The underlying policy objectives and the degree to which they are served by current trade union financial reporting and disclosure regimes in the US and the UK are examined in this article, along with a detailed comparison of the government oversight agencies, annual disclosure forms and member access to union financial records.

This article examines how trade unions in different country settings have utilised call centre technologies. Rather than viewing union call centres as simply a means of service delivery, our research suggests they can also enable a more strategic approach to Workplace organising. We explore the implications of union call centres for debates on servicing and organising models of trade unionism.

This article examines whether the new labor organization annual financial report (Form LM-2) has significantly improved transparency of union finances over the old form by providing useful and easily understood information to union members, government, and the public. The new form, filed by unions with $250,000 or more in annual receipts, was first published by the U.S. Department of Labor's Office of Labor-Management Standards in December 2002. After reviewing the changes made in the new LM-2 form, the authors then use data drawn from a stratified random sample of union filings under the new LM-2 form to determine what additional gain in transparency has actually occurred.

This article examines whether the new labor organization annual financial report (Form LM-2) has significantly improved transparency of union finances over the old form by providing useful and easily understood information to union members, government, and the public. The new form, filed by unions with $250,000 or more in annual receipts, was first published by the U.S. Department of Labor's Office of Labor-Management Standards in December 2002. After reviewing the changes made in the new LM-2 form, the authors then use data drawn from a stratified random sample of union filings under the new LM-2 form to determine what additional gain in transparency has actually occurred.

Recent changes in laws, regulations and even the reporting format of labor organization annual financial reports in both the US and Australia have received surprisingly little attention, yet they have significantly increased the amount of information available both to union members and the public in general, as reports in both countries are available via government web sites. While such financial reporting laws are exteremely rare in European countries, with the exception of the UK and Ireland, the US and Australian reporting systems have become among the most detailed in the world. After reviewing these changes in financial reporting and the availability of these reports, as well as comparing and contrasting the specific reporting requirements of each country, this paper then examines the cost‐benefit impact of more detailed financial reporting.

This paper explores changes in work organisation in the distribution operations of large Australian retailers. While popularised by consultants as a ‘lean logistics’ approach, the research findings suggest increasing variation in both the technical and social organisation of work. Differences in work organisation reflect variations in management choice, as well as the negotiated nature of workplace change.

Web Conferences and Labor Education:An After-Action Report John Lund Union officers, staff, and members attending labor education courses, union conferences, or out-of-town meetings are increasingly confronted by significant expenses: higher travel costs, travel delays, lost wages, and lost work time (Lund 2003). Labor education programs directly suffer from this cost squeeze: it impacts enrollment and cost recovery at a time when they increasingly rely on program revenue. Increasing costs also impact unions whose operating incomes are directly related to dues and per capita tax, incomes that decline as membership does. Reacting to these cost pressures, labor educators and unions alike have responded in a variety of ways, including relying more on technology such as online courses or teleconferencing. While these alternatives are imperfect substitutes for face-to-face meetings or "live" instruction, they allow limited financial resources to be stretched further and obviate the need for travel. But both alternatives obviously fall short: online courses seldom permit real-time dialogue between participants and instructors, and teleconferencing makes it extremely difficult to present, discuss, analyze, and revise text, graphics, and data. A third alternative, web conferencing, effectively combines the strengths of both online courses and teleconferencing, and minimizes their inherent weaknesses. This paper presents a case study of web conferencing and assesses how it was used to facilitate nationwide meetings of union officers and employees to learn about proposed changes by the U.S. Department of Labor in the LM-30, the "Union Officer/Employee Report," and to formulate suggestions for changes to the proposed form. Following a discussion defining web conferencing and how it works, the paper reviews how the web conference was set up, how the audience was selected and prepared, and how the conference [End Page 93] materials were prepared. Then follows a brief discussion of the conference, an assessment by the participants, and some recommendations for future use of web conferencing. Web conferencing: How does it work? Web conferencing has two components—a teleconference and a web interface—that work in tandem. The web interface, depending upon the software platform used, allows presentation of web pages, PowerPoint slides, graphics, text, spreadsheets, text chat, and tools such as a whiteboard for illustrations. It provides question capabilities to allow participants and presenters to converse, and even includes a polling feature that allows the presenter to poll participant reactions, evaluate options, or assess the course. Finally, an "archive" of the entire conference can be generated as a Windows Media file that captures the audio portion of the conference, the polling slides and answers, and all the screen shots. The audio portion of web conferencing is simply a full-duplex audio telephone bridge that allows participants to talk to the presenter and each other. The added dimension of the web interface allows them to focus on a variety of graphs, charts, spreadsheets, slides, and text. At the University of Wisconsin, web conferencing is coordinated through the WisLine Web system, administered by Instructional Communications Services (ICS) of UW-Extension. ICS uses Microsoft Office Live Meeting 2005 web conferencing software. (See http://www.microsoft.com/office/livemeeting/ accessed January 9, 2006.) ICS "hosts" the web conference, combining its telephone bridging service and the web conferencing software. The software allows presenters to develop and store the necessary spreadsheets, web pages, PowerPoint slides, and text in a dedicated "conference center." Presenters upload all necessary materials to this conference center before the web conference. When the web conference goes "live" at the previously advertised time(s), Microsoft Office Live Meeting 2005 software allows presenters to show PowerPoint slides, demonstrate software, conduct polling, use whiteboards, and even direct participants to web sites that contain streaming video. To participate in a conference, participants simply dial in to the telephone conference call and point their browser to the pre-assigned URL to enter the conference center. For University of Wisconsin departments, this service costs $0.23 per minute per participant, which includes the cost of running the conference center, presenter training, and technical assistance. WisLine Web's parent organization, ICS, offers extensive training and technical assistance for first-time presenters. Speaking from first-hand experience, I found this assistance [End Page 94] most valuable and...

Variable-compensation systems are increasingly common in the trucking industry. This paper examines the growing use of variable compensation for grocery truckers and highlights the links between the replacement of standard hourly pay, the industry's adoption of supply-chain management, and the outsourcing of the logistics function. A case study of "activity-based compensation" for grocery truckers illustrates how such alternative pay systems impact earnings, hours worked, and working conditions. From this we develop a set of recommendations to show how unions can better monitor and regulate these pay systems.

The trend towards increasing integration within the grocery supply chain is identified and its implications for trade union organizing explored. While offering greater efficiencies and reduced costs for employers, supply chain integration may also offer unions a new lever for organizing. The article outlines a methodology for mapping union coverage and highlights potential impediments to union organizing such as contracting out and jurisdictional disputes. Unions need to adopt a strategic approach to organizing and the early resolution of jurisdictional conflicts in order to take full advantage of current changes within the grocery supply chain.

The trend towards increasing integration within the grocery sup ply chain is identified and its implications for trade union organiz ing explored. While offering greater efficiencies and reduced costs for employers, supply chain integration may also offer unions a new lever for organizing. The article outlines a methodology for mapping union coverage and highlights potential impediments to union organizing such as contracting out and jurisdictional dis putes. Unions need to adopt a strategic approach to organizing and the early resolution of jurisdictional conflicts in order to take full advantage of current changes within the grocery supply chain.

This article reviews the implementation of supply chain management within the Australian food and grocery industry and examines the workplace implications of this new form of industry rationalization within the manufacturing, distribution and retailing components of the grocery supply chain. Based upon documentary sources and interviews with employers, consultants and trade union officials, we find the dominant workplace trend involves a focus on increased labour flexibility amongst upstream suppliers in response to the strategic power of the dominant supermarket chains. However, variations in labour use strategies and union responses across the supply chain also highlight the continued diversity of workplace regimes that result even within a highly concentrated product market. The implications of this case for broader debates on the process of `systemic rationalization' are explored.

Recent technological innovations have emphasised increasing integration between enterprises across the supply chain. This article reviews these developments within US grocery distribution and highlights the potential for supply chain integration to increase union bargaining power, as well as employer strategies aimed at reducing the threat of industrial vulnerability resulting from cross-enterprise interdependence.

Studies of the diffusion of new workplace technologies and management practice often fail to account for differences in state labour regulation. This article examines the role of the state in seeking to regulate the introduction of an American system of computerized work monitoring in the Australian grocery warehouse industry. While the establishment of a government inquiry into the technology offered the potential for significant constraints upon management control, over time the state’s role shifted to a more accommodating stance that endorsed management’s right to use the new technology. The reasons underlying the state’s ultimate support for the technology are explored, as are the broader implications for national variations in the global diffusion of new workplace technologies.

Studies of the diffusion of new workplace technologies and management practice often fail to account for differences in state labour regulation. This article examines the role of the state in seeking to regulate the introduction of an American system of computerized work monitoring in the Australian grocery warehouse industry. While the establishment of a government inquiry into the technology offered the potential for significant constraints upon management control, over time the state's role shifted to a more accommodating stance that endorsed management's right to use the new technology. The reasons underlying the state's ultimate support for the technology are explored, as are the broader implications for national variations in the global diffusion of new workplace technologies.

In this paper, a questionnaire survey aimed at measuring the institutionalization of Total Quality Management is presented. The core part of the questionnaire is a set of questions on Quality institutionalization that are based on the Malcolm Baldrige award criteria. Data was collected from 494 employees in two public sector organizations in the Midwest. Various analyses were conducted to examine the validity and reliability of the questions on Quality institutionalization. Factor analysis led to the creation of five scales of TQM institutionalization: leadership, human resources, quality processes and results, customer focus, and information and data analysis. Analyses demonstrated the good validity and reliability of the instrument for measuring TQM institutionalization.

This paper compares and contrasts four fatigue allowance worksheets commonly used to establish fatigue (relaxation) allowances for production standards; the factors, weights, degree of documentation and other operational characteristics of these worksheets are also examined. We briefly review the fatigue literature including objective physical measures of fatigue. Results of an experiment in which 11 industrial engineers independently applied the four worksheets to a standardized job analysis and video tape of a grocery order selector are reported. We conclude that inter-rater reliability and cross-validation are very low for the four worksheets and suggest validation studies using objective physiological measures of fatigue would be appropriate.

Although Quality Management (QM) programs are theoretically related to positive employee outcomes such as job satisfaction and organizational commitment, there is little empirical evidence to support this relationship. It was predicted that employees who were involved in QM programs, through either quality improvement projects or formal training, would perceive QM as having a positive effect on their jobs. The hypotheses were only partially supported. Training was significantly related to one out of five outcome measures, while project involvement was significantly related to two out of the five measures, with one effect approaching significance. The results are discussed in the context of the lack of formal activity within the organization in recent years. The implications for future studies of programs such as QM are also discussed.

In contrast to optimistic interpretations of contemporary work reorganisation, the example of computerised work monitoring in US and Australian grocery warehousing highlights a far more negative picture of work intensification, job stress and low trust relations. Despite significant variation in trade union response, the article argues such examples reinforce the need for strong and independent trade union regulation to limit the worst excesses of workplace rationalisation.

Total Quality Management (TQM) has proven its potential to improve the quality of products and services. However, there is very little systematic, empirical research on the implementation of TQM in the public sector. In particular, there is very little research on the impact of TQM on employees involved, their jobs and their quality of life. This research examines the implementation of TQM in the City of Madison, Wisconsin, and its effects on employees. TQM has the potential. to improve quality of working life if it increases positive aspects of work, such as participation and meaningfulness, and reduces or minimizes negative aspects of work, such as poor social relations. A questionnaire survey was developed to examine employee perceptions of TQM. A total of 424 employees of the City of Madison participated in the survey at baseline and a total of 848 employees responded to a second survey administered eighteen months later. Employees were asked about the effects of TQM on various aspects of their work. The results show that TQM has mixed effects.

Contrary to prevailing visions of workplace reform as a harmonious and benefi cial process, this paper examines the case of the Australian grocery distribution industry and recent changes in work organization imported from the United States. Unlike the consensual `team-based' approaches that have been advocated within recent management literature, 'international best practice' in this industry equates to a system of labour management based upon low trust and direct control. The paper highlights the variability of workplace reform and the continued centrality of management control over the labour process.