Iván Vázquez-Villar, Rosa Espada-Chavarria, Ricardo Moreno-Rodriguez
This study explores the educational trajectories of elderly deaf people in Spain who were educated between 1960 and 1980. The research was based on biographical-narrative methodology as a qualitative research technique. The data analysis was structural, using code identification and a system of categories and dimensions. Based on the stories and testimonies of 18 deaf people over the age of 65 living in Galicia, the stereotypes, prejudices and academic barriers in their school experience are analysed. The testimonies reveal an exclusionary education system, marked by a lack of accessibility, an absence of sign language interpreters, and the imposition of oralism as the only means of teaching. These conditions negatively affected the participants’ personal development, self-esteem, and employment opportunities. Discriminatory attitudes on the part of teachers and the school community were also identified. However, some highlighted key support and the informal use of sign language as positive elements. The study emphasises that, although there have been improvements in the education of deaf people, further progress is needed in the development of inclusive education policies that recognise sign language and promote accessibility and equity in the education of deaf people.
Vocational rehabilitation. Employment of people with disabilities
Accessing the built environment poses many challenges for people with disabilities, severely affecting their independence and quality of life. A panel of experts with a lived experience of disabilities co-designed a survey capturing the challenges in New Zealand’s public places. There were 319 survey respondents with impairments related to mobility (66.5%), vision (18.8%), hearing (5.0%), sensory processing and cognition (8.8%). They perceived sports stadiums as the least accessible venue, followed by bars, boutique shops and public toilets. The most accessible venues were supermarkets, libraries and shopping malls. The type of disability affected the main accessibility challenges. Significant outdoor barriers included uneven and cluttered paths, inadequate provision of curb cuts, seating and accessible parking spaces, and obscure wayfinding. Entrance barriers included heavy doors, complex access control, remote ramps and narrow, obscure entrances. Interior problems included cluttered paths and poor signage. The top priorities for improvement were simplifying layouts, keeping paths clear, and providing clear, inclusive signage, communication and assistance for people with varying impairments. Providing lower counters, better colour contrast, hearing loop facilities and better control of lighting and acoustics also improve accessibility. This research contributes novel experiential data from people with disabilities that is critical to achieving an inclusive built environment.
Vocational rehabilitation. Employment of people with disabilities
Tomas Berglund, Jørgen Svalund, Tuomo Alasoini
et al.
Recent research on changes in the occupational structure in the Nordic region points in different directions. Some studies indicate upgrading of jobs with better quality, advanced skill requirements, and higher wages, while others show tendencies toward polarization in the skill distribution of jobs. The present article finds gendered patterns of upgrading or polarization in the occupational structure in the Nordic countries in the years 2012–2019. The changes in the occupational structure have been more beneficial for women, who increasingly occupy higher-level positions. Especially, the public sector has served as a vehicle for high-level female positions. While previous research has stressed technological change, especially digitalization as the primary driver of change, this article argues that developments in the public sector also need to be considered to fully understand occupational change in the Nordic region.
Covid-19-pandemien forårsaket betydelig turbulens i arbeidsmarkedet knyttet til både midlertidig arbeidsledighet, tyngre arbeidsbelastning i enkelte yrker og økt omstillingsbehov. Ved hjelp av norske registerdata oppdatert til slutten av 2024 studerer vi sysselsettingsmønstre til eldre (60–66 år) før, under og etter pandemien. Siden eldre arbeidstakere står nærmere en mulig varig uttrekning fra arbeidslivet enn yngre, er det av særlig interesse å undersøke hvordan pandemien påvirket denne gruppens arbeidsdeltagelse. Samlet sett finner vi få tegn til at mange eldre forlot arbeidsmarkedet på grunn av pandemien, når vi sammenligner med trendene observert i årene før. Det er imidlertid betydelige forskjeller mellom arbeidstakere som på ulik måte og i ulik grad ble påvirket av pandemien. Vi estimerer negative langsiktige sysselsettingseffekter for eldre arbeidstakere som jobbet enten i yrker med særlig stor arbeidsbelastning gjennom krisen (helsesektoren), i yrker med særlig stort omstillingsbehov (utdanningssektoren) eller i yrker med høy risiko for koronavirussmitte (omsorgssektoren). Vi ser imidlertid ingen langsiktige sysselsettingseffekter for eldre arbeidstakere som jobbet i bransjer med særlig høy risiko for arbeidsledighet. Analysen bygger på en empirisk tilnærming der vi studerer forskjellene i sysselsetting mellom ulike berørte og ikke-berørte yrkesgrupper gjennom pandemiperioden og sammenholder dem med de tilsvarende forskjellene i en førperiode.
Abstract This article examines the large and modern sugar factories established in Egypt in the 1870s as multi-phased production sites that combined coerced peasant labor with the deployment of state of the art steam technology. These factories possessed the capacity to produce 7.5% of global sugar output from sugarcane at the time. Yet their scale, combined with their reliance on forced labor, have been neglected in Egypt’s labor historiography. The article argues that the forms of resistance enacted by coerced workers on these worksites co-shaped the emergence of peasant wage labor in subsequent decades. Drawing on the analytical perspectives of sugar history and Global Labor History (GLH), it demonstrates how wage labor took shape on industrial worksites in rural regions—challenging earlier labor histories that treat urban wage labor as the starting point of modern Egypt’s labor history. In doing so, it shows that rural labor strikes predated the conventional periodization of labor strikes and working-class formation in Egypt’s cities during the 1880s–90s. Finally, this global microhistory argues that the materiality and temporality of sugar production, when combined with the resources-demanding and labor-intensive technology of the factories, complicate Egypt’s late nineteenth-century position as a commodity frontier for Europe’s industrial capitalism.
Maxwell P. Opoku, Negmeldin Alsheikh, Daniel Miezah
et al.
Background: Although trauma is one of the leading causes of behaviour problems among children with disabilities, there has been limited scholarly interest in trauma management within the discourse of implementation of inclusive education.
Objectives: The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) trauma management model was used to study teachers’ awareness of trauma management among students with disabilities studying in regular classrooms.
Method: A total of 271 teachers were recruited from two municipalities in the central region of Ghana to complete the Teacher Trauma Management Scale developed for this study. The data were analysed using confirmatory factor analysis, mean scores, multivariate analysis of variances, and linear regression.
Results: The results showed teachers’ uncertainty towards trauma management, and a positive correlation was also found between the tenets of the study framework.
Conclusion: The study concluded with a recommendation for contextual development of the curriculum to guide teacher training in trauma management.
Contribution: Studies on trauma management within the discourse of implementation of inclusive education are scarce. This study extends the literature on inclusive education to teacher development to support trauma management among students with disabilities in regular schools.
Vocational rehabilitation. Employment of people with disabilities, Communities. Classes. Races
Corporate sustainability due diligence (CSDD) is needed in order to achieve a transition towards a green economy and deliver the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Therefore, the Commission proposed the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD) in 2019. In March 2024, the Council and the European Parliament finally reached an agreement on the CSDDD. This Directive obliges companies, if need be, to “collaborate” within the supply chain in order to reach the goals of the act, as long as such collaboration is in compliance with “Union law, including competition law”. This begs the question how much room these companies will have under EU competition law to collaborate with other companies in the value chain. In this article, a discussion will take place on the different aspects at stake. Companies should collaborate with subsidiaries and business partners. These companies will, from a competition law perspective, sometimes be seen as part of one undertaking. In instances where we have different undertakings, Article 101 will play a role. This article will then further delve into the question of how much room undertakings will have in light of the cartel prohibition to create agreements with the aim of achieving the CSDDD goals. Therefore, the article will also discuss whether such agreements do infringe the cartel prohibition.
La legislación laboral en materia de igualdad entre hombres y mujeres dedica una buena parte de su articulado a los instrumentos de conciliación y esta atención cobra pleno sentido no solo porque la dificultad de conciliar trabajo y familia es una causa de abandono del mercado de trabajo que afecta casi exclusivamente a las mujeres con responsabilidades de cuidados, sino porque la efectiva igualdad requiere mecanismos que aseguren el tránsito a un modelo de corresponsabilidad en los cuidados. El presente artículo se centrará en la respuesta comunitaria y nacional a la corresponsabilidad, significadamente en los mecanismos de flexibilidad en el tiempo y lugar de trabajo, así como en el análisis crítico del RD Ley 5/2023 con el que el legislador español ha procedido a la transposición de la Directiva 2019/1158.
El presente artículo se aproxima a la intensa conflictividad laboral experimentada durante 1979. Un movimiento huelgístico enmarcado por el proceso de cambio político y el agravamiento de la crisis del petróleo que terminaría por golpear con dureza a la economía española. Contrariamente a lo que se ha mantenido hasta el momento, esta contribución trata de reinterpretar el sentido de aquella intensa movilización, cuestionando su carácter eminentemente defensivo a través del análisis cuantitativo y el método histórico.
The New Zealand Government closed the borders and introduced a strict national lockdown relatively early in the spread of the disease. While so far successful in preventing a large-scale outbreak, there are significant economic consequences. A range of measures have been introduced to support businesses and workers during the lockdown and stimulate the economy following, including wage subsidies, interest-free small business loans and local infrastructure job-creation projects.
Law in general. Comparative and uniform law. Jurisprudence, Labor. Work. Working class
Isabel Moreira-Silva, Joana Azevedo, Sandra Rodrigues
et al.
This study aimed to investigate the 12-month and 7-day prevalence of musculoskeletal symptoms in different body regions and its association with individual (age, gender and BMI) and lifestyle-related (physical activity level and sitting time) factors among blue-collar workers of a Portuguese manufacturing company. One hundred and thirty-six blue-collar workers participated in the study. Musculoskeletal symptoms were assessed with the Nordic Musculoskeletal Questionnaire, and physical activity level and sitting time were assessed with IPAQ-Short Version. The 12-month prevalence was higher in the low back (56.6%), followed by the wrist/hand (50%), the shoulder (45.6%) and the neck (44.9%). In the last 7 days, the four most affected body regions were: the low back region (25%), the shoulders (20.6%) and the neck and wrist/hands (19.9%). Regarding individual factors, significant associations were found between age and the prevalence of musculoskeletal symptoms in the shoulder (p=0.034), elbow (p=0.033), wrist/hand (p=0.030), thigh/hip (p=0.008), neck (p=0.010) and the low back region (p=0.045), with the older workers reporting higher prevalence of musculoskeletal symptoms. Also, women reported a significant higher prevalence of musculoskeletal symptoms in the neck than men (p=0.025). Overweight and obese workers had a significantly higher prevalence of symptoms in the shoulder (p=0.003), wrist/hands (p=0.030) and neck (p=0.033). Regarding lifestyle-related factors, no significant associations were found between physical activity level or sitting time (p>0.05) and the prevalence of musculoskeletal symptoms in any of the body regions. To conclude, blue-collar workers have a high prevalence of musculoskeletal symptoms. Individual factors like age, gender and BMI seem to influence the prevalence of musculoskeletal symptoms in different body regions, but lifestyle-related factors such as the physical activity level and sitting time seem not to be associated with the prevalence of musculoskeletal symptoms in studied sample. The results emphasize the need of workplace interventions to prevent musculoskeletal symptoms in this population.
Mehdi Hasankhani, Farajollah Rahnavard, Habibollah Taherpour
et al.
Employee commitment, sometimes called work involvement/ belongingness/ engagement, materializes when people have interest in their job, enjoy doing it and try harder to accomplish it. This study aims to investigate the effective factors which can enhance the commitment of employees at individual, group and organizational levels. It also intends to identify and reach a model for the relations among variables. Using structural equations model, data were collected from 65 Iranian state organizations. Findings show that at an organizational level such factors as organizational structure, organizational support,organizational culture, compensation; at group level such factors as effective leadership, pleasant work environment, employee participation, organizational trust, constructive feedback, role transparency; and at individual level such factors as job security, work autonomy, internal motivation, organizational commitment, perceived organizational justice, religious commitment, and extraversion have an impact on employee commitment.
Economic growth, development, planning, Employee participation in management. Employee ownership. Industrial democracy. Works councils
Este artigo pretende realizar uma reflexão sobre a relação entre o ciclo de expansão econômica neodesenvolvimentista dos governos petistas de Lula e Dilma Rousseff e a redefinição da oferta de cursos de qualificação profissional por intermédio da criação e implementação do Programa Nacional de Acesso ao Ensino Técnico e Emprego (PRONATEC), criado no primeiro governo de Dilma, através da Lei nº 12.513/2011, cujo objetivo seria garantir a expansão da formação profissional massiva de trabalhadores, atendendo as demandas de um suposto “apagão” de mão de obra qualificada. Prioriza-se a discussão envolvendo o perfil de qualificação presente nos cursos do PRONATEC.
Special aspects of education, Labor market. Labor supply. Labor demand
O centenário da morte de Leôncio de Carvalho (Carlos Leôncio da Silva Carvalho), inspira uma incursão nos documentos reveladores das políticas educacionais do período imperial, destacando o enfoque da relação entre trabalho e educação.
Special aspects of education, Labor market. Labor supply. Labor demand
AbstractThis article explores how the prolonged and erosive deindustrialization in China's struggling state-owned enterprises (SOE), an inevitable result of the neoliberal shift in industrialization policy from socialist import-substitution industrialization to globalized export-oriented industrialization, has changed workers’ perceptions of themselves and their work. Based on in-depth interviews with workers and participant observation in one enterprise—Nanfang Steel—this study describes how what it means to be a worker has changed over two generations of SOE workers. The “glorious” identity of the worker, promoted by the state during the Maoist era, and emphatically proclaimed by elder workers despite its internal limitations and contradictions, has been dismantled by the neoliberal reform and has instead metamorphosed into a newly developed and “stigma-laden” cultural identity created by contemporary hegemonic discourse and then bitterly internalized by currently employed younger workers.
The history of excess has tended to focus on middle‐class groups intent on demonstrating their wealth through conspicuous consumption. I draw on historical evidence from working cultures of loggers, fishermen, miners, sailors, and manual laborers to show how consumption was embedded in daily rhythms of work, in the cultural construction of gender, and the economy. I define a “binge economy” which typically emerged in extractive industries on the margins of the capitalist world system. Then I question whether working‐class displays of excessive consumption were self‐limiting. Rather than being based on greed, I argue that working‐class binge consumption was an attempt to build a social order which would allow workers to survive harsh work discipline, extremely dangerous physical labor, and the socially corrosive nature of money. But rather than being an effective form of resistance or solidarity, excessive consumption created as many problems as it solved, perpetuating servitude in the guise of freedom, and serving the interests of capital. Nevertheless, the close association of masculinity with excessive forms of social consumption continues to inspire many forms of excess and overconsumption among middle‐class Americans.
As múltiplas e intricadas inter-relações entre trabalho e educação exigem dos pesquisadores desse campo um olhar cuidadoso, por excelência [...] porque não é possível analisar em profundidade a educação e a formação humana descolados da categoria trabalho [...] Considerando esse imbricamento entre trabalho e educação, é fundamental investigar como ele ocorre na sociedade capitalista, na qual a dimensão ontológica, ou ontocriativa, do trabalho foi subsumida a uma única face da sua dimensão histórica: trabalho restrito a emprego, o que reduz seu conceito à relação de compra e venda da força de trabalho por meio de um contrato (assimétrico). Nesse contexto, educar se confunde com formar para o mercado de trabalho. Além disso, na fase atual de hegemonia neoliberal, se desvanece o antes anunciado pleno emprego, pois não faz parte dessa racionalidade. Em seu lugar forja-se o conceito de empregabilidade: já que, naturalmente, não há emprego para todos, cabe a cada indivíduo tornar-se empregável, o mais empregável possível, para poder competir com os demais e chegar à frente na luta pelo emprego, cada vez mais precarizado, via subcontratações e subempregos a tempo, continuamente, parcial. Mesmo com todo esse esforço para tornar-se empregável, não há como garantir o emprego e, portanto, o indivíduo tem que ser empreendedor. Nesse sentido, empreendedorismo é a palavra de ordem na sociedade da hegemonia do capital. Assim, numa perspectiva crítica de análise, para além de compreender essas relações no modo capitalista de produção, é fundamental produzir conhecimentos que contribuam para o fortalecimento do trabalho, assumindo-o em sua dimensão ontológica, ou seja: nas relações estabelecidas entre o ser humano e a natureza, no sentido de transformá-la e alterar as condições naturais em vista da melhoria coletiva da qualidade da vida de homens e mulheres e, dessa forma, construir e transformar a própria história humana...
Special aspects of education, Labor. Work. Working class