Abstract
This paper explains that, while being exemplary on the domestic front in terms of social and environmental issues, its labor practices are less than admirable. The author points out that Nike's many environmental and social projects demonstrate its commitment not only to its shareholders but also to the community from which it was founded; Nike has adopted the goal of sustainability into many facets of the manufacturing and production of its products. The paper relates that, although Nike has adopted a so-called Code of Conduct concerning its labor practices, which is supposed to endorse the health and safety of all its workers, in real life situations, this dogma appears to be less than true as observed in its factories in Indonesia, Vietnam, Pakistan and China.

Table of Contents
Introduction
Executive Summary
The History
Social and Environmental Commitments
Labor Practices and Allegations
Conclusion

From the Paper
"In February 1993, the Nike Environmental Action Team (NEAT) arose out of Nike's efforts to coordinate specific environmental efforts in its business practices around the world. The team's mission was to develop answers to the problems that Nike's business posed to the environment. Since then NEAT has implemented many changes in Nike's fundamental goals and objectives concerning their impact on the environment. At the center of the team's work are the issues of pollution prevention and sustainable development. Every year changes are made to the materials and compounds used in creating Nike footwear and apparel. New technologies have enabled Nike to reduce the amount of basic materials required to manufacture each pair of shoes. Also, these technologies have led to other improvements such as a widespread reduction of PVC content in rubber; and recently, the development of new eco-friendly water-based adhesives as opposed to traditional chemical adhesives which are toxic and pollute the environment. In terms of environmental aid and awareness Nike's greatest innovation has been the invention of Nike REGRIND, made possible by the Reuse-A-Shoe program. Similar to how Xerox inc. refurbishes and reuses high quality parts from leased copiers, Nike reuses the rubber soles from used runners it collects and grinds it up to be reused in other products."

Tags:code, commitment, sustainability, pollution-prevention, allegations

Abstract
This essay argues that although woman have penetrated into a men's world, there is little doubt that it remains a man's world. The paper shows that health care is embedded in a system of social structures and practices in which men dominate, oppress and exploit women. The medical profession is based on an ideology of men?s superiority over women and enforces an essentialist gender division of work. The paper makes use of opinions from a group discussion.

From the Paper
"The authors did an admirable task exploring the exterior and interior barriers women faced in medicine. Division of labor within the home (child-rearing), essentialist notions of women's roles, sexism, informal networks, prejustice, lack of role models, support, "glass ceilings", kept women from reaching positions of power, privilege and status. The writers emphasized women's influence on professional work. Attitudes have changed and women's issues are acknowledged and dealt with. Although medicine still has traces of misogyny, especially in surgery, Health Care is beginning to recognize women as a legitimate norm."

Tags:feminist, gender, patriarchy

Abstract
This paper first describes Union Inspection Notices (known as UINs) and compares them with Australian Provisional Improvement Notices (PINs). The second part looks at the role of trade union's health and safety representatives in the United Kingdom and Australia. The paper also attempts to assess the impact UINs might have on the Health and Safety Executive's safety inspectors and on trade unions. The conclusion includes a summary of the main points and an attempt to decide whether UINs are beneficial for trade unions.

What are UINs?
When Should UINs Be Used?
Where Did the Idea of UINs Come From?
So, Are PINs Better than UINs?
Are UINs Widely Used?
Do Trade Unions Improve Health and Safety?
Is It a Question of Culture?
Are Many PINs Issued?
How Would the Use of UINs Impact on the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and Unions?

From the Paper
"When the Trades Union Congress (the TUC) introduced UINs in 2001, they were described as formal notices issued to employers by accredited trade union safety representatives. The purpose of UINs is to register the view that employers have not complied with health and safety legislation concerning specified workplace hazards. In particular, UINs describe action required to comply with legal requirements and specify deadlines for completion of the requested action (Hazards, magazine 76, 2001, pp:17-20)."

Tags:breach, law, employer, failed, respond, appropriately, enforcement, inspectors, authority

Abstract
The paper examines Dunlevy and Hutchinson's paper "The Impact of Immigration on American Import Trade in the Late Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centuries" that explores whether the massive inflow of immigrants into the United States during the period between 1870 - 1910 resulted in the pro-trade effect. The paper explains the authors' three main reasons as to why imports and immigration is directly linked but notes their lack of key variables such as the illiteracy rate and the lack of an argumentative conclusion to their findings.

From the Paper
"Investigations into the contemporary period between the United States and Canada, denote a positive correlation between the size of a migrant population and the degree of import trade between both the host and home countries of those immigrants. Dunlevy and Hutchinson's paper entitled, 'The Impact of Immigration on American Import Trade in the Late Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centuries' further draws on the theory by exploring whether the massive inflow of immigrants into the United States during the period 1870 - 1910 resulted in the same pro-trade effect."

Tags:illiteracy, wages, culture

Abstract
This paper examines how there is much less stigma attached to job loss in today's work world than ten years ago and how employers tend to be more receptive to candidates who have experienced a period of unemployment. It analyzes how this relates to the concept of the Protean career, which necessitates the career to be continuously reinvented by the individual, as the person and environment change. It shows how examples of these changes range from company mergers to mismatches between the person and the job and how despite this emerging perspective, being fired still remains a traumatic experience for most.

Outline
Introduction
Before Being Fired
Reactions
During Termination
Emotional Health
Get Organized
Networking
Handling Finances
Job Seeking
Interviewing
How to Correctly Fire an Employee

From the Paper
"An individual's mindset is the differentiating factor between those who rebound quickly after being fired and those who lack the motivation to seek out new opportunities. Individuals that possess a "tenure" mindset believe that their job is stable until they reach retirement. However, individuals need to alter their mindset to an "assignment mentality". This is a proactive approach to being fired, and enables individuals to cope better if and when they are terminated from their position. Individuals with this mindset view changes in their career as positive stepping-stones and temporary career building projects."

Tags:employee, employer, networking, protean, retirement, tenure, termination

Abstract
This paper reviews Friedrich Engels' book "The Condition of the Working Class in England", which explores the social issues that arose out of the creation of the proletariat by the industrial movement and which predicts that oppression by the bourgeoisie will eventually lead it to the inevitable "Revolution". It examines the social problems that Friedrich Engels identifies namely the deplorable living and working conditions in the 'Great Towns', the influx of Irish immigrants, the particular difficulties of the factory system and the mining and agricultural. It also looks at the proletariat, the Cottage system, the Truck system and the New Poor Law together with the attitude of the bourgeoisie toward the proletariat's suffering. It evaluates some of the solutions that Engels provides in trying to avoid the inevitable 'Revolution'.

From the Paper
"This unhappy condition was further worsened by the influx of Irish immigrants who "had nothing to lose at home, and much to gain in England" (Engels, 101). In the hope of finding employment and making money, many Irishmen made their way to the English towns, bringing with them their crude habits and simplistic lifestyle. The Irish settlers did not need much to sustain their livelihood, and as such, required and were willing to work for less wages than any others. They became a strong competition for employment, and in branches of the industry where they competed with the English, wages were forced down further and further. Also, as they were accustomed to lack of cleanliness, the filth of their living quarters did not bother them, and to the ever-present garbage and dirt-heaps they added their own."

Tags:bourgeoisie, proletariat, industrial

Abstract
This paper attempts to introduce Karl Marx's view of capitalist exploitation, which states that the bourgeoisie is the ruling class in capitalist society, which owns the means of production, while the proletariat is the working class, whose sole commodity is his labor power. It examines the issue of how division of labor further increases the exploitation of the worker and how the exploitation of the worker is not confined simply to the bourgeois capitalist who employs him, but also to all the other capitalists who form the society around the proletarian worker.

From the Paper
"In order to keep the worker subjugated, the bourgeois capitalist only provides the laborer with the basic requirements for continued existence. In evidence of this, Marx claims, "The costs occasioned by the worker are limited almost entirely to the subsistence which he requires for his maintenance and reproduction of his race. The price of a commodity, and therefore of labor, is equal to its costs of production." By giving the worker the minimum one can possible allow him, only barely allowing enough for the necessities, the proletarian can never acquire any property of his own, and thus never has any hopes of gaining the means of production for himself."

Tags:bourgeois, capitalism, exploitation, proletariat

Abstract
Maquiladoras are essentially offshore assembly plants that emerged along the United States-Mexican border in the 1960s. This paper examines how maquiladoras offer cheap labor to produce/assemble goods and how, since NAFTA, have expanded beyond border towns and have moved south into the heart of Mexico. It looks at how although maquiladoras do provide thousands of jobs throughout Mexico, upon closer inspection, they are often operated by tyrannical bosses under sweatshop conditions and are a nesting ground for cheap labor. It argues that for Mexicans, NAFTA is not an agreement based upon free trade but rather an exploitative tool used to extract cheap labor for foreign products.

From the Paper
"While the profits of the maquiladora sector exploded after the passage of NAFTA, the wages and labor conditions of those working in the assembly plants have gotten worse. According to Mexican labor laws, the maximum hours a person can work a week is forty eight hours, the first nine hours of overtime is to be paid at double-time rates with anything exceeding nine hours overtime to be paid at three times the pay rate. (3). In spite of this, maquiladora workers report that "they were often not paid anything extra for overtime even if they worked from 8 a.m. until 8 p.m. In some maquiladoras, workers do veladas- all-nighters- once or twice a week. "

Tags:labor, assembly, plants, profits

Abstract
The paper looks at the advantages and implications of excluding managerial employees from collective agreements under Canadian Labor Law. It examines the way different Labor Boards treat and rule on who should be excluded in each case.

From the Paper
"Whenever a trade union in Canada applies for certification to the Labor Board, it undergoes a series of procedures before the Board acknowledges to the union that the latter, in fact, exists under the law. One of the steps that the union and a related employer(s) undertake is called the definition of the bargaining unit. This procedure involves submitting to the Labor Board a list of names of all employees in a proposed unit along with their positions and job descriptions. The purpose of this move is to pin-point those categories of employees that may and will be excluded from the proposed unit if found in the initial submission."

Tags:canada, industrial, labor, law, union

Abstract
With the fervor over the ethics of sweat shop production increasing, it is becoming important to look at viable solutions which provide meaningful change. The best example of alternative trade is the fair trade movement, which has been gaining momentum all over the world. This paper looks at this movement as it seeks to provide producers and consumers with choices.

From the Paper
"In recent years the media has been focusing more and more attention on the harm being done to people living in poor countries by multinational corporations. Whether it's a sportswear sweatshop in Southeast Asia or a logging company in the Amazon, consumers in the First World are becoming aware of the consequences their choices have. Unfortunately, very few news items talk about the positive alternatives to big business, paying more attention to the scandal which occurs when it is discovered that some celebrity's fashion line is manufactured using children in Burma. One important alternative which has become slightly more visible in recent years is the fair trade movement, which empowers producers and addresses issues of consumer responsibility."

Tags:consumers, empowerment, labourers, production, women