What is the Role of Minimum Wages in Addressing Precarious Employment in the Informal and Formal Sectors? Findings from a Systematic Review.

This article presents synthesized evidence from 16 studies examining initiatives with potential to mitigate workers' exposure to precarious employment through the adoption of minimum wage policies. All studies were set in low-income countries and focused on both formal and informal workers. A systematic review of evaluated initiatives addressing precarious employment identified the evidence.

Successful prevention of organic solvent induced disorders: history and lessons.

In this discussion paper, we describe the history of the science and societal action resulting in the mitigation of neurotoxic disorders from exposure to organic solvents at the workplaces in Sweden. When alkyd paints were introduced in large scale in construction painting in the 1960s and 1970s, Scandinavian unions voiced increasing concern as members reported symptoms like headache and vertigo, supported by participatory studies and case studies. Although acute and chronic neurotoxic effects were established for some specific solvents such as carbon disulphide, this was not the case for those used in the new paints.

Initiatives Addressing Precarious Employment and Its Effects on Workers' Health and Well-Being: A Systematic Review.

The prevalence of precarious employment has increased in recent decades and aspects such as employment insecurity and income inadequacy have intensified during the COVID-19 pandemic. The purpose of this systematic review was to identify, appraise, and synthesise existing evidence pertaining to implemented initiatives addressing precarious employment that have evaluated and reported health and well-being outcomes. We used the PRISMA framework to guide this review and identified 11 relevant initiatives through searches in PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, and three sources of grey literature.

Initiatives addressing precarious employment and its effects on workers' health and well-being: a protocol for a systematic review.

Background: Precarious employment is a significant determinant of population health and health inequities and has complex public health consequences both for a given nation and internationally. Precarious employment is conceptualized as a multi-dimensional construct including but not limited to employment insecurity, income inadequacy, and lack of rights and protection in the employment relation, which could affect both informal and formal workers. The purpose of this review is to identify, appraise, and synthesize existing research on the effectiveness of initiatives aiming to or having the potential to eliminate, reduce, or mitigate workers' exposure to precarious employment conditions and its effects on the health and well-being of workers and their families.

COVID-19 and Precarious Employment: Consequences of the Evolving Crisis.

The world of work is facing an ongoing pandemic and an economic downturn with severe effects worldwide. Workers trapped in precarious employment (PE), both formal and informal, are among those most affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Here we call attention to at least 5 critical ways that the consequences of the crisis among workers in PE will be felt globally: () PE will increase, () workers in PE will become more precarious, () workers in PE will face unemployment without being officially laid off, () workers in PE will be exposed to serious stressors and dramatic life changes that may lead to a rise in diseases of despair, and () PE might be a factor in deterring the control of or in generating new COVID-19 outbreaks.

Preventing kidney injury among sugarcane workers: promising evidence from enhanced workplace interventions.

Objectives: To assess if improvement of working conditions related to heat stress was associated with improved kidney health outcomes among sugarcane harvest workers in Chichigalpa, Nicaragua, a region heavily affected by the epidemic of chronic kidney disease of non-traditional origin.

Methods: Based on our findings during the 2017-2018 harvest (harvest 1), recommendations that enhanced the rest schedule and improved access to hydration and shade were given before the 2018-2019 harvest (harvest 2). Actual work conditions during harvest 2 were then observed.

Chronic kidney disease of non-traditional origin in Mesoamerica: a disease primarily driven by occupational heat stress.

The death toll of the epidemic of chronic kidney disease of nontraditional origin (CKDnt) in Mesoamerica runs into the tens of thousands, affecting mostly young men. There is no consensus on the etiology. Anecdotal evidence from the 1990s pointed to work in sugarcane; pesticides and heat stress were suspected.

Workload and cross-harvest kidney injury in a Nicaraguan sugarcane worker cohort.

Objectives: To examine the association between workload and kidney injury in a fieldworker cohort with different levels of physically demanding work over a sugarcane harvest, and to assess whether the existing heat prevention efforts at a leading occupational safety and health programme are sufficient to mitigate kidney injury.

Methods: Biological and questionnaire data were collected before (n=545) and at the end (n=427) of harvest among field support staff (low workload), drip irrigation workers (moderate), seed cutters (high) and burned sugarcane cutters (very high). Dropouts were contacted (87%) and reported the reason for leaving work.

Intervention to diminish dehydration and kidney damage among sugarcane workers.

Objective The aim of this study was to assess the potential to reduce kidney function damage during the implementation of a water, rest, shade (WRS) and efficiency intervention program among sugarcane workers. Methods A WRS intervention program adapted from the US Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) coupled with an efficiency program began two months into the 5-month harvest. One of the two groups of workers studied was provided with portable water reservoirs, mobile shaded tents, and scheduled rest periods.

A systematic review including meta-analysis of work environment and burnout symptoms.

Background: Practitioners and decision makers in the medical and insurance systems need knowledge on the relationship between work exposures and burnout. Many burnout studies - original as well as reviews - restricted their analyses to emotional exhaustion or did not report results on cynicism, personal accomplishment or global burnout. To meet this need we carried out this review and meta-analyses with the aim to provide systematically graded evidence for associations between working conditions and near-future development of burnout symptoms.

A systematic review including meta-analysis of work environment and depressive symptoms.

Background: Depressive symptoms are potential outcomes of poorly functioning work environments. Such symptoms are frequent and cause considerable suffering for the employees as well as financial loss for the employers. Accordingly good prospective studies of psychosocial working conditions and depressive symptoms are valuable.

Mesoamerican nephropathy: geographical distribution and time trends of chronic kidney disease mortality between 1970 and 2012 in Costa Rica.

Objectives: Mesoamerican nephropathy is an epidemic of chronic kidney disease (CKD) unrelated to traditional causes, mostly observed in sugarcane workers. We analysed CKD mortality in Costa Rica to explore when and where the epidemic emerged, sex and age patterns, and relationship with altitude, climate and sugarcane production.

Methods: SMRs for CKD deaths (1970-2012) among population aged ≥20 were computed for 7 provinces and 81 counties over 4 time periods.

Myocardial infarction and occupational exposure to motor exhaust: a population-based case-control study in Sweden.

There is a well-established association between particulate urban air pollution and cardiovascular disease, but few studies have investigated the risk associated with occupational exposure to particles from motor exhaust. This study investigated the risk of myocardial infarction (MI) after occupational exposure to motor exhaust, using elemental carbon (EC) as a marker of exposure. A population-based case-control study of first-time non-lethal MI was conducted among Swedish citizens in ages 45-70 living in Stockholm County 1992-1994, including 1,643 cases and 2,235 controls.

Resolving the enigma of the mesoamerican nephropathy: a research workshop summary.

The First International Research Workshop on Mesoamerican Nephropathy (MeN) met in Costa Rica in November 2012 to discuss how to establish the extent and degree of MeN, examine relevant causal hypotheses, and focus efforts to control or eliminate the disease burden. MeN describes a devastating epidemic of chronic kidney disease of unknown origin predominantly observed among young male sugarcane cutters. The cause of MeN remains uncertain; however, the strongest hypothesis pursued to date is repeated episodes of occupational heat stress and water and solute loss, probably in combination with other potential risk factor(s), such as nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug and other nephrotoxic medication use, inorganic arsenic, leptospirosis, or pesticides.

Incidence of myocardial infarction in Swedish chimney sweeps 1991-2005: a prospective cohort study.

Objectives: Previous studies of chimney sweeps have shown an excess mortality from cardiovascular diseases, although the extent of confounding from tobacco smoking is uncertain. The present study used referents of similar socioeconomic background as the chimney sweeps in order to reduce confounding, included both lethal and surviving cases of myocardial infarction, and investigated dose-response in terms of duration of employment.

Methods: A cohort of 4436 male chimney sweeps was identified from nationwide trade union records from 1918 to 2006.

Cancer incidence in a cohort of Swedish chimney sweeps, 1958-2006.

Objectives: We examined cancer incidence in an expanded cohort of Swedish chimney sweeps.

Methods: We added male chimney sweep trade union members (1981-2006) to an earlier cohort (employed 1918-1980) and linked them to nationwide registers of cancer, causes of deaths, and total population. The total cohort (n = 6320) was followed from 1958 through 2006.

Decreased kidney function among agricultural workers in El Salvador.

Background: An epidemic of chronic kidney disease of unknown cause has emerged along the Pacific coast of Central America, particularly in relatively young male sugarcane workers. In El Salvador, we examined residence and occupations at different altitudes as surrogate risk factors for heat stress.

Study Design: Cross-sectional population-based survey.

The rise, decline, and future of the Swedish left.

Swedish voters' support for the labor movement has decreased from about 50 percent to less than 40 percent in recent decades, with a resulting loss of the majority in parliament. Over the same period, capitalism has undergone profound changes--transfer of production across borders, the huge growth and ultra-rapid movement of financial capital, and subordination of social welfare to the interests of profit. A new phase in the development of capitalism can be detected: from welfare capitalism to financial capitalism.

SALTRA: a regional program for workers' health and sustainable development in Central America.

In 2003, the university-based Program on Work and Health in Central America, SALTRA, was launched to build national and regional capacities in occupational safety and health with the goal of preventing and reducing poverty in Central America. SALTRA has implemented 20 projects including action projects in priority sectors (e.g.