A successful union in an era of decline: interrogating the growth of the Service Employees International Union, 1980-1995

ABSTRACT

Between 1980 and 1995, while John Sweeney was president, the membership of the Service Employees International Union rose from around 600,000 to over 1.1 million. It continued to increase after 1995, making the SEIU the largest and fastest-growing union in the country. This growth was remarkable because it occurred at a terrible time for unions, one where the overwhelming emphasis – in both the media and academic scholarship – was on labor’s decline. While scholars have noted the SEIU’s growth, there has been little sustained analysis of how it was achieved. Existing accounts also posit growth largely as a reflection of the union’s organizing prowess. Drawing on the SEIU’s papers and interviews, this article argues that the union’s growth under Sweeney did reflect its commitment to organizing. At the same time, the article makes a fresh contribution by showing that the SEIU also grew because of lesser-known factors, including the affiliation of independent unions and legislative advances in public sector rights. The SEIU also benefited from operating in a growing sector of the economy, where low-paid workers needed unions. These conclusions are developed through analysis of “flagship” drives at Beverly Nursing homes, Blue Cross/Blue Shield, and the high-profile “Justice for Janitors” campaign.     

The influence of paternal substance abuse and difficult temperament in fathers and sons on sons' disengagement from family to deviant peers

This study was undertaken to examine the relative contribution of paternal history of substance abuse and difficult temperament in fathers and sons on a panel of individual, family, and interpersonal risk factors shown to be associated with deviant peer affiliations among boys. Deviant peer affiliations among boys have been associated with development of a conduct disorder and early age substance use. In a sample of sons of substance abusing fathers (n =56) and normal fathers (n=94), a structural equation path analysis revealed that the conjoint influence of paternal history of substance abuse and difficult temperament in fathers and sons influenced family and interpersonal processes that, in turn, influenced the developmental trajectory of the child toward deviant peer affiliations. The full model (F=74.49, p<.001, Stability Index=0.70) explained 50% of the variance on sons' Peer Delinquency Scale scores. Implications for primary prevention are discussed.Supported by the Center for Education and Drug Abuse Research (CEDAR), Pittsburgh, PA. Funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (No. DA 05605) and ROIs DA08540 and AA09985 to the first author. CEDAR is a consortium between St. Francis Medical Center and the University of Pittsburgh.Received Ph.D. from University of Pittsburgh. Research interests include temperament, parent-child relationships, peer affiliations, and drug and alcohol abuse.Received Ph.D. from University of Oklahoma. Research interests include etiology and vulnerability to substance abuse.Received Ph.D. from Queens University. Research interests include the etiology of conduct disorder.Received Ph.D. from University of Pittsburgh. Research interests include social environment risk factors for substance abuse.Received Ph.D. from Penn State University. Research interests include temperament and substance abuse.     

Parental involvement and the effectiveness of an adolescent day treatment program

Results on an outcome study with adolescents in a partial hospitalization program reflect parental involvement during the treatment process. The study compared behavioral outcomes of adolescent patients with high parental involvement with outcomes of adolescent patients with low parental involvement. The partial hospitalization program led to improvement for adolescents aged 13–17 years with significant differences for improvement by parental involvement. Improvements were in primary function areas, school and home as perceived by the adolescent, and in a reduction in severity level and total pathology as rated by the parent. Further, adolescents with high parental involvement were less likely to need rehospitalization.Received M.A. in psychology, from Governors State University. Research interests focus on adolescent treatment.Received Ph.D. in counselor education from Loyola University of Chicago. Research interests concern individual and career development, and service delivery issues.     

Globalization, Popular Resistance and Postmodernity

This paper asks if globalization is simply the latest reticulation of the regional, class, and cultural struggles embedded at the core of worldwide capitalist exchange. As practices of transnational businesses, national state authorities, and regional growth coalitions turn to globalization rhetorics to promote on-going commercial expansion, new networks of local activists, international migrants, and progressive intellectuals are developing their own anti-global rhetorics and practices to defend themselves, their localities, and the environment. This paper investigates how these conflicts arise, in part, out of the modes of organization at work in the world economy. That is, professional-technical experts with vested interests in the corporate groups or state offices that now organize most forms of production and consumption find their expert authority contested by popular resistances. These essentially populist movements seek to defend the discretion of ordinary people against trained expertise in choosing how localities and individuals attain valued goals, like economic equality, democratic participation, environmental balance, or cultural integrity.     

What discount rate should bankruptcy judges use? Estimates from Canadian reorganization data

Using data from financial reorganization plans filed by insolvent Canadian firms, we estimate the discount rate implicit in the unsecured creditors’ reorganization decision. Using (HARA) utility functions, we find the implicit monthly discount rate of creditors to be 4.9%, which corresponds to an annual discount rate of 77%. This is 7–10 times higher than discount rates used in previous empirical studies of reorganization. The discount rate estimates are robust to a range of assumptions about the degree of risk aversion and the market-to-book-value ratio of assets.     

The Worldwide Search for Techno-thieves: International Competition v. International Co-operation

In an age of explosive worldwide growth of electronic data storage and communications, many vital interests require the effective protection of information. Today's information age requires businesses to compete on a worldwide basis, sharing sensitive information with appropriate parties while protecting that information against competitors, vandals, suppliers, customers, and foreign governments. Elements of the US civilian infrastructure, such as the banking system, the electric power grid, the public switched telecommunications network, and the air traffic control system, are central to so many dimensions of modern life that protecting these elements must have a high priority. Governments have an important stake in assuring that rival nations do not appropriate technology.     

Intelligence agencies and democratisation: Continuity and change in Serbia after Milošević

This article examines the reform of the Serbian intelligence agencies since the fall of Slobodan Milo?evi? and argues that they are important actors in democratisation, with a powerful capacity to influence and frustrate the reform process. However, the Serbian experience demonstrates that the role of intelligence agencies in democratisation is complex. In Serbia, governance of the intelligence sector has been characterised neither by a simple maximisation of civil power over the agencies themselves, nor by outright resistance to change by inherently compromised, authoritarian-era structures. Instead, the role and reform of Serbia's intelligence agencies since 2000 has been closely integrated with developments in the political sphere, and has exhibited considerable continuity with past practice.     

CORPORATE MAKAHIKI: THE GOVERNING TELOS OF PEACE

Lono presided over the annual makahiki celebrations, which where held on the island for four consecutive months, usually from October or November through February or March. This was a time of ritual, sports competition, offerings to the chiefs, divination of the fruitfulness of the coming year, and much feasting and hula. During the makahiki war was forbidden, people did little work and enjoyed themselves. ¹