scholarly journals “Our Chronic and Desperate Situation”: Anthracite Communities and the Emergence of Redevelopment Policy in Pennsylvania and the United States, 1945–1965

2002 ◽  
Vol 47 (S10) ◽  
pp. 137-158 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gregory Wilson

On 3 May 1954, Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company announced that it would close its anthracite mining operations in Pennsylvania's Panther Valley. Company officials had hoped to keep some mines open but net losses in 1953 amounted to $1.4 million and the trend continued into early 1954. The company stated they would reopen the mines only if miners would work harder and produce more. All area locals of the United Mine Workers of America (UMW) voted to accept the program except one, Tamaqua Local 1571. Arguing that the new rules violated existing wage agreements, workers from this Local picketed the mines and called on miners across the anthracite region to join them. Tamaqua miners offered an alternative plan that called for workers to share control over management and production decisions. Lehigh managers refused and closed the mines, effective from 30 June. As other mining companies began to collapse in the 1950s and 1960s, local workers, business owners, union leaders, and politicians made efforts to either open mines or attract new industries. However, unemployment remained a difficult problem for the Panther Valley and for the entire anthracite region and the area still exhibits higher than average unemployment.

2011 ◽  
Vol 115 (6) ◽  
pp. 1349-1362 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lee P. Skrupky ◽  
Paul W. Kerby ◽  
Richard S. Hotchkiss

Anesthesiologists are increasingly confronting the difficult problem of caring for patients with sepsis in the operating room and in the intensive care unit. Sepsis occurs in more than 750,000 patients in the United States annually and is responsible for more than 210,000 deaths. Approximately 40% of all intensive care unit patients have sepsis on admission to the intensive care unit or experience sepsis during their stay in the intensive care unit. There have been significant advances in the understanding of the pathophysiology of the disorder and its treatment. Although deaths attributable to sepsis remain stubbornly high, new treatment algorithms have led to a reduction in overall mortality. Thus, it is important for anesthesiologists and critical care practitioners to be aware of these new therapeutic regimens. The goal of this review is to include practical points on important advances in the treatment of sepsis and provide a vision of future immunotherapeutic approaches.


2020 ◽  
pp. 67-92

Chapter 3 examines the reasons that caused workers to leave or reject unions. Scholars normally associate union decline with workers disillusion with unionism. This chapter, however, argues that workers’ faith in unionism did not waver as much as their faith in union leaders did. As Gilded Age unions like the United Mine Workers implemented a more centralized hierarchy, local union autonomy waned. As a result, workers doubted whether union leaders made decisions with the workers’ interests in mind, and they left the union when it seemed their leaders went astray. Rather than abandoning unionism altogether, however, many of these individuals formed local unions that rivaled the national unions, indicating that workers had more problems with union leadership than they did with unionism itself.


2020 ◽  
pp. 93-118

This chapter discusses the problems within unions that caused union leadership to treat members differently from one another. It argues that although union leaders often claimed the unions were open to all races and ethnicities, the efforts they pursued favored white laborers over people of color. Stereotypes that associated black miners with strikebreaking and construed non-English-speaking immigrant miners as unintelligent and unskilled cast a shadow over union procedures and the laws unions fought to secure. Even though farmers and white women had less experience in the mines, these individuals were welcomed far more readily than black and immigrant workers who were often highly skilled in the mining trades. In the end, the exclusivity practiced by organizations like the United Mine Workers alienated nonwhite and non-English-speaking workers, giving these groups little reason to join union ranks


2016 ◽  
Vol 58 (2) ◽  
pp. 577-586 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marina Welker

“Mining is no ethnographic playground,” Chris Ballard and Glenn Banks warned in their 2003 review of the anthropology of mining. The deep conflicts that characterize the industry find echoes in “a parallel war of sorts …waged within the discipline about the nature and scope of appropriate forms of engagement” (p. 289). This review essay examines how authors of recent ethnographic studies of large-scale, capital-intensive mining projects in Papua New Guinea, South Africa, and the United States have politically positioned themselves as researchers, and the insights into mining companies that derive from these situated perspectives.


1995 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 293-300 ◽  
Author(s):  
Harold Welsch ◽  
Gerald Hills ◽  
Frank Hoy

This study reports the results of a survey of eighty owners of new ventures in Poland. The purpose of the survey was to assess the problems faced by small business owners and prospective small business owners in this emerging democracy. The sample was almost evenly split between family businesses and nonfamily businesses, which allowed for comparisons between family business issues in Poland and in the United States and between family and nonfamily business in Poland.


2021 ◽  
pp. 0308518X2110551
Author(s):  
Wei Zhai ◽  
Haoyu Yue

The rapid spread of COVID-19 has damaged the economy in the United States. To understand the resilience capacities of local businesses, we visualized the spatiotemporal patterns of permanently closed Points of Interest (POIs) after the outbreak of the pandemic. The results show that the counties with more business closures are also the counties with a larger population. The permanent closures of most local businesses occurred immediately after the lift of stay-at-home order. We also found that those business owners, who permanently shut down their businesses, may not open new ones elsewhere. In addition, the permanent closures of entertainment and recreation businesses are significantly less than that of retail and trade businesses and food services.


Author(s):  
Dr. Emad Ahmed ◽  
Dr. Medhat Alsafadi

The United States Small Business Administration (SBA) defines Small Business Enterprises (SMEs) business establishments that are independently owned managed or operated. Small business organization indicates that some of them have found the Balanced Scorecard to be very significant in boosting general performance in two key perspectives: higher complexity and management capability and drives change and enhance rapid growth. However, in the recent past, there has been increased study on the adoption of BSC in small organizations. The objective of this study was to determine the how small business owners in the United States perceive the aspects of balance score card in regard to business survivability, growth and competitiveness. Hypotheses that were to be answered include H1: Small business owners’ perceive learning and growth as the most significant perspective for their business survival, growth, and competitiveness beside the financial perspective. H2: Small business owners’ perceive customers as the most significant perspective for business growth, survival, and competitiveness. H3: Small businesses owners perceive internal business processes as the most significant perspective for their business growth, survival, and competitiveness. The philosophy adopted is positivist with explanatory and descriptive strategies. The approach of the research is quantitative using ANOVA analysis. The 100 sample companies were selected from the Best 100 small business in the SBA website and survey questionnaire sent online to this selected companies. The result of the research indicated that the most significant Balanced Scorecard perspective is the customer. At the end of the research, it was deciphered that all initiatives that the small business listed in SBA undertake when applying the BSC, customer focus is always the guiding force. Therefore, it can be stated overly that there a significant positive perception of the Balanced Scorecard as a tool to enhance growth and survivability among small businesses.


Author(s):  
Abdulrazak O. Balogun ◽  
Todd D. Smith

Stone, sand and gravel mining (SSGM) constitutes the vast majority of mining operations in the United States. Despite musculoskeletal disorders being one of the most common occupational health problems across several industries, limited research has examined the extent of reported musculoskeletal symptoms or disorders among actively employed SSGM workers. To address this knowledge gap, cross sectional data were collected from 459 SSGM workers in the Midwestern United States to determine the prevalence of musculoskeletal symptoms. Sociodemographic and job-related factors were examined to identify possible risk factors in SSGM. Musculoskeletal symptoms of the low back (57%), neck (38%), shoulder (38%) and knee (39%) were highly prevalent among SSGM employees. The results, among other findings, showed that working more than 60 h a week increased the likelihood of musculoskeletal symptoms at the low back (OR: 4.7 95% CI: 1.9–11.5), neck (OR: 5.1, 95% CI: 2.2–11.8) and knee (OR: 4.5, 95% CI: 2.0–10.3). Working as a mechanic/maintenance worker increased the likelihood of low back (OR: 2.1, 95% CI: 1.1–4.2) and knee (OR: 2.2, 95% CI: 1.1–4.6) musculoskeletal symptoms. Intervention measures aimed at improving ergonomic hazard identification for various job tasks as well as administrative controls limiting hours worked may help reduce the burden of musculoskeletal problems in the SSGM industry.


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