Theory (PWT), our aim in this study was to investigate vocational guidance and career counselling specialists' perceptions of decent work and of the resources that promote access to decent work by using qualitative methods analyses. With this objective, 17 Swiss professionals were interviewed. First, content analysis showed that, in addition to dimensions considered by PWT, positive relations at work should be considered as part of decent work. Moreover, in addition to the resources considered by PWT, soft skills development emerged as important to access decent work. Second, textual analysis highlighted that specialists' representations of decent work and the resources that facilitate access to it differ according to their professional category.

Public universities in the United States confront drastic changes as labour relations continue to evolve towards neoliberal managerial practices. Increasingly, faculty feel excluded from decision-making processes influencing their lives. This article provides a case study of Public Midwestern University (PMU, a pseudonym), where a faculty union went from protest to participation with administration to formulate a new model for shared governance. While PMU produced such a model, interviews with participants depict a larger economic context that cultivates mistrust and a great sense of uncertainty. The article discusses conflicting attitudes around unionisation, managerial practices and the future of higher education.

This study examines unionization efforts among contingent faculty members, who now account for the majority of the academic workforce. Drawing on data from the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) and other sources, this article uses an event history analysis to identify factors associated with efforts to establish a contingent faculty union at private, 4-year institutions. Even after accounting for other state and institution characteristics, this study finds increased odds of contingent faculty unionization at institutions located in states where the legislature is more liberal and where more contingent faculty union certification elections have been held previously.

Teacher unions worldwide are being criticized for disregarding their responsibility as professionals towards education and students. Critics have claimed that teacher unions tend to protect incompetent teachers, place their own needs and interests above their students, and continuously demand for financial increases even when there is more urgency to elevate teacher professionalism and improve teacher quality. This statement does not take into consideration the political, social and economic aspects that influence unions' decisions. Therefore, this study utilizes a qualitative research design, specifically a grounded theory approach to investigate the challenges facing teacher unions in Lebanon from the perspective of union leaders and union members. Data was collected from seventeen public school union leaders and twenty-one teachers. Findings have revealed that teacher unions have assumed a social justice role limited to raising awareness. There are organizational, legal, political, educational, social, and economic barriers that prevent teacher unions in Lebanon from assuming a more active role as a union.

Despite decades of Equal Opportunity legislation, gender inequality persists in Australian universities. This is largely due to the shaping of universities by new market principles, discourses of individualisation that render the asymmetry of gender relations invisible, and privileging masculine epistemologies. Concurrently, industrial relations have been decentralised, and individual universities negotiate staff pay and working conditions through local Enterprise Bargaining (EB). Whilst EB mitigates the development of a national gender-equity framework for universities, trade unions operating through inequality regimes rarely prioritised gender equity even when they did lead national negotiations. Therefore, within a context of complex inequalities in higher education and trade unions, this paper explores how feminist pedagogies can facilitate equality bargaining and gender equality in academia. It also suggests that equality bargaining is especially important during (current) times of austerity when the removal of gender-equality support structures within trade unions generally occur.

This article focuses on a particular group in capitalist society that is disabled, demeaned and denied by capitalism itself, through processes of economic exploitation, systematic and systemic class exclusion, and discrimination/ prejudice- that is- the working class. In doing so I recognise that the working class (defined as all those who sell their/ our labour power) is segmented horizontally into `layers', or strata (for example, the dispossessed, unemployed, unskilled, though to the supervisory. managerial level/ stratum) and also vertically, for example, by `race' and by gender, with particular ethnic groups, and women in general, disabled and oppressed and exploited to a greater degree than their/ our white, male sisters and brothers). Analysing from a Classical Marxist perspective I address the structures of the capitalist state through which this exclusion and 'subalternising' is imposed, through formal state structures such as education, media, the panoply of state force and class law, as well as through the material power of the capitalist class, expressed through, for example, wage suppression and enforced immiseration of the majority of the working class. In doing so I address two types of neo-Marxist analysis- 'Structuralist neo-Marxism' and 'Culturalist neo-Marxism', and the dialectical relationship between them. They differ on such matters as: the degree of `relative autonomy' for resistant agency; the relative impact and import of cultural-ideological as against structural- material analysis; and the salience or not of social class analysis, the Capital-Labour relation, vis-a vis other forms of oppression such as `race; and gender', and their implications for political resistance and organisation at the cultural-ideological level and at the level of power, the material power to reform and revolutionise economic and social relations of Capital. I propose an activist programme of resistance at two levels. Firstly, societal level, looking at Marxists such as Marx and Engels, Rosa Luxemburg, Lenin, Trotsky and the dialectical relationship between Reform and Revolution. Secondly, at the level of Education, both formal and informal (through social movements, political parties, trade unions, through public pedagogy for example). Within the formal education structures, I advance specific proposals regarding schooling and teacher education. This is a panoptic paper- the issues above are linked in terms of Classical Marxist analysis of capitalism, class exploitation and oppression, and the implications of such analysis for the praxis and politics of resistance.

Purpose: The aim of this paper is to examine the effect of talent management (TM) practices on employee performance (EP) among academic staff of Malaysian private universities (MPU) through employee engagement (EE). Design/methodology/approach: This paper used both descriptive and quantitative approaches, while the research unit of analysis consists of MPU academic staff. A simple random and stratified sampling approach was utilized in this study while, the research sample consists of 314 MPU academic staff. A questionnaire was used to collect data from the target population, while partial least squares--structural equation modeling was used to evaluate the study hypotheses through a bootstrapping approach. Findings: This paper results demonstrated that TM practices (succession planning practice, promotion practice and performance appraisal practice) have a significant effect on EP, while EE mediates the relationship between TM practices and EP in MPU. Practical implications: This paper encourages university management to adopt and invest in TM practices for effective EE to achieve and sustain EP. Originality/value: This paper has made a significant contribution to knowledge and to the operationalization of EE, EP and TM practices literature, which could help to develop theory, model, practice and research in areas of work performance.

This article reviews the documentary film "American Factory" as a resource for undergraduate management courses, especially those with a global emphasis. The film illustrates several themes, including overcoming cross-cultural challenges with cultural intelligence; international labor relations; employee health, safety, and well-being; stereotypes; and power distance and collectivism. This article also details clips from the film that illustrate these themes and suggests instructors show them alongside class lectures (in person, online synchronous, and online asynchronous) as nonfictional demonstrations of the concepts covered in class. In addition, this article provides discussion questions and sample answers so that these clips can be used as springboards for further class analysis, application, and extension. In sum, "American Factory" is a tool that can increase engagement and multimodality teaching in the management curriculum.

Social reproduction theory names at least two distinct traditions, one of which has a long history in educational research. Social reproduction theory in "education" emerged out of a concern with education's relationship to capitalist inequalities. By contrast, social reproduction "feminism" developed out of feminist interventions regarding the role of women's unpaid care-work in the reproduction of capitalism. In this paper, we suggest that the renewed energy surrounding social reproduction feminism provides an opportunity to revisit social reproduction theorizing in education. We review the fields' histories and ready the ground for an integrated framework. At the heart of this integration is a feminist analysis of reproductive labor in its contradictory relationship to capitalism. Expanding the analysis from the reproduction of capitalist "relations" to the reproduction of "life" under capitalism, this approach avoids the pitfalls of determinism and attends to students' participation and teachers' work in the contested labor of social reproduction.

On October 16, 2017, over 12,000 faculty, librarians, and counsellors in 24 independent postsecondary colleges in Ontario, Canada went on strike for the fourth time since they organized in 1971 as members of the Civil Service Association of Ontario and won their first collective agreement the next year. Begun as an apolitical, self-consciously quasi-colonial, and decidedly elitist "professional" body in 1911, the CSAO has transformed itself in name and in nature into an increasingly class-conscious and intermittently militant Ontario Public Service Employees Union with current membership of approximately 180,000 including: clerical staff; community and social service workers; corrections officers; healthcare, transportation, and natural resource workers; as well as college academic and support staff employees. Relations with their employers have become increasingly adversarial and rarely greater than in the college sector. This paper explores this strike.

The past 20 years have seen the steady 'datafication' of school systems -- i.e. the rendering of key aspects of school practice into data that is digitally collected, processed and circulated. In contrast to assumptions of 'data-driven' schools as sites of more efficient and automated forms of data work, this paper examines the extensive human labour that now supports data production within schools. Drawing on in-depth interview data generated within three Australian secondary schools, the paper explores three distinct stages of data production involving the increased labour of teachers, school leaders, administrative and technical staff, parents and students. These findings highlight how the production of digital data within schools is associated with heightened levels of human labour -- from formally recognised activities to less visible infrastructural maintenance and 'repair' work. The paper concludes by discussing how 'school data' corresponds with broader tensions relating to school working conditions, occupational cultures, employment relations and worker organisation. Rather than being a source of more efficient and machine-led work with data, the increased prevalence of digital data seems to perpetuate some of the less desirable features of schools as workplaces.

What effects does mindfulness have on university students' academic performance? Our aim in this empirical study is to analyse the relationship between mindfulness and academic performance, and how it might be explained by the role of compassion and engagement. We hypothesise that mindfulness positively relates to academic performance, and that this relationship is mediated by compassion and engagement. The study sample comprises 210 university students from management degrees, who on graduation are likely to have careers as managers or leaders in organisations. Structural equation modelling reveals that compassion partially mediates the relationship between mindfulness and engagement and, consequently, increases academic performance.

This paper explores the potential of feature film to encourage more inclusive, participatory and open learning in the area of employment relations. Evaluations of student responses in a single postgraduate course over a five-year period revealed how feature film could encourage participatory learning processes in which students reexamined their initial perspectives on a series of employment relations topics and debates. Over time, the course became increasingly characterised by a pluralism in which all participants became more open to a range of different views, including those of students from diverse political, cultural and religious backgrounds. Of particular note was how the fictional situations depicted in feature films could expand the opportunities for participation and more complex, multidimensional approaches to learning. Following on from a discussion of how more open learning processes require a reconfigured conceptual framework, the paper concludes with some open-ended questions on the use of film in learning processes.

The paper empirically examines labor-management communication concerning in-house training programs and its relation to the actual on- and off-the-job training policy and wage structure. Using governmental datasets from Japan, we study how different labor-management communication institutions may affect the training interests of employers and employees differently. We classify these institutions in terms of whether they have a legal (i.e. statutory) foundation ('de jure') or not ('de facto'). We find that collective bargaining, with legal grounds, may crowd out employees' willingness to communicate about training. However, the existence of 'de facto' communication channels such as joint labor-management councils or shop floor committees is positively correlated with both on- and off-the-job of training. At the same time, the existence of unions is positively correlated with the steepness of wage profiles for mid-career workers, which is consistent with the fact that employers and employees assume a long-term relationship. Thus, we show that a multi-tiered structure of labor-management communication, together with a long-term orientation toward the employment relationship, contributes to strengthen employees' voice in training matters.

Our study engages evidence from a University and College Union branch archive to explore developments in employee relations (ER) that reflect the organisational effects of marketisation of UK universities. The evidence exposes points of strain in ER at a level of professional divide between managers and academics, and helps to understand their roots in the context of universities as organisational hybrids. Our investigation reveals the failure of ER to adapt to increasingly conflict-ridden working environments and encourages a different, sustainability-centred, approach to constructing ER in universities in an attempt to coordinate more effectively the clashing institutional logics.

This essay addresses theories, research, and practices of promoting arts and social justice across the curriculum toward collaboration between schools and their surrounding communities. As secondary students grapple with challenging issues, they can extend their learning experience in meaningful ways with creative expressions in the visual, literary, dramatic, and musical arts. Inviting artists and activists into schools to perform and to interact with students can help students to see themselves as developing participants in the arts and activism. Social movements, in turn, can gain strength when youth in schools learn and organize with activists and artists in the community. Multicultural, multigenerational alliances between school and community can bring together opportunities to resist oppression and to build hope and solidarity through creative expressions with direct actions.

When he first came to the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) in 1973, reports Phil Kugler, there was no such thing as labor-management collaboration. It was a term he had never heard of, and no one used it. Back then, the focus was on supporting local unions in their struggles to win collective bargaining rights. At the time, teachers were fighting to achieve basic rights just to organize, so the priority was on establishing locals and helping them achieve the pay, benefits, and working conditions that teachers demanded and deserved as professionals. Growing up in the labor movement during the 1950s and 1960s, Kugler says "we could not have predicted that a major focus of this great union would eventually be on strengthening labor-management relations." Kugler provides insight into the "building bridges" period between 1950 through the 1970's that saw the need to move labor-management collaboration forward, with the union and forward-thinking superintendents, who were then in a minority. Local leaders needed to think about ways in which they can support friendly superintendents who understand the value of collaboration and engagement. Kugler further reports on the forward movement of a successful partnership between AFT and the teachers union, based upon mutual respect, strength, and stability of leadership on both sides. The AFT's most important concern, he concludes, is ensuring that every child receives a high-quality education. Even in the current climate, which is often hostile to unions and critical of educators, educators must continue to remind the public of the overriding commitment that teachers have to this notion of students being the best they can possibly be. The teacher voice needs to be respected and listened to, for teachers are the education experts.

The author describes the early relationship between the Meriden Public schools' local teacher union and the Meriden Federation of Teachers (MFT) as "frosty with a lack of trust." However, in the last five years, she states, the union and the district have built a strong labor-management partnership whose focus on supporting teachers has resulted in a steady increase in student achievement--thanks to the collaborations between Erin Benham, the current president of the Meriden Federation of Teachers (MFT) (2007) and Meriden's education superintendents, Mary Cortright (2003-2010) and Mark Benigni (2010-current). The superintendents and the union president meet weekly, their deputies meet monthly, and members of the union's executive board and the superintendent's cabinet routinely call each other to establish better working relations in support of the teachers. This open line of communication between teachers and administrators has allowed them to devise ways to boost student achievement, especially in the district's high-poverty schools. While Meriden administrators and union officials engage in the usual personnel matters such as hiring and budgeting issues, much of their time is also spent on coming up with joint professional development programs to hone teacher talent. Together, the union and the district have created the "Peer Coaching Program," where educators partner with each other to improve instruction; the "Leadership Academy," which allows teachers to learn how to become stronger leaders in their buildings; "Professional Learning Communities," where the teachers meet to review student achievement data; and the "Meriden Teachers Sharing Success" program, where the district's most effective teachers open up their classrooms to teachers seeking to improve their craft. Because of the city's economic challenges, union and district officials have joined forces to strengthen their schools in the hopes that public education will revitalize both the community and the local economy. Dubin concludes that the overwhelming sense of teamwork has resulted in statewide recognition. Last May (2012), Benham and Benigni both received the President's Award from AFT Connecticut, the union's highest honor.

For most of the past decade, this author has studied union-management efforts to improve public education, and has witnessed extraordinary examples of teachers, union leaders, and administrators working together to improve teaching and learning. In this article, seven case studies on collaborative partnerships between teachers' unions and administrators from districts located across the country and a mix of urban, rural, large and small schools are analyzed. He identifies themes and patterns common to all these districts: (1) Motivation for initiating collaboration; (2) Strategic priorities for improvement; (3) Supportive system infrastructures; and (4) Sustaining characteristics. Rubenstein then reports on the partnership attitude and climate survey data from the California Academic Performance Index (API), and social network analysis. The API includes standardized test results in math, English, social studies, and science, as well as graduation and dropout rates. Social network analysis explores who teachers and administrators communicated with on a regular basis, how they communicated, and what topics they discussed. When the data analyses were completed, the relationship of school-level partnerships (based on the partnership survey) with school-level collaboration (based on the network survey), Rubenstein found that those schools with the strongest partnerships also had the highest levels (density) of teacher-to-teacher communication, meaning that more teachers discussed student performance data, curriculum, articulation, instructional practice, and mentoring with one another in stronger-partnership schools than in weaker-partnership schools. The author concludes with recommendations for policymakers to implement in order to improve collaborative reform efforts. These partnerships take work and are difficult to sustain, but once a culture and system of collaboration is institutionalized, great results do emerge.

In recent years, rigorous studies have shown that effective public schools are built on strong collaborative relationships between administrators and teachers. The two largest national teachers' unions--the American Federation of Teachers and the National Education Association--have embarked on major initiatives to promote greater collaboration, supported in some cases by large foundations. Therefore, this Winter 2013-2014 issue of "American Educator" is dedicated to addressing such concerns, exploring in depth why collaboration between teachers' unions and administrators has the potential to significantly improve student achievement and strengthen the nation's school systems. It synthesizes research findings; highlights districts and schools that have intensively pursued collaboration; and provides strategies to guide teachers, administrators, and public officials interested in cooperation. It also explains "why" collaboration is critical to raising student performance, drawing from research in other institutional settings as well.

While the South African Constitution enshrines both children's right to a basic education and teachers' right to strike, conflict between these two often occurs when the way in which teachers' unions conduct strike actions detracts from learners' education. This article identifies the parties affected by industrial action in the school context, and then proceeds to examine educators' right to strike as defined by the provisions of the Labour Relations Act. The unique implications of picketing in the education environment are then discussed, covering relevant questions such as where pickets may be held, the issue of picketing rules as well as unprotected pickets. Even though we are faced with a qualified right to strike as opposed to an unqualified right to education, the South African reality seems to be that striking teachers are handled with kid gloves. It is therefore concluded that the vast range of existing laws regulating protest action should be applied more effectively. One of the most important aspects should be the picketing rules, which should clearly determine whether picketing in fact contributes to resolution of the dispute, and how learners' interests and rights may best be actualised.

Teachers' unions are under unprecedented bipartisan attack. The drumbeat is relentless, from governors in Wisconsin and Ohio to the film directors of "Waiting for 'Superman'" and "The Lottery"; from new lobbying groups like Michelle Rhee's StudentsFirst and Wall Street's Democrats for Education Reform to political columnists such as Jonathan Alter and George Will; from new books like political scientist Terry Moe's "Special Interest" and entrepreneurial writer Steven Brill's "Class Warfare" to even, at times, members of the Obama administration. The consistent message is that teachers' unions are the central impediment to educational progress in the United States. Part of the assault is unsurprising given its partisan origins. Republicans have long been critical, going back to at least 1996. What is new and particularly disturbing is that partisan Republicans are now joined by many liberals and Democrats in attacking teachers' unions. The critics' contentions, which the author sums up as collective bargaining and teachers' unions being undemocratic and bad for schoolchildren, have no real empirical support. Democratic societies throughout the world recognize the basic right of employees to band together to pursue their interests and secure a decent standard of living, whether in the private or public sector. Collective bargaining is important in a democracy, not only to advance individual interests, but to give unions the power to serve as a countervailing force against big business and big government. Moreover, there is no strong evidence that unions reduce overall educational outcomes or are at "the heart" of the education problems. The author contends that if collective bargaining were really a terrible practice for education, people would see stellar results in the grand experiments without it: the American South and the charter school arena. (Contains 25 endnotes and 1 footnote.)

Statistics teaching should not be carried out in the same way for all kinds of university students. Instead, teaching statistics should take into account the different fields of study that students have chosen. For example, students of sciences or engineering have different interests and backgrounds compared to students of any social or juridical field. The authors address this latter group of students (social, juridical, labor or even economics). The authors propose a direct approach: beginning with a real situation or supposition with real data. Questions of interest are explored and put into the language of statistics. To answer the questions, the necessary statistical methods are used. If needed, these methods are presented and explained at that time. Finally, the authors return to the beginning, to give an interpretation of the results. The approach takes into account the students' levels and the kind of studies or professional orientation of these students. (Contains 4 tables, 2 figures, and 1 footnote.)

In 2002, approximately two thirds of school teachers in the Canadian province of Alberta went on strike. Drawing on media, government and union documents, this case study reveals some contours of the political economy of labor relations in education that are normally hidden from view. Among these features are that the state can react to worker resistance by legally pressuring trade unions and justifying this action as in the public interest. This justification seeks to divide the working class and pit segments of it against each other. The state may also seek to limit discussion and settlements to monetary matters to avoid constraining its ability to manage the workplace or the educational system. This analysis provides a basis for developing a broader theory of the political economy of labor relations in education. It also provides trade unionists in education with information useful in formulating a strike strategy. (Contains 2 footnotes.)

This research study looks at the implementation of an action research project within a blended learning human resource management class in employee and labor relations. The internal and external environment created conditions that converged in the Perfect Storm and resulted in an almost disastrous learning experience for faculty and students. What is critical about this project is that it could happen in even the most benign and calmest of waters. In an integrated system, the manipulation of one variable creates an impact on the other variables/systems within that environment. The failure to predict the impact and mitigate the damages can lead to disastrous results. The institution must be ready, at all levels, to implement and leverage technology to create distance-learning only environments for traditional students (and faculty) with a bias toward face-to-face educational experience.

In the Fall 2007, there were landmark labor contracts agreed upon between the United Autoworkers (UAW) and the Big Three Automakers--General Motors, Ford Motor Company, and Chrysler LLC. The impetus for these truly historic labor agreements was to afford the automakers to remain competitive in the global market while labor was to be protected. Since the passage of these labor contracts, auto sales have continually declined to record lows due to the recession in the United States. This paper will trace the major contractual provisions of these labor agreements and also analyze how effective they were in accomplishing the stated goals for both the UAW and the Big Three automakers. Additionally, the paper will examine the necessary changes needed in these labor contracts if the automakers are to survive in the global economy.

In a global knowledge economy, filling in the bubbles on a standardized test isn't going to prepare children to succeed in life. This is the time to shed the old conflicts and come together. In this article, the author suggests a new path forward--toward a 21st-century education system, a serious and comprehensive reform plan to transform U.S. schools, ensure great teaching, and prepare children for productive, successful, and meaningful lives. He calls for a new template for teacher development and evaluation, a new approach to due process, the support that teachers need to do their jobs well, and more collaboration between labor and management.

One of the author's enduring concerns about the concept of academic freedom is with semantics. It has seemed to him that one of the biggest difficulties with discussions of academic freedom (as with many conversations about "value-laden" terms such as "democracy," "equity," and "justice") is that people begin from different positions and with different definitions in mind. When terms are defined differently by various parties to a discussion, it is hard to resolve disputes. Moreover, when circumstances change, already precarious definitions may have to be modified to adapt to new environments. Depending on what people mean by their words and how their words are to be used in new situations, substantially different policy implications may follow. As the title of this article implies, the author believes that people are now facing new circumstances. The changing circumstances he has in mind relate to the socially constructed rationale for institutions of higher education, alterations in patterns of finance, and a new view of how colleges and universities are expected to demonstrate accountability in the emerging postindustrial society. In the recent past, each of these has been infused with what is best described as the "market mentality," the belief that institutions do best when they are subjected to a pat on the back or a slap in the face from the "invisible hand" of consumer choice. It is this author's feeling that this market mentality may be in for a spanking of its own. In this article, he revisits the subject of academic freedom. The focus of the changes discussed in this article is postsecondary schools, and the locus of debate concerns both colleges and universities. The changes are complicated and made even more controversial by the emergence of serious debates within and among "two-year" colleges and "four-year" universities, as well as the host of hybrids now struggling for recognition and success.