Why has the labor movement so declined is strength in the US Essay

Why has the labor movement so declined is strength in the US - Essay Example The decline was particularly steep in 2008 which led many to hypothesize that perhaps the decline in the labor movement was due to the financial crisis that begun in 2008. Others interpret the decline as an interplay of many factors which includes the market integration wrought by globalization and the shift of industry from the traditional manufacturing to service and the changing employee – employer relationships. The determination of the cause of the decline of the labor movement is important because this will lead us in understanding whether organized labor is still relevant today. Considering the number of jobs that were lost and the economic displacements that were prevalent during the financial crisis that still continues today, one cannot help but wonder what the labor movement did to prevent or at least mitigate such loss (New York Times). It is important to ask because the seemingly relentless loss of jobs made organized labor appear helpless in keeping one’s job and thus triggered its decline in strength and numbers in the US because it is perceived to be ineffective. Having these phenomena, one cannot help to connect the union’s seemingly ineffectual role during the crisis that caused its decline because in 2007, union membership registered a significant increase. However, this increase was short lived because in 2008, the precipitous decline of union membership begun. This observation is valid because if unions were perceived ineffectual during the crisis, this will undermine their credibility to bargain, protect and advance worker’s interest and in a way, can be taken as losing their relevance that eventually led to the continued decline of labor movement in the US (Zaid). The argument that the union’s seemingly inefficacy in abating job loss during the financial crisis may be correct to some extent but to solely and conclusively attribute the decline of labor movement to the 2008 financial crisis is rather overs implification. True it did contribute to the decline of union density because jobs became fewer after the crisis in the first place and it follows that the number of organized labor will also shrink. But the financial crisis was only a contributing factor because with or without the financial crisis, the decline in labor movement will still continue. The root of the problem of labor decline cannot be traced solely to the financial crisis but rather was caused by the interplay of structure issues that undermined the very foundation of unionization and organized labor. With the advent of globalization, the landscape of labor market changed dramatically. Greater market integration intensified the competition and this warranted a new degree of efficiency which resulted in various and new work arrangements. First, there was already the phenomenon of flight capital with many of our industries, plants and warehouses relocating in China and elsewhere in the world to take advantage of their cheap labor cost (____). The jobs that were left in the US were still subjected to intensified competition and thus came the new natures of employment which are transitory and casual in nature. Job security became a thing of the past where employability became the norm in cognizance of the reality that one could lose his or her job any moment. Industry also shifted from the traditional unionized manufacturing to service because manufacturing are increasingly outsourced abroad in an effort to save on cost (Aljazeera). This also resulted in the decline of the strength of labor movement because the service sector is not known to be heavily organized. The structural shift of the economy and the phenomena of globalization may be criticized as

Copyrights Infringement Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 5000 words

Copyrights Infringement - Case Study Example There is a constant struggle between old economy based laws of copyrights and the new knowledge economy paradigms challenging legal, moral and ethical issues. Aggressive internet entities as Google providing client services which go beyond the normal course of business have raised a number of issues on copyright and trademarks. In the present case of a suit of likely copyright infringement being faced by Wanda, the client's hosts have reportedly displayed extracts of texts and images of books by US publishers. The US publishers are likely to sue Wanda for copyright infringement. Wanda is unable to terminate the arrangements with its clients or remove the items on the web sites on its own due to contractual obligations. The issues to be analyzed are as follows:- UK copyright law is based on the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, which is the main legislation which governs intellectual property rights in United Kingdom.2 It essentially covers creators of literary works, in this case and rights to its dissemination including copying and issuing to the public. The authors have a right for being identified as the creators of the work. These are supported by international conventions. The Regulations cover all types of works appearing in a variety of media. A work has to be original and based on some skills and labour employed for the same. It does not however apply to an idea which can be replicated in a different form. The owner of the work is the individual who created it. Rights of a copy of a work cannot be claimed. The period of copyright is said to extend upto 70 years till the last remaining author of the work has passed away. It is therefore an offence to make a copy of the work or adapt it without the writers direct permission un less it, amongst other purposes, is used for educational purposes, critique or news report and included incidentally.3 The law regarding web designing and hosting is relatively clear for example, when a web page is designed under a contract, the webmaster is the owner of the copyright of the underlying code of that website.4 Similarly the content on the web site will also be the prerogative of the web designer and thus he becomes the service provider and hence liable for copyright action. From a preliminary analysis of the case and the UK copyright law it is apparent that there has been infringement which has occurred in the case of the text and images unless the following has been carried out :- (a) Permission of the writer has been taken. (b) It has been done for educational, news reporting, critique or other such literary purpose. In this case an additional factor will be if the source has been quoted which will not invite copyright infringement. (c) It is merely an incidental