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The trade relationship between suppliers (e.g., growers) and processors often plays an important role in determining the nature and extent of benefits derived from commercial forestry, and the distribution of these benefits. Those interested in forestry development-whether in industrialized or non-industrialized countries-are becoming increasingly aware that positive partnerships between forest companies and growers can provide a means of encouraging forest management which is environmentally sustainable, cost-efficient and equitable. Forestry out-grower schemes describe one type of partnership emerging between growers and processing companies, as the companies with inadequate forest holdings or access to public forests seek to secure additional sup-). This paper drew its foundation from research commissioned by the United Nation's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), for which the authors are grateful. The research benefited from the willingness of a large number of people to share with the authors their experiences of out-grower schemes, for which the authors are also grateful. The authors thank the anonymous reviewers for their valuable suggestions on an earlier draft of this paper.The views expressed in this paper are those of the authors, and do not necessarily reflect the views of ANU Forestry, the UN's FAO, or people consulted during the course of the earlier research. In addition, the research relied on the good faith of respondents to the questionnaire to provide fair and accurate information on specific out-grower schemes. The authors were unable to verify all of the information collected via the questionnaire, so caution readers that alternate views may be held by others involved in the out-grower schemes mentioned in this paper.

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At a time when increases in health and longevity indicate that workers are physically able to remain in employment for longer than their predecessors, the reverse has been the case. As a result of recession and redundancy, early retirement has become an accepted route to exit the labour market, and early exit has been encouraged in many countries as a means of alleviating youth unemployment. However, an approaching ‘demographic time-bomb’, which will put pressure on support ratios and social welfare costs, is stimulating the introduction of national and Community level initiatives to reverse the trend in early exit.

It is now some 17 years since the United Kingdom implemented equal pay and sex discrimination legislation. This has produced a battery of case law leading to an excessively complex system. An ageing population and greater emphasis on European law has led to the development of a new area for equality, that of retiremenet age and pension benefits