American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations

In his now famous testimony before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform on October 23, 2008, former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan stunned observers by declaring: As I wrote last March, those of us who have looked to the self-interest of lending institutions to protect shareholders equity, myself especially, are in a state of shocked disbelief (p.11) KeywordsRisk AversionCollateralized Debt ObligationManagerial TurnoverProject ReturnMaturity MismatchThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.

The future of nonpublic safety, non-teacher, non-federal public sector unions is bright. As a result of past success, the unions, led by AFSCME, have an organizing culture and sufficient power within the sector to maintain and increase density. However, the challenges that lie ahead in the 21st century will surely test the strength of AFSCME and the other public service unions. The large gains in public employee membership achieved in the last third of the 20th century are not likely to come with the relative ease with which they were achieved during that period. The remaining unorganized workers are in locations and occupations that have not been historically fertile ground for unions, public or private. In addition, the threat of privatization of jobs requires public unions to re-think their traditional strategies and organize in the more hostile private sector while simultaneously protecting the public sector from attacks. The public sector unions recognize that they have a tenuous grasp on their relatively strong position and must organize to maintain and strengthen their position. Absent dramatic changes in federal private sector labor law, and adoption of numerous public sector labor laws, the resources necessary for organization will be tremendous. The future is bright for the public sector unions only because they have demonstrated a willingness to adapt to change, make sacrifices, and deploy sufficient resources to achieve growth.

It summarized their research, which claims that an innovative public school choice program in District 4 in New

The welfare‐to‐work experiment will force unions to rethink their approach to low‐wage workers.

Annals of the New York Academy of SciencesVolume 329, Issue 1 p. 170-177 PUBLIC INVOLVEMENT IN RISK ASSESSMENT AND STANDARD SETTING Sheldon W. Samuels, Sheldon W. Samuels Industrial Union Department, AFL-CIO Washington. D.C. 20006Search for more papers by this authorCarlos O. Estrada, Carlos O. Estrada Ministry of Labor Guatemala City, GuatemalaSearch for more papers by this author Sheldon W. Samuels, Sheldon W. Samuels Industrial Union Department, AFL-CIO Washington. D.C. 20006Search for more papers by this authorCarlos O. Estrada, Carlos O. Estrada Ministry of Labor Guatemala City, GuatemalaSearch for more papers by this author First published: October 1979 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1749-6632.1979.tb15344.xAboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditWechat Volume329, Issue1Public Control of Environmenal Health HazardsOctober 1979Pages 170-177 RelatedInformation