The Municipal Budgetary Response to Changing Labor Costs: The Case of San Francisco

"This paper analyzes how expenditures of the city of San Francisco were altered in response to changes in municipal labor costs over the period 1945 through 1976. A hybrid of the "demands" and the "organizational" models of budgeting is used to measure the budgetary response to changes in the relative prices of labor inputs. Descriptive and econometric evidence reveals significant adjustments both among and within departments in reaction to changes in relative labor costs. The empirical evidence demonstrates that the city's budgetary process is guided by simple allocative rules modified by price-responsive adjustments."

Changes in Employment Security in Asia

Much attention has been focused on the decline of traditional employment structures in the advanced industrial countries. Lesser attention has focused on this issue in Asia. In this comparative essay, the authors examine the changes in employment security in China, India, Japan, and South Korea. They focus on the historical development of the employment security social contract in these countries, noting the institutional features that gave rise to it in each country. They then examine the resilience of employment security norms under recent economic pressures. They find there has been substantial erosion in employment security during the 1990s in all four countries due to both increased competition and economic liberalization, although there is some variation in both the rate of erosion as well as the prospects for revival of the social contract. They assess the possibilities of a revival in this particular social contract, and the impact of the erosion on unorganized workers.

Griggs' Folly: An Essay on the Theory, Problems, and Origin of the Adverse Impact Definition of Employment Discrimination and a Recommendation for Reform

This Article examines the adverse impact theory of employment discrimination under Title VII. The author begins by discussing the development of adverse impact in the case law, and by scrutinizing its theoretical underpinnings. He demonstrates that Congress did not intend to mandate adoption of adverse impact theory when it established Title VII. The author then argues that the Courts have exceeded their authority under Title VII by embracing the theory of adverse impact. He concludes that the courts should therefore return to a narrower theory of employment discrimination, namely, a theory based on the legal concept of “intent.”

We'll Close! Plant Closings, Plant-Closing Threats, Union Organizing and NAFTA

This article is based on Final Report: The Effects of Plant Closing or Threat of Plant Closing on the Right of Workers to Organize. The report was commissioned by the tri-national Labor Secretariat of the Commission for Labor Cooperation (the NAFTA labor commission) "on the effects of the sudden closing of the plant on the principle of freedom of association and the right of workers to organize in the three countries."

The Apparel Industry and Codes of Conduct: A Solution to the International Child Labor Problem?

This report is the third volume in ILAB’s international child labor series. It focuses on the use of child labor in the production of apparel for the U.S. market, and reviews the extent to which U.S. apparel importers have established and are implementing codes of conduct or other business guidelines prohibiting the use of child labor in the production of the clothing they sell. The report was mandated by the Omnibus Consolidated Rescissions and Appropriations Act of 1996, P.L. 104-134.