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Biomedical subjects

L Grunberg

Publications and source records attributed to L Grunberg.

4 recordsLinked to original sources

Work alienation and problem alcohol behavior.

Using a sample of production workers from union, nonunion, producer cooperative, and employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) wood products mills in the Northwest, we test the general proposition that work alienation, defined as low job autonomy, low use of capacities, and lack of participation in decision-making in the workplace, is associated with heavy drinking and negative consequences from drinking. We find that the general proposition is supported, but that the pathways tend to be indirect rather than direct, mediated by feelings of job satisfaction and respondents' beliefs about the utility of drinking as a means of coping.

Adult

Productivity and safety in worker cooperatives and conventional firms.

This paper examines the relationship between productivity and workers' safety in firms characterized by very different types of relations in production. Arguments are developed to explain why worker cooperatives are expected to have higher productivity and lower accident rates than conventional capitalist firms. Workers who own and control their firms are expected to have a greater incentive to be efficient and a greater ability to safeguard their health than workers employed under hierarchical and alienating conditions. The hypotheses are tested by comparing carefully matched conventional and cooperative plywood companies. Preliminary results suggest that while cooperatives may be more productive they are not safer, indicating the limits of the isolated cooperative form in capitalist market economies.

Accident Prevention

The Rh antigen Tar (Rh40) causing haemolytic disease of the newborn.

Haemolytic disease of the newborn (HDN), in the fifth child of an Israeli of Moroccan origin, disclosed anti-Tar in the serum of the mother. This anti-Tar, the second reported example, is the first to cause HDN and was stimulated by previous pregnancies. Tests on blood from the family show that the Tar antigen in this family is associated with a CDe complex which gives rise to a weak expression of the D antigen. A study of 1327 donors in Jerusalem revealed one Tar + propositus.

Coombs Test

The effects of the social relations of production on productivity and workers' safety: an ignored set of relationships.

This paper considers the interrelationships between the social relations of production, workers' safety, and the productivity of labor. The argument is that the social relations of production directly influence the intensity of labor (one facet of labor productivity), which in turn influences the rate of industrial accidents (one aspect of workers' safety). These relationships are illustrated with data from a carefully controlled comparison between two Chrysler plants in Europe in 1976 (Poissy in France and Ryton in England). The data are from internal company sources and are considered very reliable. The data show that Poissy had a higher labor productivity than Ryton, although both made the same car. This is partly accounted for by differences in the intensity of labor at the two plants. The evidence strongly suggests that a key reason for this difference lies in the contrasting nature of the social relations of production at the two plants. Ryton workers were better organized and more militant on the shop floor than were Poissy workers. Finally, it was found that the accident rate was about sixty times higher at Poissy than at Ryton, which provides strong support for the interrelationships proposed.

Accidents, Occupational