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| News
and Events Selected for Interest to the IRLE Community |
November
2005 (No. 10) |
Editor: Terence K. Huwe
Contributors: Elizabeth del Rocío Camacho, Janice Kimball
IIR News & Events
IIR Seminar Series: Fall 2005
New Sponsored Research Projects
IIR Unit News
Labor Center News
California Public Employee Relations News
Institute of Industrial Relations Library: Services During Renovation
Labor Project for Working Families
Center for the Study of Child Care Employment News
Campus Events
Center for Latin American Studies: Peter Evans to Lecture
Center for Social Justice: Special Event
Economics Department Seminars
Haas School of Business Events
Sociology Department Colloquium Series
IIR Fall Colloquia
Susan Helper
Professor of Economics, Case Western University & IIR
Visiting Scholar
“Offshoring Interfaces and incentives: the Case of Automotive
Product Development”
November 7, 2005, Noon
IIR Directors Lounge
RSVP to Myra Armstrong, zulu2@calmail.berkeley.edu
Ashok Bardhan and Cynthia Kroll
Senior researcher, Haas School of Business; Senior Regional
Economist, Haas School of Business
“Offshoring: Outlook and Implications”
November 14, 2005, Noon
IIR Directors Lounge
RSVP to Myra Armstrong, zulu2@calmail.berkeley.edu
New Sponsored Research Projects
PI: Trond Petersen
Funder: National Science Foundation
Project Title: Firm-Level Gender Inequalities in Transitional
Societies
Abstract: The collapse of state socialism in Eastern Europe
in 1989-1990 brought about a spectacular increase in social
inequalities. While there is agreement in the literature about
the rise of class-based and racial differentiation, there
is a lively controversy about the status of gender inequalities.
Most notably, some researchers argue that the gender gap in
wages is large and increasing in Eastern Europe, while others
suggest a declining, and rather small wage gap. These studies
are based on national level representative surveys, and thus
their ability to control for all possible outside factors
is limited and the data collected are often unreliable. Therefore,
we propose to explore gender discrimination in wage setting
and promotion at the level of the enterprise, by analyzing
quantitative firm-level information on the wages and earnings
of men and women. With access to unique firm-level data from
the Czech Republic in 1998-2004, so called matched employer-employee
data, we ask: What is the size of the gross gender wage gap
among male and female employees? What part of the wage gap
is attributable to differences among women and men in skills,
qualities, and experience? What part of the wage gap may be
attributed to men and women doing different jobs? And finally,
what part of the wage gap is due to discrimination?
PI: Clair Brown
Funder: Alfred P. Sloan Foundation
Project Title: Change is the Only Constant: How the Chip Industry
Reinvents Itself to Keep the World Running
Abstract: The semiconductor industry, with its rapid pace
of technological change and turbulent history of international
diffusion, has often been declared to be in a major crisis
that threatens its future. Yet the industry has found effective
ways to overcome each crisis, often reinventing itself in
the process. Since other industries eventually experience
similar crisis, the semiconductor industry has much to teach
us about how to respond to crises stemming from technological
change and globalization. Professor Clair Brown and Dr. Greg
Linden are writing a book that analyzes the major challenges
the industry has faced, and overcome, since the mid-1980s.
PI: Juliann Sum
Funder: California Department of Industrial Relations
Project Title: Coordinating and Consolidating Information
for Injured Workers
Abstract: The legislative changes from 2003 and 2004 have
complicated access to medical care in the workers' compensation
system in the following areas: rights to select the initial
primary treating physician; rights to change physicians; limits
on the kinds of treatment and the amount of treatment that
may be given; utilization review procedures; and methods to
resolve disputes over medical care. At the same time, provisions
that allow labor unions and employers in construction to negotiate
carve-outs have been expanded to include any unionized industry.
Unions, employers, and other members of the workers' compensation
community have expressed a need for further information on
how to manage and navigate aspects of medical care in the
workers' compensation and on options for creating effective
carve-outs. In response to this, Juliann Sum will assist the
Commission in developing and producing "Medical Care
Educational Factsheets" which will supplement the "Workers'
Compensation in California: A Guidebook for Injured Workers,
2nd Edition, February 2005" by further describing injured
workers' rights and options in medical care and appropriate
steps to take if there are questions or problems. In addition,
she will expand on "Carve-Outs: A Guidebook for Unions
and Employers in Workers' Compensation, May 2004" by
further describing issues to consider in negotiating and creating
carve-outs.
IIR Unit News
Labor Center News
New Labor Center Union Leadership School
The Labor Center is pleased to announce the inauguration of
the C. L. Dellums African American Union Leadership School.
The school seeks to develop the leadership skills of Black trade
unionists so they can strengthen the labor movement and promote
the interests of African American workers within their unions
and their communities. The school will consist of eight Saturday
sessions beginning January 28 and ending May 6, 2006. There
will also be three follow-up sessions to assist participants
and to evaluate the usefulness of the program. For additional
information, please contact Steven Pitts at 510-643-6815 or
spitts1@berkeley.edu.
C.L. Dellums (1900-1989) was a founder of the Brotherhood
of Sleeping Car Porters, president of the West Coast chapter
of the union, and eventually the union’s national president.
Symposium on the Central Valley
The Labor Center is a co-sponsor of the Boalt Hall Center for
Social Justice’s symposium “The New Face of California:
The Great Central Valley,” which will be held November
3-5, 2005, at Booth Auditorium at Boalt Hall School of Law.
The symposium will lay the foundation for further collaborative
work to address some of the most pressing issues faced by disadvantaged
communities in the Central Valley. More information is available
at http://www.law.berkeley.edu/centralvalleyinitiative.
Labor Center Training Postponed
The two-day Building Effective Media Campaigns: Workshops
for Unionists training has been postponed until January
(specific dates TBA). Please check the Labor Center’s
website for further information: http://laborcenter.berkeley.edu.
New Paper on Wal-Mart
Arindrajit Dube has just completed a study of the effect Wal-Mart
store openings have on local retail sector wages. Entitled The
Impact of Wal-Mart Growth on Earnings Throughout the Retail
Sector, the paper is part of the IIR Working Paper series
and can be downloaded at http://repositories.cdlib.org/iir/iirwps/.
California Public Employee Relations News
CPER's new Pocket
Guide to Due Process in Public Employment will be out
the first week in November and now can be purchased on our website
($12).
And, this month, CPER Director Carol Vendrillo will be attending
the California Public Employer Labor Relations Association conference
in Monterey.
Institute of Industrial Relations Library News
Library Special Access and Remodel Process: Beginning on November
1, 2005
The Library will close to the _general_ public on November
1. While the print collection is being moved to the rear of
the library and the basement, it will be unavailable. Once it
has been stabilized in its new locations (January 2006), IIR
affiliates will have access to the collection under limited
conditions (see below). The general public will be able to access
the print collection by advance appointment with the IIR Librarian
only.
Staff will be at work and so all other services will be ongoing,
including all Web administration, working papers production,
eNews, new publications alerts, reference service and book processing
(Yes, we'll continue to acquire books). The preliminary estimate
for reopening is summer 2006. We will create durable and attractive
graphics that will announce the closure for the IIR foyer and
for circulation.
Library Remodel and Service News
To stay in contact with you, our community, we'll publish a
weekly Web update with highlights from our Blogs, UC library
collections and other news that is relevant to your research.
Also, we'll create a Web page showcasing the remodel's progress,
including images of the design as they become available. I will
be meeting with faculty throughout the academic year to raise
awareness of the new potential that the remodeled facility will
create for faculty activities.
Library Staff Locations
Elizabeth del Rocio Camacho is moving to temporary quarters
in Room 218. Our thanks and appreciation to Julianne Sum on
this count. Janice will relocate to the rear of the Library,
so that she will be able to continue book processing, cataloging
and other special projects.
Services for IIR During the Remodel
--REFERENCE:
Many of you go to Janice and many others come to me--we will
continue to offer reference with the full array of the University's
print and digital resources. Just call Janice or Terry via the
usual telephone numbers and email accounts.
--ACCESSING THE PRINT COLLECTION
IIR affiliates who need to borrow books from our collection
can do so by making a request to Janice or me. Bear in mind
that turnaround on your request may take some time as locations
will have moved--your patience is appreciated.
Services for the Campus and General Public
We will continue to offer reference to the campus and general
public by telephone and email, which are already the main venues
for information requests. From January 2006 through summer 2006,
campus patrons who need materials from our print collection
can make an appointment with Terry Huwe to do so..
The University Library system has numerous means for broadcasting
collection access and closure news for the 16 research and branch
libraries, plus 11 Affiliated Libraries on campus. Our limited
access period will be well-known, and as you can see, we are
offering a limited gateway to our collection throughout the
process.
Our thanks go to all of you for the support you have shown the
IIR Library over the years.
Labor Project for Working Families News
Netsy Firestein, Director of the Labor Project for Working Families, will be consulting on a study at Michigan State University on unionized workers' experiences in using flexibility. The research will be conducted by Peter Berg and Ellen Kossek in the School of Labor and Industrial Relations at Michigan State and is funded by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. There have been very few studies focused specifically on understanding flexibility in unionized contexts, and will add a lot of value to the understanding of factors that support access to and positive experiences with use of flexibility to support the blending of work and family/personal life. The unions involved are AFSCME, CWA and the UAW. This is a 3 year study that will result in some concrete applications including a training curriculum on flexibility at the workplace.
Center for the Study of Child Care Employment
For a full report on CSCCE activities and publications take a look at the Web site:
http://www.irle.berkeley.edu/cscce
CAMPUS EVENTS
Center for Latin American Studies
Bay Area Latin American Forum
Speaker: Peter Evans
Title: "Counter-Hegemonic Globalization and the Nation State: A Brazilian Lens"
Globalization is often seen as displacing the nation state from the center of progressive politics. While it is true that alliances between local and transnational social movements lie at the core of opposition to the current neoliberal global regime, nation states - particularly the major states of the global south - are also essential actors in the politics of "counter-hegemonic globalization." This talk will use the case of Brazil to illustrate this proposition.
Peter Evans teaches in the Sociology Department at the University of California , Berkeley, where he holds the Marjorie Meyer Eliaser Chair of International Studies. He has worked for many years on the comparative political economy of development, focusing for most of those years on questions of industrial transformation, as discussed in his 1995 book Embedded Autonomy. This talk builds on his chapter on counter-hegemonic globalization in the 2005 edition of the Handbook of Political Sociology.
Monday, November 7, 12:00 - 1:15 pm
CLAS Conference Room, 2334 Bowditch Street
Center for Social Justice, Boalt Hall
The New Face of California: The Great Central Valley, Featuring Dolores Huerta
The Center for Social Justice at Boalt Hall is launching an innovative Central Valley Initiative with its fall symposium "The New Face of California: The Great Central Valley" November 3-5, 2005.. The symposium will lay the foundation for an ongoing collaboration with other academic institutions, lawyers, scholars, and community activists to develop research, policy, and action agendas to surmounting the Central Valley's most challenging obstacles to social justice.
UC Davis Professor and former California Supreme Court Justice *Cruz Reynoso will kick off the symposium on Thursday, November 3, with the Mario G. Olmos Memorial Lecture, "In Hard Times: The Search for Social Justice." Renowned labor leader Dolores Huerta will deliver the lecture "Enacting Change for Social Justice Organizing" the following day.
This symposium will address the enormous challenges faced by the Valley's most disadvantaged communities as well as showcase the innovative social justice work being accomplished. Access to quality education, protection of agricultural laborers and immigrants, equitable land use and economic development, health and environmental justice, and political enfranchisement and civic participation will be topics for discussion.
Working groups will convene in the Valley after the symposium and a follow-up conference will be planned at UC Merced.
To register for the symposium and for more information on schedules, speakers and MCLE credit, please see the Center's symposium home page at http://www.law.berkeley.edu/centralvalleyinitiative
Economics Department Graduate Seminars
Economics 221, Industrial Organizational Seminar
608-7 Evans Hall
Tuesdays
4-5:30pm
November 8, 2005
Putting a Smiley Face on the Dragon: Wal-Mart as Catalyst to Putting a Smiley Face on the Dragon: Wal-Mart as Catalyst to U.S.-China Trade
Emek Basker, University of Missouri
Economics 251, Labor Economics Seminar
608-7 Evans Hall
Thursdays
2-4pm
November 3, 2005
The Effect of Maternal Education on Fertility and Infant Health: Evidence from School Entry Policies Using Exact Date of Birth
Heather Royer, UC Berkeley
November 10, 2005
Immigration, Skill Mix, and the Choice of Technique
Ethan Lewis, Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia
November 17, 2005
Measuring and Explaining Management Practices Across Firms and Nations
Nick Bloom, Stanford University
November 7, 2005
Regulating the Oldest Profession: Income and Public Health Implications for the Sex Market
Manisha Shah, UC Berkeley
Haas School of Business
OBIR 259
Organizational Behavior and Industrial Relations Seminar
135 Cheit Hall, 4-5:30pm
November 2, 2005
Nicole Biggart, Graduate School of Management, UC Davis
November 9, 2005
W. Richard Scott, Dept of Sociology, Stanford University
November 16, 2005
David Levine, Haas School of Business
November 23, 2005
Nydia MacGregor and Peter Madsen, PhD students, Haas School of Business
November 30, 2005
Lihua Wang, Graduate School of Business, Columbia University
Center for Latin American Studies
12-1:15pm, 2334 Bowditch Street
CLAS Conference Room
Mondays
November 7, 2005
Counter-Hegemonic Globalization and the Nation State: A Brazilian Lens
Peter Evans, Department of Sociology, UC Berkeley
November 14, 2005
Human Rights, Democracy and Citizenship in Northeast Brazil
Nancy Scheper-Hughes, UC Berkeley
Sociology Department Colloquium Series, Fall 2005
The Sociology Departmental Colloquium Fall 2005 presents its Fall series.
All presentations in Room 402, Barrows Hall
Thursday, November 3rd
4:00 - 5:30 pm
Ari Adut
The University of Texas at Austin
Sociology of Scandal
Monday, November 7th
2:00 - 3:30 pm
Greta Krippner
UCLA
The Making of U.S. Monetary Policy:
Fine-Tuning, Neoliberal Style
Thursday, November 10th
4:00 - 5:30 pm
Omar Lizardo
University of Arizona
Why Are Some Societies More 'Omnivorous' Than Others? World Society and Cultural Taste in 15 OECD Countries
Editor’s Note on Campus Events:
Many departments and schools have not yet posted their schedules
of colloquia, seminars, lectures and other others, but will
do so shortly after August 26. We will cover relevant events
in future issues as these data become available on campus Web
sites.
Scope of This Newsletter:
This email newsletter alerts the IRLE community and affiliates
to new resources and upcoming events on labor and employment-related
topics at IRLE, around the campus and beyond the campus. The
goal of this service is to provide you with news at a glance,
with links to Web-based information for further information.
How to Subscribe:
Send a message to thuwe@library.berkeley.edu
expressing an interest in receiving this email publication.
You may also wish to subscribe to our general community email
listserv, available to all interested friends of IRLE. This list
is called iirucbnews@lists.berkeley.edu. Please indicate if
you wish to be added to that list in your message.
Tell Us About Your Events
If you know of an event that you’d like to share with the IRLE community,
send a brief description (and Web link) to thuwe@library.berkeley.edu.
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