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Item [Book Review] Labor Under Siege: An Oral History(2022) Mello, William; Labor Studies, School of Social WorkItem [Book Review] American Made: What happens to people when work disappears(2021) Mello, William; Labor Studies, School of Social WorkItem Book Review: American Made: What happens to people when work disappears(New York Labor History Association, 2022) Mello, William; Labor Studies, School of Social WorkItem Poverty and Politics: Bolsonaro, Neoliberalism’s Authoritarian Alternative, and the Ongoing Assault on Democracy in Brazil(2021) Mello, William J.; Labor Studies, School of Social WorkItem Hospitality in jeopardy: Organizing diverse low-wage service workers(Sage, 2016-07) Walker, MarquitaThis article explores United Needle Trades and Industrial Employees (UNITE) and Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees (HERE)’s strategic campaign to organize a diverse low-wage workforce of housekeepers in the hospitality industry in one Midwest city in Indiana. Organizers’ personal narratives provide examples of the challenges involved when creating relationships between low-wage workers from different racial and cultural backgrounds as part of a strategy to rebuff management’s continual efforts to exploit and undervalue its workforce, increase profits for the firm, and discredit the union as an effective intermediary for representation. The findings suggest UNITE-HERE’s organizing attempts realized gains for housekeepers in the form of wage and benefit increases and dismantled a covert blacklisting policy even though the hotel remains non-unionized.Item Evaluating the intervention of an ethic's class in students' ethical decision-making: A summative review.(Canadian Center of Science and Education, 2013) Walker, MarquitaThis summative evaluation is the result of two years’ of data reflecting the impact of an ethics class in terms of students’ ethical decision-making. The research compares aggregate responses from scenario-based pre- and post-survey open-ended survey questions designed to measure changes in ethical decision-making by comparing students’ cognitive and affective perceptions about ethical workplace behavior. Grounded in constructivist theory, which explains how individuals “know” and “come to know something (Reeves, 2003), this intervention of an ethics class encourages students to make better and more informed ethical decisions in the workplace based on their understanding of their value and belief system. The findings suggest the intervention of an ethics class informed students’ cognitive and affective perceptions based on individual value and belief systems, strengthened student’s ability to remain open-minded and reconsider previous beliefs and actions from a 360 degree perspective, and increased student’s ability to apply new information to ethical dilemmas in the workplace.Item Evaluating the Intervention of an Ethics’ Class in Students’ Ethical Decision-making(Journal of Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, 2011) Walker, MarquitaIn this pilot study, the author evaluated the impact of an ethics class in terms of students’ ethical decision-making. The research compares aggregate responses from scenario-based pre- and post-survey open-ended survey questions designed to elicit changes in ethical decision-making by comparing students’ cognitive and affective perceptions about ethical workplace behavior. Grounded in constructivist theory, which explains how individuals “know” and “come to know something (Reeves, 2003), this intervention encourages students to make better and more informed ethical decisions in the workplace based on their understanding of their value and belief system. The findings suggest increased positive cognitive and affective changes in student perceptions that inform one’s value and belief system, the student’s ability to remain open-minded and reconsider previous beliefs and actions from a 360 degree perspective, and the student’s ability to apply new information to ethical dilemmas in the workplaceItem Training for my life: Lived experiences of dislocated workers in an advanced manufacturing training program(Advances in Social Work Journal, 2013) Walker, MarquitaThis qualitative paper explores the lived experiences of one group of workers dislocated because of globalized trade policies who completed a hybrid Advanced Manufacturing Training Program (AMTP) by taking advantage of Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA), a federally-funded program for retraining workers dislocated because of trade policies. The research questions focus on how satisfied these workers are with the services and programs provided by TAA. Focus groups and survey instrument results indicate these workers found TAA services and processes cumbersome and time-consuming and actually had the effect of discouraging their education, training, and self-employment. The consequences of their dislocation as it relates to TAA experiences are increased frustration and dissatisfaction with the TAA program. Serious consideration for TAA policy changes should be deemed of utmost importance.Item Workforce development through technologically enhanced-learning experiences (TELES)(International Advances in Education: Global Initiatives for Equity and Social Justice., 2015) Walker, MarquitaLocal and global economies face serious economic and social costs in lost productivity as a result of the mismatch between workers’ skills, employers’ needs, and cost effective training programs for workforce development. Direct investments in workforce development and training have declined while the need for skilled labor has increased (Holzer, 2008). The need for a skilled workforce requiring increased technical and people skills places groups of individuals disadvantaged because of ethnicity, race, gender, decreased education or poor basic skills at a double disadvantage because they now face the challenge of competing for jobs in a global labor market requiring some significant postsecondary education and training. This inability to function well in the labor market contributes to low employment and earnings thus placing these disadvantaged groups in distressed situations as family providers. Increased investments in workforce development and training will contribute to the reduction of unemployed workers. Technological Enhanced Learning Experiences (TELEs) provide a flexible learning solutions tool to address this disparity. TELEs are online training modules providing initial and long-term support for workers to upgrade their occupational and interpersonal skills to regain lost earnings, reintegrate into the workforce, and increase the supply of skilled workers employers need to remain competitive.Item The Effects of Caregiving Resources on Perceived Health among Caregivers(Oxford University Press, 2016-08) Hong, Michin; Harrington, Donna; Labor Studies, School of Social WorkThis study examined how various types of resources influence perceived health of caregivers. Guided by the conservation of resources theory, a caregiver health model was built and tested using structural equation modeling. The caregiver health model consisted of caregiving situations (functional limitations and cognitive impairments of older adults and caregiving time), resources (financial resources, mastery, social support, family harmony, and service utilization), caregiver burden, and perceived health of caregivers. The sample included 1,837 unpaid informal caregivers drawn from the 2004 National Long-Term Caregiver Survey. The model fit indices indicated that the first structural model did not fit well; however, the revised model yielded an excellent model fit. More stressful caregiving situations were associated with fewer resources and higher burden, whereas greater resources were associated with lower burden and better perceived health of caregivers. The results suggest explicit implications for social work research and practice on how to protect the health of caregivers.