Do unions contribute to creative destruction?

We apply a shift-share approach and historical unionisation data from 1918 to study the impact of regional unionisation changes in Norway on regional wage and productivity growth, job-creation and -destruction and social security uptake during the period 2003-2012. As unionisation increases, wages grow. Lay-offs through plant closures and shrinking workplaces increase, causing higher retirement rates, while job creation, plant entry and other social security uptakes are unaffected. Productivity grows, partly by enhanced productivity among surviving and new firms and partly by less productive firms forced to close due to increased labour costs. Thus, unions promote creative destruction.

Universal health coverage as a global public health goal: the work of the International Labour Organisation, c.1925-2018.

We examine the efforts of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) to extend medical care under social security, through international conventions, advocacy and technical assistance. We consider the challenges faced by the ILO in advancing global health coverage through its labourist, social security model. The narrative begins in the interwar period, with the early conventions on sickness insurance, then discusses the rights-based universalistic vision expressed in the Philadelphia Declaration (1944). We characterize the ILO's postwar research and technical assistance as "progressive gradualism" then show how from the late-1970s the ILO became increasingly marginalized, though it retained an advisory role within the now dominant "co-operative pluralistic" model.

Universal health coverage as a global public health goal: the work of the International Labour Organisation, c. 1925-2018 / Cobertura universal como meta global de saúde pública: o trabalho da Organização Internacional do Trabalho, c. 1925-2018

Abstract We examine the efforts of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) to extend medical care under social security, through international conventions, advocacy and technical assistance. We consider the challenges faced by the ILO in advancing global health coverage through its labourist, social security model. The narrative begins in the interwar period, with the early conventions on sickness insurance, then discusses the rights-based universalistic vision expressed in the Philadelphia Declaration (1944). We characterize the ILO's postwar research and technical assistance as "progressive gradualism" then show how from the late-1970s the ILO became increasingly marginalized, though it retained an advisory role within the now dominant "co-operative pluralistic" model.

Resumo Analisamos os esforços da Organização Internacional do Trabalho (OIT) em ampliar o cuidado médico sob seguridade social, via convenções, amparo e assistência técnica internacionais. Consideramos os desafios da OIT no desenvolvimento da cobertura global de saúde por meio do modelo trabalhista e de seguridade social. A narrativa inicia no período entreguerras, com as primeiras convenções sobre seguro saúde, depois discute a visão universalista baseada em direitos da Declaração da Filadélfia (1944). Classificamos a pesquisa e a assistência da OIT no pós-guerra como "gradualismo progressivo" e mostramos como, a partir do final da década de 1970, a OIT foi marginalizada, embora mantivesse um papel de conselheira dentro do atual modelo "pluralista cooperativo" dominante.

'Co-operation and Communism cannot work side by side': Organized Consumers and the Early Cold War in Britain.

This article contributes to a better understanding of labour anti-communism in Britain through an exploration of the evolution of ideas and attitudes within the co-operative movement during the early Cold War. It demonstrates that the period witnessed an increasingly rigid separation of co-operation from communism and argues that this separation made it harder for activists within the co-operative movement to imagine a total or utopian alternative to capitalism. Drawing particularly on a close reading of the co-operative press as well as other sources, the study is divided into three main parts. The first section discusses sympathy among co-operators for the achievements of the Soviet Union, which increased during the war against fascism. The article then moves on to consider the continuing dialogue between British co-operators and their counterparts in European communist states and how international tensions shaped co-operators' views. The final major section explores the hardening of attitude towards communism after Marshall Aid was declared in June 1947, and underlines the role played by figures such as A. V. Alexander and Jack Bailey who worked with the Information Research Department at the Foreign Office to spread anti-communism within the movement. The conclusion reflects, more speculatively, on what implications this shift may have had for the medium and long-term decline of co-operation and the hegemony of capitalist consumerism post-war.

Discursive archaeology: constituting knowledge of militant nurses in trade associations.

OBJECTIVE: To analyze the constituting knowledge of militant nurses in trade associations. METHOD: Historical research, based on the oral history method, with a qualitative approach carried out with 11 nurses who are/were militants for professional issues since the 1980s in the state of Bahia. The data collected through semi-structured interviews were organized in the software n-vivo 10 and analyzed based on dialectical hermeneutics. RESULTS: We identified pedagogical, administrative, public health, sociological, and trade union background knowledge as constituent of militant individuals. Final considerations: The constituting knowledge of militant nurses are inscribed in the Social Sciences, distanced from biomedical knowledge and power, pointing at ways for structuring nursing curricula. We identified the Brazilian Association of Nursing as a space for political formation.

Discursive archaeology: constituting knowledge of militant nurses in trade associations / Arqueología del discurso: los saberes constitutivos de enfermeras militantes en entidades de clase / Arqueologia discursiva: os saberes constitutivos de enfermeiras militantes em entidades de classe

ABSTRACT Objective: To analyze the constituting knowledge of militant nurses in trade associations. Method: Historical research, based on the oral history method, with a qualitative approach carried out with 11 nurses who are/were militants for professional issues since the 1980s in the state of Bahia. The data collected through semi-structured interviews were organized in the software n-vivo 10 and analyzed based on dialectical hermeneutics. Results: We identified pedagogical, administrative, public health, sociological, and trade union background knowledge as constituent of militant individuals. Final considerations: The constituting knowledge of militant nurses are inscribed in the Social Sciences, distanced from biomedical knowledge and power, pointing at ways for structuring nursing curricula. We identified the Brazilian Association of Nursing as a space for political formation.

RESUMEN Objetivo: Analizar los saberes constitutivos de enfermeras militantes en entidades de clase. Método: Investigación histórica, basada en el método de historia oral, de enfoque cualitativo realizada con 11 enfermeras que militaron o militan por las cuestiones profesionales desde la década de 1980 en el estado de Bahía. Los datos recogidos mediante entrevistas semiestructuradas se organizaron en el programa informático n-vivo 10 y se analizaron con base en la hermenéutica dialéctica. Resultados: Se identificaron los saberes pedagógicos, administrativos, de salud colectiva, sociológicos y de formación sindical como saberes constitutivos de sujetos militantes. Consideraciones finales: Los saberes constitutivos de enfermeras militantes están inscritos en las Ciencias Sociales, alejados del saber y del poder biomédico, señalando caminos para la estructuración de los currículos de enfermería. Se identificó a la Asociación Brasileña de Enfermería como un espacio de formación política.

RESUMO Objetivo: Analisar os saberes constitutivos de enfermeiras militantes em entidades de classe. Método: Pesquisa histórica, baseada no método de história oral, de abordagem qualitativa realizada com 11 enfermeiras que militaram/militam pelas questões profissionais desde a década de 1980 no estado da Bahia. Os dados coletados por meio de entrevistas semiestruturadas foram organizados no software n-vivo 10 e analisados com base na hermenêutica dialética. Resultados: Identificados os saberes pedagógico, administrativo, saúde coletiva, sociológico e de formação sindical como saberes constitutivos de sujeitos militantes. Considerações finais: Os saberes constitutivos de enfermeiras militantes estão inscritos nas Ciências Sociais, distanciados do saber e do poder biomédico, apontando caminhos para estruturação dos currículos de enfermagem. Identificou-se a Associação Brasileira de Enfermagem como um espaço de formação política.

The Rise and Fall of "Universal Health Coverage" as a Goal of International Health Politics, 1925-1952.

The UN Sustainable Development Goals of 2015 have restored universal health coverage (UHC) to prominence in the international health agenda. Can understanding the past illuminate the prospects for UHC in the present? This article traces an earlier history of UHC as an objective of international health politics. Its focus is the efforts of the International Labor Organization (ILO), whose Philadelphia Declaration (1944) announced the goal of universal social security, including medical coverage and care. After World War II, the ILO attempted to enshrine this in an international convention, which nation states would ratify. However, by 1952 these efforts had failed, and the final convention was so diluted that universalism was unobtainable. Our analysis first explains the consolidation of ideas about social security and health care, tracing transnational policy linkages among experts whose world view transcended narrow loyalties. We then show how UHC goals became marginalized, through the opposition of employers and organized medicine, and of certain nation states, both rich and poor. We conclude with reflections on how these findings might help us in thinking about the challenges of advancing UHC today.

Inquietações e incertezas sob o olhar da história da enfermagem / Preocupaciones e incertidumbres bajo la mirada de la historia de la enfermería / Concerns and uncertainties under the view of the nursing history

A partir dos temas apresentados no III Encontro Internacional de História da Enfermagem, organizado pela Sociedade Portuguesa de História da Enfermagem, e na tertúlia comemorativa do Dia Internacional do Enfermeiro, organizada pelo Sindicato dos Enfermeiros Portugueses, o autor expressa inquietação e incertezas sobre alguns desafios que se relacionam com a delegação de competências e a crescente utilização da robótica, da tele saúde e dos sistemas de informação da saúde na prestação de cuidados de enfermagem (AU)

A partir de los temas presentados en el III Encuentro Internacional de Historia de la Enfermería, organizado por la Sociedad Portuguesa de Historia de la Enfermería, y en la tertulia conmemorativa del Día Internacional del Enfermero, organizada por el Sindicato de los Enfermeros Portugueses, el autor expresa inquietud e incertidumbre sobre algunos desafíos que se relacionan con la delegación de competencias y la creciente utilización de la robótica, de la tele salud y de los sistemas de información de la salud en la prestación de cuidados de enfermería (AU)

Based on the themes presented at the III International Meeting on the History of Nursing, organized by the Portuguese Society for the History of Nursing, and at the International Nurses’ Day celebrated by the Union of Portuguese Nurses, the author expresses concerns and uncertainties about some challenges that are related to the delegation of competencies and the increasing use of robotics, telehealth and the health information systems in the provision of nursing care (AU)

Inventing the Right to Know: Herbert Abrams's Efforts to Democratize Access to Workplace Health Hazard Information in the 1950s.

In the 1980s, the right-to-know movement won American workers unprecedented access to information about the health hazards they faced on the job. The precursors and origins of these initiatives to extend workplace democracy remain quite obscure. This study brings to light the efforts of one of the early proponents of wider dissemination of information related to hazard recognition and control. Through his work as a state public health official and as an advisor to organized labor in the 1950s, Herbert Abrams was a pioneer in advocating not only broader sharing of knowledge but also more expansive rights of workers and their organizations to act on that knowledge.

The Establishment of Wonsan Laborers' Hospital during the Japanese Occupation and Its Significance.

On July 3, 1928, the Wonsan Labor Union established the Wonsan Laborers' Hospital in Seoku-dong, Wonsan for the purpose of reducing medical consultation fees for its members. The union's efforts to improve the welfare of its members include the establishment of an educational institute, a consumers union, a barbershop, and a relief department. The Laborers' Hospital, which began with ten wards, was led by a team of two doctors, one midwife, two pharmacists, and four nurses. The two doctors were Cheol-sun Cha and Jeong-kwon Lee, and the midwife/nurse was Sun-jeong Kim. Union members received a 40% discount on medicine, and this was utilized by a daily average of 60 to 70 workers, or 21,000 workers annually. The Laborers' Hospital was clearly distinct from medical facilities founded as charity institutions in that funds were raised by the recipients themselves, and that the recipients formed a community based on their common status as laborers. However, the Wonsan Laborers' Hospital was shut down in roughly April 1929 due to the breaking of the general strike, and the heightened suppression of union activities prevented any additional opening of laborers' hospitals until Korea's liberation from Japan. Nevertheless, the history of the Wonsan Laborers' Hospital represents a key development in Korea's health coverage. It is not adequate to declare, as was the case in past research, Korea's health coverage to be simply an imitation of the Western system and lacking its own history. Despite some differences in scale and operation, the development of health coverage in the Korean peninsula is in line with the history of health coverage development in the West. The Wonsan Laborers' Hospital, founded and operated by the laborers themselves, thus holds great significance in the history of Korea's health coverage, The findings of this study are expected to stimulate new and more diverse discussions on the history of health coverage in Korea.

"Educate the Individual... to a Sane Appreciation of the Risk" A History of Industry's Responsibility to Warn of Job Dangers Before the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

The Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 and the Workers Right to Know laws later in that decade were signature moments in the history of occupational safety and health. We have examined how and why industry leaders came to accept that it was the obligation of business to provide information about the dangers to health of the materials that workers encountered. Informing workers about the hazards of the job had plagued labor-management relations and fed labor disputes, strikes, and even pitched battles during the turn of the century decades. Industry's rhetorical embrace of the responsibility to inform was part of its argument that government regulation of the workplace was not necessary because private corporations were doing it.

Truncating a disease. The reduction of silica hazards to silicosis at the 1930 international labor office conference on silicosis in Johannesburg.

The current nosology and etiology of silicosis were officially adopted by the 1930 International Labor Office (ILO) Conference on silicosis in Johannesburg. Convened by the International Labor Office and by the Transvaal Chamber of Mines, it paved the way to the adoption of a 1934 ILO convention which recognized silicosis as an occupational disease. Even though it constituted a social and sanitary turning point, the Johannesburg conference, strongly influenced by South African physicians working for the gold mining industry, reduced silica hazards to silicosis, an equation which is questioned nowadays. While the definition of silicosis adopted in 1930 was a major step in the recognition of occupational pneumoconioses, it also led to the under-identification of some pathogenic effects of silica. Going back to history opens new avenues for contemporary medical research.

Miners, silica and disability: The bi-national interplay between South Africa and the United Kingdom, c1900-1930s.

This paper investigates silicosis as a disabling disease in underground mining in the United Kingdom (UK) before Second World War, exploring the important connections between South Africa and the UK and examining some of the issues raised at the 1930 International Labour Office Conference on silicosis in Johannesburg in a British context. The evidence suggests there were significant paradoxes and much contestation in medical knowledge creation, advocacy, and policy-making relating to this occupational disease. It is argued here that whilst there was an international exchange of scientific knowledge on silicosis in the early decades of the twentieth century, it was insufficient to challenge the traditional defense adopted by the British government of proven beyond all scientific doubt before effective intervention in coal mining. This circumspect approach reflected dominant business interests and despite relatively robust trade union campaigning and eventual reform, the outcome was an accumulative legacy of respiratory disease and disability that blighted coalfield communities.

[Historical and social perspective from the 64-65 Mexican medical movement]. / Perspectiva histórica y social del Movimiento Médico de 1964-1965 en México.

The Mexican Medical Movement from 1964-1965 constitutes an important event from the rising urban middle-class, besides it was the first time medical doctors claimed for fair working conditions. The background of this movement is the so-called Crisis of 1958, which included the Movements from the educators union, oil workers union, telegraph workers union and the railroad workers union. The conflict began because interns and residents from the "Hospital 20 de Noviembre" would not get a payment at the end of the year, so on November 26th, 1964, the movement started. The Asociación Mexicana de Médicos Residentes e Internos (AMMRI) was created and their demands were the following: 1) Full working site restitution without retaliations, 2) Legal examination of the scholarship-contract terms, in order to get annual, renewable and progressive contracts, and a fixed salary with the usual working-hours and characteristics of each institution, 3) To have preference to get an adscription at the hospital where the resident studied, 4) Active participation from the resident in the elaboration of the academic plans, and 5) Resolution of each hospital's problems. This movement had social impact for Mexico's contemporary life, nevertheless some of the demands are still unchanged among medical residents.

El movimiento médico mexicano de 1964-1965 constituyó parte del primer despertar de la clase media urbana, además de haber sido la primera vez que los médicos reclamaron condiciones de trabajo justas. Como antecedente se tiene la llamada crisis de 1958, la cual incluyó los movimientos: revolucionario del Magisterio, del Sindicato de Trabajadores Petroleros, de la Alianza de Telegrafistas, y del Sindicato de Trabajadores Ferrocarrileros de la República Mexicana. El comienzo del conflicto médico se debió a que los residentes e internos del Hospital 20 de Noviembre del hoy Instituto de Seguridad y Servicios Sociales de los Trabajadores del Estado (ISSSTE) no recibieron su aguinaldo, por lo que el 26 de noviembre de 1964 inició el paro, a partir del cual se formó la Asociación Mexicana de Médicos Residentes e Internos (AMMRI), cuyas demandas fueron: 1) Restitución total en sus puestos, sin represalias, 2) Revisión legal y cambio de los términos del contrato-beca, en el sentido de lograr contratos de trabajo anuales, renovables y progresivos, con el horario y características acostumbrados en cada institución además de determinación de sueldos base, 3) Preferencia para ocupar plaza de médico adscrito a los residentes egresados de las propias instituciones, 4) Participación activa del residente en la elaboración de los planes de enseñanza, y 5) Resolución de los problemas de cada hospital. Este movimiento, aunque tuvo repercusiones sociales para la vida contemporánea en México, a 50 años de su inicio, algunas de las demandas siguen sin ser resueltas para los médicos residentes.

Labor unions: a public health institution.

Using a social-ecological framework, we drew on a targeted literature review and historical and contemporary cases from the US labor movement to illustrate how unions address physical and psychosocial conditions of work and the underlying inequalities and social determinants of health. We reviewed labor involvement in tobacco cessation, hypertension control, and asthma, limiting articles to those in English published in peer-reviewed public health or medical journals from 1970 to 2013. More rigorous research is needed on potential pathways from union membership to health outcomes and the facilitators of and barriers to union-public health collaboration. Despite occasional challenges, public health professionals should increase their efforts to engage with unions as critical partners.