Teachers and Their Unions: Labor Relations in Uncertain Times explores the decade of uncertainty in public education following the Great Recession by first laying a foundation that describes the development of teachers and public education and the rise of teacher unions. The selection of the industrial labor model at the outset of public sector collective bargaining set the table for challenges to its fit with education. The theme of teacher as member of a union and teacher as a professional is explored within the context of a collective bargaining environment. The section "Law and Politics in Uncertain Times: Retrenchment and Assault" explores the decade of uncertainty. It reviews the industrial union model and within the twin challenges of the conundrum of teacher as union member and professional in the struggles of the decade. Tenure (boondoggle or necessary protection), VAM (rank and yank), right-to-work, agency fees, and teacher strikes are explored within the themes of the industrial union model and the tension of union member and professional. The book concludes with thoughts for the future and responds to the question of whether teacher unions are still pertinent.

In the last decade, nonunion employee representation (NER) has become a much discussed topic in the fields of human resource management, employment relations, and employment/labor law. This book examines the purpose, structure, and performance of various types of employee representation bodies created by companies in non-union settings to promote collective forums for voice and involvement at the workplace. This unique volume presents the first longitudinal evidence on the performance, success, and failure of NER plans over an extended time period. Consisting of twelve detailed, in-depth case studies of actual NER plans in operation across four countries, this volume provides unparalleled evidence on such matters as: the motives behind the initial establishment of NER, different organizational forms of NER in industry, key success and failure factors over the long-term, pro and con evaluations for employers and employees, and more. Voice and Involvement at Work captures an unequalled international and comparative perspective through a wide cross-section of different NER forms.

If the 20th Century was the American Century, it was also UPS's Century. Joe Allen's The Package King tears down the Brown Wall surrounding one of America's most admired companies-United Parcel Service (UPS). The company that we see everyday but know so little about. How did a company that began as a bicycle messenger service in Seattle, Washington become a global behemoth? How did it displace General Motors, the very symbol of American capitalism, to become the largest, private sector, unionized employer in the United States? And, at what cost to its workers and surrounding communities? Will it remain the Package King in the 21st Century or will be dethroned by Amazon?

This Short Introduction aims to offer a clear analysis of the state of employment in India. In a simple and concise manner, it narrates the past trends, current issues, and future possibilities of employment. Beginning with employment conditions at the start of India's planned development and mapping its evolution, it highlights how this evolution has been linked to growth strategies, demographic change, and institutional developments. Defining basic concepts, such as employment, unemployment, labour force and labour participation, it also touches on theories of employment, its broad features, and issues relating to its analysis and policy, providing empirical data wherever essential.

This volume identifies empirical sites and methodological frames for approaching the construction of migration as a public problem. Starting from the premise that transnationalism becomes structural in setting the public agenda, the authors explore topics and arguments on migration in media and political discourses, as well as the ways migrants and non-migrants recontextualize these discourses in the process of making sense of migration, as a matter of citizenship and policy action.

Logging in the northern forest has been romanticized, with images of log drives, plaid shirts, and bunkhouses in wide circulation. Increasingly dismissed as a quaint, rural pastime, logging remains one of the most dangerous jobs in the United States, with loggers occupying a precarious position amid unstable markets, expanding global competition, and growing labor discord. Examining a time of transition and decline in Maine's forest economy, Andrew Egan traces pathways for understanding the challenges that have faced Maine's logging community and, by extension, the state's forestry sector, from the postwar period through today. Seeking greater profits, logging companies turned their crews loose at midcentury, creating a workforce of independent contractors who were forced to purchase expensive equipment and compete for contracts with the mills. Drawing on his own experience with the region's forest products industry, interviews with Maine loggers, media coverage, and court documents, Egan follows the troubled recent history of the industry and its battle for survival.

Boston 's economy has become defined by a disconcerting trend that has intensified throughout much of the United States since the 2008 recession. Economic growth now delivers remarkably few benefits to large sectors of the working class -- a phenomenon that is particularly severe for immigrants, people of color, and women. Organizing for Power explores this nation-wide phenomenon of "unshared growth" by focusing on Boston, a city that is famously liberal, relatively wealthy, and increasingly difficult for working people (who service the city 's needs) to actually live in. Organizing for Power is the only comprehensive analysis of labor and popular mobilizing in Boston today, the volume contributes to a growing body of academic and popular literature that examines urban America, racial and economic inequality, labor and immigration, and the right-wing assault on working people.

A persuasive account of the philosophy and power of nonviolence organizing, and a resource for building and sustaining effective social movements. Despite the rich history of nonviolent philosophy, many people today are unfamiliar with the basic principles and practices of nonviolence--even as these concepts have guided so many direct-action movements to overturn forms of racial apartheid, military and police violence, and dictatorships around the world. Revolutionary Nonviolence is a crucial resource on the long history of nonviolent philosophy through the teachings of Rev. James M. Lawson Jr., one of the great practitioners of revolution through deliberate and sustained nonviolence. His ongoing work demonstrates how we can overcome violence and oppression through organized direct action, presenting a powerful roadmap for a new generation of activists. Rev. Lawson's work as a theologian, pastor, and social-change activist has inspired hope and liberation for more than sixty years. To hear and see him speak is to experience the power of the prophetic tradition in the African American and social gospel. In Revolutionary Nonviolence, Michael K. Honey and Kent Wong reflect on Rev. Lawson's talks and dialogues, from his speeches at the Nashville sit-in movement in 1960 to his lectures in the current UCLA curriculum. This volume provides a comprehensive introduction to Rev. Lawson's teachings on how to center nonviolence in successfully organizing for change.

This book is the first piece of extensive research in studying employment relations in ethnic Chinese small businesses in Britain. It contributes to existing knowledge in three respects. Empirically, it examines the nature of employment relations in the ethnic Chinese restaurant sector in the UK context, a hitherto under-explored area. The study adds new knowledge to the study of employment relations in ethnic minority small firms. Theoretically, it draws out the concept of 'ethnic twist', which denotes how the conflict between different group members from the same ethnicity shapes patterns of shop floor behaviours, revealing the heterogeneity of people from the same ethnic origins. Methodologically, the research demonstrates the continued importance of the ethnographic approach in studying workplace relations. Additionally, we see lots of literature discussing overseas Chinese businesses in terms of cultural resources, business development, level of integration and structural constraints. Surprisingly little is published on interpretations of small firm workplace relations. This book might illuminate future studies to explore management practices and employment relationships in ethnic Chinese small businesses in different national environments and industry sectors. It will be of interest to researchers, academics and students in the fields of employment relations, human resource management and organisational behavior.

Considering Class: Theory, Culture and Media in the 21st Century offers the reader international and interdisciplinary perspectives on the importance of class analysis in the 21st century. Political economists, sociologists, educationalists, ethnographers, cultural and media analysts have contributed to this volume to provide a multi-dimensional account of current class dynamics.

For some time it has become clear that traditional methods of solving site disputes are breaking down and recourse to the courts is becoming standard practice. 1991 was the year the ADR - alternative disputes resolution - was brought to the attention of the construction industry in an attempt to reduce the amount of litigation and arbitration that bedevils it. This book brings together over 40 expert papers presented at the 1992 International Construction Conflict Management & Resolution Conference held in Manchester, UK. Six themes are covered: Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR); conflict management; claims procedures; litigation and arbitration; international construction; education and the future. With papers from arbitrators, architects, barristers, civil engineers, chartered surveyors and solicitors this book represents a multi-disciplinary body of knowledge on construction conflict and seeks to provide a unique source of reference for both legal and construction professionals.

Widely used since the mid-twentieth century, GDP (gross domestic product) has become the world's most powerful statistical indicator of national development and progress. Practically all governments adhere to the idea that GDP growth is a primary economic target, and while criticism of this measure has grown, neither its champions nor its detractors deny its central importance in our political culture. In The Power of a Single Number, Philipp Lepenies recounts the lively history of GDP's political acceptance-and eventual dominance. Locating the origins of GDP measurements in Renaissance England, Lepenies explores the social and political factors that originally hindered its use. It was not until the early 1900s that an ingenuous lone-wolf economist revived and honed GDP's statistical approach. These ideas were then extended by John Maynard Keynes, and a more focused study of national income was born. American economists furthered this work by emphasizing GDP's ties to social well-being, setting the stage for its ascent. GDP finally achieved its singular status during World War II, assuming the importance it retains today. Lepenies's absorbing account helps us understand the personalities and popular events that propelled GDP to supremacy and clarifies current debates over the wisdom of the number's rule.

The story of a union organizer who found a second career in community organizing and helped a Jim Crow city become a better place. Ernest Thompson dedicated his life to organizing the powerless. This lively, illustrated personal narrative of his work shows the great contribution that people's coalitions can make to the struggle for equality and freedom. Thompson cut his teeth organizing one of the great industrial unions, the United Electrical Radio and Machine Workers of America, and brought his organizing skills and commitment to coalition building to Orange, New Jersey. He built a strong organization and skillfully led fights for school desegregation, black political representation, and strong government in a city he initially thought of as a "dirty Jim Crow town going nowhere." Thompson came to love the City of Orange and its caring citizens, seeing in its struggles a microcosm of America. This story of people's power is meant for all who struggle for human rights, economic opportunity, decent housing, effective education, and a chance for children to have a better life. Ernest Thompson (1906-1971) grew up on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, on a farm that had been given to his family at the end of the Civil War. The family was very poor and oppressed by racist practices. Thompson was determined to get away and to obtain power. He migrated to Jersey City, where he became part of the union organizing movement that built the Congress of Industrial Unions (CIO). He became the first African American to hold a fulltime organizing position with his union, the United Electrical Radio and Machine Workers of America (UE). He eventually headed UE's innovative Fair Employment Practices program and fought for equal rights and pay for women and minority workers. Thompson also helped build the National Negro Labor Council, 1951-1956, and served as its director of organizing. In 1956, under the onslaught of the McCarthy era, UE was split in two, and Thompson lost his job. His wife, Margaret Thompson, brought the local school segregation to his attention. Ernie "Home" Thompson organized to desegregate the regional schools, building strong coalitions and political power for the black community that ultimately served all the people of Orange.

The condition of precariousness not only provides insights into a segment of the world of work or of a particular subject group, but is also a standpoint for an overview of the condition of the social on a global scale. Because precariousness is multidimensional and polysemantic, it traverses contemporary society and multiple contexts, from industrial to class, gender, family relations as well as political participation, citizenship and migration. This book maps the differences and similarities in the ways precariousness and insecurity in employment and beyond unfold and are subjectively experienced in regions and sectors that are confronted with different labour histories, legislations and economic priorities. Establishing a constructive dialogue amongst different global regions and across disciplines, the chapters explore the shift from precariousness to precariat and collective subjects as it is being articulated in the current global crisis. This edited collection aims to continue a process of mapping experiences by means of ethnographies, fieldwork, interviews, content analysis, where the precarious define their condition and explain how they try to withdraw from, cope with or embrace it. This is valuable reading for students and academics interested in geography, sociology, economics and labour studies.

Includes articles which offer a mix of theoretical analysis, case history and empirical research, interspersed with good, practical advice from those who have sat long hours at the bargaining table.

This revised and updated edition of Sharon Smith's accessible, critical history of the US labour movement examines the hidden radical history of workers' resistance from the nineteenth century to the present.

Walmart is the largest employer in the world. It encompasses nearly 1 percent of the entire American workforce-young adults, parents, formerly incarcerated people, retirees. Walmart also presents one possible future of work-Walmartism-in which the arbitrary authority of managers mixes with a hyperrationalized, centrally controlled bureaucracy in ways that curtail workers' ability to control their working conditions and their lives. In Working for Respect, Adam Reich and Peter Bearman examine how workers make sense of their jobs at places like Walmart in order to consider the nature of contemporary low-wage work, as well as the obstacles and opportunities such workplaces present as sites of struggle for social and economic justice. They describe the life experiences that lead workers to Walmart and analyze the dynamics of the shop floor. As a part of the project, Reich and Bearman matched student activists with a nascent association of current and former Walmart associates: the Organization United for Respect at Walmart (OUR Walmart). They follow the efforts of this new partnership, considering the formation of collective identity and the relationship between social ties and social change. They show why traditional unions have been unable to organize service-sector workers in places like Walmart and offer provocative suggestions for new strategies and directions. Drawing on a wide array of methods, including participant-observation, oral history, big data, and the analysis of social networks, Working for Respect is a sophisticated reconsideration of the modern workplace that makes important contributions to debates on labor and inequality and the centrality of the experience of work in a fair economy.

The revival of economic growth in Sub-Saharan Africa is all the more welcome for having followed one of the worst economic disasters-a quarter century of economic malaise for most of the region-since the industrial revolution. Six of the world's fastest-growing economies in the first decade of this century were African. Yet only in Ethiopia and Rwanda was growth not based on resources and the rising price of oil. Deindustrialization has yet to be reversed, and progress toward creating a modern economy remains limited. This book explores the vital role that active government policies can play in transforming African economies. Such policies pertain not just to industry. They traverse all economic sectors, including finance, information technology, and agriculture. These packages of learning, industrial, and technology (LIT) policies aim to bring vigorous and lasting growth to the region. This collection features case studies of LIT policies in action in many parts of the world, examining their risks and rewards and what they mean for Sub-Saharan Africa.

New technology arguably provided the greatest challenge to industrial relations since the formation of unions. The problems raised led to a whole range of responses - from rejection of the new technology to acceptance fo the change with management and workers making new (and sometimes unheard of) agreements. This book, originally published in 1986 and based on extensive original research, examines the changes in industrial relations which the new technology of the 1980s caused, analysing the implications for the workforce and the reactions of the management and trade unions to the challenges.

Originally published in 1983, this comparative study of day-to-day industrial relations in two closely matched factories in Britain and Germany, the author examines the causes of the disorder in British manufacturing industry. The book describes how, in the absence of government in the British factory, workers took the law into their own hands in order to redress grievances over pay and to protect their position in the factory's earnings hierarchy. In the German workplace, management and works council successfully administer orderly and equitable pay structures.

This book, originally published in 1999, provided the first comparative, in-depth analysis of workplace relations in east and west Germany. The collapse of communism and the ensuing process of reform means that East Germany provides a particularly interesting case, having experienced rapid and radical political and economic transformation, and representing an historically outstanding experiment of the shifting of an entire social system onto a different society. This book examines the success of the institutional transfer of west German labour organisations into east Germany workplaces and addresses central questions such as : Can capitalist labour institutions be imposed on a former communist workforce? What conditions determine the success or failure of these institutions? Can 'social partnership/ between capital and labour be learned?

Rethinking the American Labor Movement tells the story of the various groups and incidents that make up what we think of as the "labor movement." While the efforts of the American labor force towards greater wealth parity have been rife with contention, the struggle has embraced a broad vision of a more equitable distribution of the nation's wealth and a desire for workers to have greater control over their own lives. In this succinct and authoritative volume, Elizabeth Faue reconsiders the varied strains of the labor movement, situating them within the context of rapidly transforming twentieth-century American society to show how these efforts have formed a political and social movement that has shaped the trajectory of American life. Rethinking the American Labor Movement is indispensable reading for scholars and students interested in American labor in the twentieth century and in the interplay between labor, wealth, and power.

Long-haul trucks have been described as sweatshops on wheels. The typical long-haul trucker works the equivalent of two full-time jobs, often for little more than minimum wage. But it wasn't always this way. Trucking used to be one of the best working-class jobs in the United States. The Big Rig explains how this massive degradation in the quality of work has occurred, and how companies achieve a compliant and dedicated workforce despite it. Drawing on more than 100 in-depth interviews and years of extensive observation, including six months training and working as a long-haul trucker, Viscelli explains in detail how labor is recruited, trained, and used in the industry. He then shows how inexperienced workers are convinced to lease a truck and to work as independent contractors. He explains how deregulation and collective action by employers transformed trucking's labor markets - once dominated by the largest and most powerful union in US history - into an important example of the costs of contemporary labor markets for workers and the general public.