WHO Knew. How the World Health Organization (WHO) Became a Dangerous Interloper on Workplace Health and Safety and COVID-19.

The World Health Organization's (WHO) workplace health and safety guidelines on COVID-19 are unacceptably complacent in parts, patently dangerous in others, and contain serious gaps. Omissions include no mention of the essential role of labor inspection and enforcement, and a lack of recognition of potential interactions with other workplace hazards. WHO also omitted discussion of the necessity for wider employment protections to make safety and safe behavior a realistic prospect. Potential risks in outdoor work and the need to address the impact of job segregation related to inequalities in health outcomes are also absent. WHO's advice influences national practice, official guidance, and binding rules.The International Trade Union Confederation has assessed the flaws in WHO's arguments and has prepared a critique so they are understood and can be challenged.

Hazard Pay for COVID-19? Yes, But It's Not a Substitute for a Living Wage and Enforceable Worker Protections.

The COVID-19 pandemic is exposing critical failures in public and occupational health in the United States. So-called hazard pay for essential workers is a necessary but insufficient response to the lack of workplace protections. The roots of these failures in the weakening of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration enforcement and pandemic preparedness and the dramatic shifts in the economy and labor market in recent decades are explored along with the history of hazard pay. The current prominence of COVID-19-related workplace hazards, and the mobilization by both nonunion and union workers experiencing them, presents opportunities amid the crisis and tragic losses to envision a revival of worker protection measures. Strategies are needed for organizing and legislative advocacy to address the disparate impact of both normal and crisis conditions on low-wage workers, especially women and workers of color.

COVID-19 in the UK and Occupational Health and Safety: Predictable not Inevitable Failures by Government, and Trade Union and Nongovernmental Organization Responses.

This commentary examines the occupational health and safety issues faced by the UK workers in the COVID-19 pandemic, against the background of government cuts in health care and in occupational health and safety budgets, and a deregulatory climate. The UK government has been obsessed, blinkered, and distracted by the desire to leave the European Union (Brexit). The state of knowledge about the virus, especially from international agencies that identified pandemic threats and strategies to combat it, is outlined. UK politicians, government bodies, medical and scientific advisors, and employers periodically ignored or abused that knowledge. Regulatory and ministerial inaction and errors on the workplace virus risks emerged. In contrast, several trade unions, health professional bodies, and nongovernmental organizations identified COVID-19 threats from poor personal protection equipment, working practices, and knowledge gaps and offered solutions for health care workers, social care workers, production workers, and service workers in "essential" occupations.

For Now, Public Unions Can Continue to Collect Fees from Nonmembers.

A four-four Supreme Court decision may lead to a rehearing.

The participatory design of a performance oriented monitoring and evaluation system in an international development environment.

This article illustrates the application of the impact monitoring and evaluation process for the design and development of a performance monitoring and evaluation framework in the context of human and institutional capacity development. This participative process facilitated stakeholder ownership in several areas including the design, development, and use of a new monitoring and evaluation system, as well their targeted results and accomplishments through the use of timely performance data gathered through ongoing monitoring and evaluation. The process produced a performance indicator map, a comprehensive monitoring and evaluation framework, and data collection templates to promote the development, implementation, and sustainability of the monitoring and evaluation system of a farmer's trade union in an African country.

New code of conduct a step closer as nurses' feedback taken on board.

Significant changes could be made to the Nursing and Midwifery Council's (NMC) draft code of conduct as a result of feedback from nurses, a senior figure at the regulator said.

Labor union members play an OLG repeated game.

Humans are capable of cooperating with one another even when it is costly and a deviation provides an immediate gain. An important reason is that cooperation is reciprocated or rewarded and deviations are penalized in later stages. For cooperation to be sustainable, not only must rewards and penalties be strong enough but individuals should also have the right incentives to provide rewards and punishments. Codes of conduct with such properties have been studied extensively in game theory (as repeated game equilibria), and the literature on the evolution of cooperation shows how equilibrium behavior might emerge and proliferate in society. We found that community unions, a subclass of labor unions that admits individual affiliations, are ideal to corroborate these theories with reality, because (i) their activities are simple and (ii) they have a structure that closely resembles a theoretical model, the overlapping generations repeated game. A detailed case study of a community union revealed a possible equilibrium that can function under the very limited observability in the union. The equilibrium code of conduct appears to be a natural focal point based on simple heuristic reasoning. The union we studied was created out of necessity for cooperation, without knowing or anticipating how cooperation might be sustained. The union has successfully resolved about 3,000 labor disputes and created a number of offspring.

El corporativismo en la profesión enfermera / O corporativismo, profissão de enfermagem / The corporatism in nursing profession

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Vocational rehabilitation, interagency collaboration and social representations.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study is to describe and analyse two important dimensions of vocational rehabilitation for disadvantaged groups and persons with disabilities: interagency collaboration and social representations. PARTICIPANTS: Four focus group discussions were conducted. The participants were 20 officials of various agencies who had taken part in collaboration projects in vocational rehabilitation. METHODS: Qualitative content analysis was used for the analysis. The material was categorised and central themes identified. RESULTS: Three themes emerged: 'Collaboration Process', 'Other Agencies' and 'Object for Collaboration'. The results indicate that interagency collaboration is very important in vocational rehabilitation, but that there are a number of obstacles to smooth collaboration. The professionals of the different agencies shared social representations to a great extent. Working with people with psychiatric disorders is especially challenging, and conflicts tended to arise between the projects and the home organisations. CONCLUSIONS: Recognition of others' knowledge and respectfulness toward other professions facilitated vocational rehabilitation and the interagency collaboration process. The agencies' lack of flexibility increased the risk of conflicts as attempts were made to integrate the new working methods developed within the projects into the ordinary activities of the agencies.

Administration and union partnership: one Magnet hospital's story.

For each hospital that has achieved Magnet designation as an organization of excellence, a unique story exists about its experience. Our story of excellence is founded in a long partnership between administration and union leadership spanning 2 decades. We recognize that excellence is not a steady state, rather a continued commitment to improved patient, staff, and organizational outcomes. This article provides a glimpse into one hospital's story-administration and union partnership in achieving and sustaining the American Nurses Credentialing Center's Magnet designation.

Conselhos de medicina: criação, trajetória e consolidação / Councils of medicine: establishment, consolidation and trajectory

A criação dos conselhos de medicina no Brasil foi um movimento de grande importância por suas peculiaridades. Para a elaboração deste trabalho, foi realizada uma pesquisa nas bibliotecas dos conselhos de medicina e, com base no material analisado, organizou-se este trabalho com o objetivo de manter viva a memória dos conselhos médicos e contribuir como fonte de futuras indagações. Na primeira metade do século XX, a profissão médica brasileira sofreu um intenso processo de transformação, passando do modelo liberal para o assalariamento, o que provocou conflitos na classe médica. O Movimento Sanitarista teve importância no desenrolar das ações que precederam o movimento pela criação dos conselhos. Em 1930, o sistema de saúde foi organizado com a criação dos institutos de aposentadoria e pensão. A primeira entidade médica criada no Brasil foi o Sindicato Médico Brasileiro, que fiscalizou o exercício da medicina e defendeu o bom nível dos salários médicos. Em 30 de setembro de 1957, foi promulgada a Lei nº 3.268, que determinou a reestruturação dos conselhos de medicina. Assim, esses conselhos passaram a registrar os médicos em seus Estados e fiscalizar o exercício profissional. Em 1964, com a instituição do regime militar, deu-se início ao período de repressão política e, na área da saúde, foi criado o Instituto Nacional de Previdência Social, o INPS, com o objetivo de organizar a previdência e a assistência médica. Nessa época, deu-se o início do sucateamento da saúde pública com o crescimento dos planos de assistência médica privada, os chamados planos de saúde, e da abertura de numerosas escolas médicas. Com a redemocratização do País, foi criado o Sistema Único de Saúde, o SUS, e os Conselhos de Medicina engajaram-se no movimento pelo exercício digno da atividade médica.

The creation of the councils of medicine in Brazil was a movement of great importance for its peculiarities. For the preparation of this work, a literature search on the libraries of the councils of medicine was performed and from the researched material this work was organized with the objective of keeping the memory alive and supply as a source for future research. In the first half of the twentieth century, the Brazilian medical profession suffered an intense process of transformation, going from liberal model for the salaried class, raising conflicts. The Movimento Sanitário had importance in the conduct of actions that preceded the movement for the creation of the councils. In 1930, the health system was organized with the creation of the retirement and pension institutes. The first medical entity created in Brazil was the Sindicato Médico Brasileiro (Brazilian Medical Union), to monitor the medical practice and to protect wages and salaries. On September 30, 1957, the Act 3.268 was promulgated establishing the restructuring of the councils of medicine. Thus, the councils started to register the doctors in their states and to monitor the professional practice. In 1964, with the institution of the military regime has begun a crackdown on health area and the Instituto Nacional de Previdência Social (INPS) was created, with the objective to organize the health and medical assistance. At that time, the fragmentation of public health took place with the growth of the private health coverage plans and the opening of many private medical schools. After the democratization of the country the Sistema Único de Saúde – SUS (Health Single System) was created and the councils of medicine joined the movement for enforcement of respectable medical activity.

Recent trends in ILO conventions related to occupational safety and health.

The present study was conducted to analyze the ratification status of International Labour Organization (ILO) conventions related to occupational safety and health (OSH) by ILO member states in terms of national indicators (length of ILO membership and national income status) and regional affiliation. 17 conventions designated as OSH-related by the 2003 International Labour Conference were examined. In general, countries with longer ILO membership ratified higher numbers of conventions related to OSH. With some variation, long-membership countries had the largest number of ratifications, followed by middle- and short-membership countries in all regions. There were also incremental increases in the number of ratifications for OSH-related conventions according to the national income status. Common regional characteristics that could not be explained by the factors studied also existed. Future efforts to increase ratification at an international level will need to consider the factors influencing ratification practice among the member states.

Siniestrabilidad laboral y fortaleza sindical en la OCDE / Work-related injuries and trade union strength in the OECD

Objetivos: Analizar si existe una relación negativa entre la fortaleza sindical y la siniestrabilidad laboral en países de la OCDE pertenecientes a diferentes tradiciones del estado del bienestar. Métodos: Construcción de un indicador de la fortaleza sindical como variable independiente y realización de tres correlaciones con los accidentes laborales mortales como variable dependiente, tomando 1994 como año de referencia. En la primera correlación se incluyeron 13 países de la OCDE, en la segunda se excluyó al Reino Unido y, finalmente, se llevó a cabo una correlación con los países de la OCDE que presentaban datos más homogéneos en cuanto a siniestrabilidad laboral se refiere. Resultados: Existe una relación negativa entre la fortaleza sindical y la siniestrabilidad laboral, relación que aumenta conforma son excluidos de la muestra aquellos países que utilizan criterios que bien sobreestiman o subestiman las cifras de accidentes laborales respecto del resto de países analizados. Conclusiones: La relación entre fortaleza sindical y siniestrabilidad laboral es negativa y muy elevada cuando tan sólo son considerados aquellos países de la OCDE que utilizan los mismos criterios para medir la siniestralidad laboral. El papel de los sindicatos ya no se limita exclusivamente a defender los intereses económicos de los trabajadores, sino que sindicatos más fuertes en un país pueden tener un papel importante en la prevención de los accidentes laborales (AU)