State-making and Labor Movements

State-making and Labor Movements
Author: Gerald Friedman
Publisher: Cornell University Press
Total Pages: 348
Release: 1998
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 9780801423253

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This study of the evolution of labour movements in the US and France from 1876 to 1914, illuminates the turn to syndicalism in France and craft unionism in the USA, and the impact each form of unionization had on the shaping of the French and the US states.

A New American Labor Movement

A New American Labor Movement
Author: William E. Scheuerman
Publisher: State University of New York Press
Total Pages: 370
Release: 2021-10-01
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1438485506

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The American labor movement isn't dead. It's just moving from the bargaining table to the streets. In A New American Labor Movement, William Scheuerman analyzes how the decline of unions and the emergence of these new direct-action movements are reshaping the American labor movement. Tens of thousands of exploited workers—from farm laborers and gig drivers to freelance artists and restaurant workers—have taken to the streets in a collective attempt to attain a living wage and decent working conditions, with or without the help of unions. This new worker militancy, expressed through mass demonstrations, strikes, sit-ins, political action, and similar activities, has already achieved much success and offers models for workers to exercise their power in the twenty-first century. Finally, Scheuerman notes, many of the strategies of the new direct-action groups share features with the sectoral bargaining model that dominates the European labor movement, suggesting that sectoral bargaining may become the foundation of a new American labor movement.

State of the Union

State of the Union
Author: Nelson Lichtenstein
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Total Pages: 402
Release: 2013-08-25
Genre: History
ISBN: 1400848148

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In a fresh and timely reinterpretation, Nelson Lichtenstein examines how trade unionism has waxed and waned in the nation's political and moral imagination, among both devoted partisans and intransigent foes. From the steel foundry to the burger-grill, from Woodrow Wilson to John Sweeney, from Homestead to Pittston, Lichtenstein weaves together a compelling matrix of ideas, stories, strikes, laws, and people in a streamlined narrative of work and labor in the twentieth century. The "labor question" became a burning issue during the Progressive Era because its solution seemed essential to the survival of American democracy itself. Beginning there, Lichtenstein takes us all the way to the organizing fever of contemporary Los Angeles, where the labor movement stands at the center of the effort to transform millions of new immigrants into alert citizen unionists. He offers an expansive survey of labor's upsurge during the 1930s, when the New Deal put a white, male version of industrial democracy at the heart of U.S. political culture. He debunks the myth of a postwar "management-labor accord" by showing that there was (at most) a limited, unstable truce. Lichtenstein argues that the ideas that had once sustained solidarity and citizenship in the world of work underwent a radical transformation when the rights-centered social movements of the 1960s and 1970s captured the nation's moral imagination. The labor movement was therefore tragically unprepared for the years of Reagan and Clinton: although technological change and a new era of global economics battered the unions, their real failure was one of ideas and political will. Throughout, Lichtenstein argues that labor's most important function, in theory if not always in practice, has been the vitalization of a democratic ethos, at work and in the larger society. To the extent that the unions fuse their purpose with that impulse, they can once again become central to the fate of the republic. State of the Union is an incisive history that tells the story of one of America's defining aspirations. This edition includes a new preface in which Lichtenstein engages with many of those who have offered commentary on State of the Union and evaluates the historical literature that has emerged in the decade since the book's initial publication. He also brings his narrative into the current moment with a final chapter, "Obama's America: Liberalism without Unions.?

State of the Union

State of the Union
Author: Nelson Lichtenstein
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Total Pages: 353
Release: 2012-10-26
Genre: History
ISBN: 1400838525

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In a fresh and timely reinterpretation, Nelson Lichtenstein examines how trade unionism has waxed and waned in the nation's political and moral imagination, among both devoted partisans and intransigent foes. From the steel foundry to the burger-grill, from Woodrow Wilson to John Sweeney, from Homestead to Pittston, Lichtenstein weaves together a compelling matrix of ideas, stories, strikes, laws, and people in a streamlined narrative of work and labor in the twentieth century. The "labor question" became a burning issue during the Progressive Era because its solution seemed essential to the survival of American democracy itself. Beginning there, Lichtenstein takes us all the way to the organizing fever of contemporary Los Angeles, where the labor movement stands at the center of the effort to transform millions of new immigrants into alert citizen unionists. He offers an expansive survey of labor's upsurge during the 1930s, when the New Deal put a white, male version of industrial democracy at the heart of U.S. political culture. He debunks the myth of a postwar "management-labor accord" by showing that there was (at most) a limited, unstable truce. Lichtenstein argues that the ideas that had once sustained solidarity and citizenship in the world of work underwent a radical transformation when the rights-centered social movements of the 1960s and 1970s captured the nation's moral imagination. The labor movement was therefore tragically unprepared for the years of Reagan and Clinton: although technological change and a new era of global economics battered the unions, their real failure was one of ideas and political will. Throughout, Lichtenstein argues that labor's most important function, in theory if not always in practice, has been the vitalization of a democratic ethos, at work and in the larger society. To the extent that the unions fuse their purpose with that impulse, they can once again become central to the fate of the republic. State of the Union is an incisive history that tells the story of one of America's defining aspirations.

Law and the Shaping of the American Labor Movement

Law and the Shaping of the American Labor Movement
Author: William E. Forbath
Publisher: Harvard University Press
Total Pages: 231
Release: 2009-07-01
Genre: Law
ISBN: 0674037081

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Why did American workers, unlike their European counterparts, fail to forge a class-based movement to pursue broad social reform? Was it simply that they lacked class consciousness and were more interested in personal mobility? In a richly detailed survey of labor law and labor history, William Forbath challenges this notion of American “individualism.” In fact, he argues, the nineteenth-century American labor movement was much like Europe’s labor movements in its social and political outlook, but in the decades around the turn of the century, the prevailing attitude of American trade unionists changed. Forbath shows that, over time, struggles with the courts and the legal order were crucial to reshaping labor’s outlook, driving the labor movement to temper its radical goals.

Labor Visions and State Power

Labor Visions and State Power
Author: Victoria C. Hattam
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Total Pages: 279
Release: 2014-07-14
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1400863082

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Why has labor played a more limited role in national politics in the United States than it has in other advanced industrial societies? Victoria Hattam demonstrates that voluntarism, as American labor's policy was known, was the American Federation of Labor's strategic response to the structure of the American state, particularly to the influence of American courts. The AFL's strategic calculation was not universal, however. This book reveals the competing ideologies and acts of interpretation that produced these variations in state-labor relations. Originally published in 1993. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

Battling for American Labor

Battling for American Labor
Author: Howard Kimeldorf
Publisher: Univ of California Press
Total Pages: 258
Release: 1999-12
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 0520218337

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"This riveting, nuanced book takes seriously the workplace radicalism of many early twentieth century American workers. The restriction of working class militancy to the workplace, it shows, was no mere economism. Organizational rather than psychological in orientation, Battling For American Labor accounts for both the early preference of dockworkers in Philadelphia and hotel and restaurant workers in New York for the IWW rather than the AFL and for the reversal of this choice in the 1920s. In so doing, it points the way to a fresh reading of American labor history."—Ira Katznelson, Columbia University "Howard Kimeldorf's book, based on sound and solid historical research in archives, newspapers, journals, memoirs and oral histories, argues that workers in the United States, regardless of their precise union affiliation, harbored syndicalist tendencies which manifested themselves in direct action on the job. Because Kimeldorf's book reinterprets much of the history of the labor movement in the United States, it will surely generate much controversy among scholars and capture the attention of readers."—Melvyn Dubofsky, Binghamton University, SUNY "Howard Kimeldorf's new book is a very exciting accomplishment. This book will surely leave a major imprint on labor history and the sociology of labor. Kimeldorf's focus on repertoires of collective action and practice instead of ideology is a particularly important contribution; one that will force students of labor to rethink many worn-out arguments. After reading Battling For American Labor, one will no longer be able to assume the IWW's defeat was inevitable, or take seriously psychological theories of worker consciousness."—David Wellman, author of The Union Makes Us Strong

A New Labor Movement for the New Century

A New Labor Movement for the New Century
Author: Gregory Mantsios
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 434
Release: 2012-11-12
Genre: History
ISBN: 113652231X

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This collection of original essays offers an inside view of the current state of American unions. Most of the contributors are prominent activists in the AFL-CIO, and their writings assess the state of the movement in the late 1990s.

State of the Unions

State of the Unions
Author: Philip M. Dine
Publisher: Victoria Pryor DBA Arcadia
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2012-11-27
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 9780786754342

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After years of being ignored by the media and public, labor finds itself squarely in the spotlight - under attack from all angles and fighting back fiercely. No longer can anyone claim that labor's falling membership has made it a mere relic, for its adversaries would not expend so much energy to destroy a movement grown truly irrelevant. But what is this war on labor all about? Can unions survive, and how? And what are the stakes for the middle class and for our country? With the benefit of 25 years of award-winning reporting, Philip M. Dine takes us on a riveting journey - replete with colorful characters and penetrating analysis - that answers these questions. It places today's news in context while making a powerful argument that a reinvigorated labor movement and a strong middle class are inextricably linked. "Phil Dine offers an insightful, riveting, reader-friendly examination of organized labor...” - Alexis Herman, 23rd U. S. Secretary of Labor "...a thoughtful work that gives readers hope that America's working class can regain the strength and respect they rightfully deserve.” - American Prospect "...a must read...keen observations and thoughtful conclusions...so well written and entertaining, it beckons anyone who works for a living to bring it to the beach.” - Linda Foley, Past President, The Newspaper Guild "If you’d like to understand where the jobs have gone, and why, and what can be done to stop the bleeding - it’s worth reading Philip M. Dine’s analysis of what’s happened to unions in the last three decades...” - Sacramento News & Review "One of the best books in years about the union movement, its strengths, its weaknesses and its pivotal importance for America's middle class....(Dine) tells fascinating stories few knew.” - AFL-CIO "Phil Dine offers a compelling and provocative look at labor’s role in the political, social and economic marketplace.” - The Honorable Tom Ridge "Phil Dine gives an intriguing new perspective on labor's declining numbers and the ill effects for our country if we let this trend continue.” - Donna Brazile, Commentator, CNN and ABC News "...State of the Unions shatters conventional wisdom...” - St. Louis Post-Dispatch "State of the Unions does a masterful job of...showing how labor can revitalize itself so it is in a position to tackle the problems.” -Congressman Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) "State of the Unions should be of great interest to labor leaders, scholars and students, as well as citizens concerned about the future of our democracy.” - Richard Hurd, Professor of Labor Studies, Cornell University "When I read Phil Dine’s account of the largest strike by black workers in Mississippi’s history, I was swept back to the summer of 1990 standing in a cotton field in Indianola, Mississippi...Phil Dine tells their story as no one else can.” - G. Neel Lattimore, former Press Secretary to First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton