In Inside China's Automobile Factories, Lu Zhang explores the current conditions, subjectivity, and collective actions of autoworkers in the world's largest and fastest-growing automobile manufacturing nation. Based on years of fieldwork and extensive interviews conducted at seven large auto factories in various regions of China, Zhang provides an inside look at the daily factory life of autoworkers and a deeper understanding of the roots of rising labor unrest in the auto industry. Combining original empirical data and sophisticated analysis that moves from the shop floor to national political economy and global industry dynamics, the book develops a multilayered framework for understanding how labor relations in the auto industry and broader social economy can be expected to develop in China in the coming decades.

The broad field of employment relations is diverse and complex and is under constant development and reinvention. This Research Handbook discusses fundamental theories and approaches to work and employment relations, and their connection to broader political and societal changes occurring throughout the world. It provides comprehensive coverage of work and employment relations theory and practice. This up-to-date research compendium has drawn together a range of international authors from diverse disciplinary backgrounds. There are chapters from labor historians, theoreticians, more mainstream industrial relations scholars, sociologists, organizational psychologists, geographers, policy advisors, economists and lawyers. At the heart of each chapter is the notion that the world of work and employment relations has changed substantially since the halcyon days of IR, throughout the Dunlop Era of the 1950s. However many areas of enquiry remain, and more questions have developed with society and technology. This Handbook reflects this view. As the field of study and practice continues to evolve throughout the twenty-first century - what lessons have we learned from the past and what can we expect in the future? Academics and postgraduate students researching industrial relations, human resource management, employment relations, industrial sociology and sociology of work will find this important resource invaluable.

The Chicago Teachers Union strike was the most important domestic labor struggle so far this century-and perhaps for the last forty years-and the strongest challenge to the conservative agenda for restructuring education, which advocates for more charter schools and tying teacher salaries to standardized testing, among other changes. The teachers took on the bipartisan, free market school reform agenda that is currently exacerbating inequality in education and waging war on teachers' livelihoods. In the age of austerity, when the public sector is under attack, Chicago teachers fought back-and won. The strike was years in the making. Chicago teachers spent a long time building a grassroots movement to educate and organize the entire union membership. They stood up against hostile mayors, billionaire-backed reformers out to destroy unions, and even their own intransigent union leadership, to take militant action. The Chicago protest has become a model for how reforms to the school system can be led by teachers and communities. It offers inspiration for workers looking to create democratic, fighting unions. Strike for America is the story of this movement and how it triumphed in the defining struggle for workers today.

This official history of NUPE covers its years of membership expansion, growing recognition and entry onto the national industrial and political stage. From a position of near obscurity in the 1920s, NUPE grew into one of the most important forces in the trade union movement in the 1970s, playing a key role in some of the major struggles of that decade and beyond. The authors throw new light on NUPE's relationship with the Labour governments of Harold Wilson and James Callaghan (1974-79), and analyse for the first time from the union's perspective the events that became known as the 'Winter of Discontent'. They convincingly argue that accounts which hold the dispute responsible for the demise of the Labour government, and thus for opening the way for Thatcherism, are inadequate and misleading - often deliberately so; in general such accounts are based on a deprecation of public services, public service labour and the 'social wage'. These developments are discussed in relation to the role of union leadership and considerations of organisation and democracy, revealing much that will be of interest to activists and students of trade unionism alike.

Since the 1980s, the world's governments have decreased state welfare and thus increased the number of unprotected 'informal' or 'precarious' workers. As a result, more and more workers do not receive secure wages or benefits from either employers or the state. This book offers a fresh and provocative look into the alternative social movements informal workers in India are launching. It also offers a unique analysis of the conditions under which these movements succeed or fail. Drawing from 300 interviews with informal workers, government officials and union leaders, Rina Agarwala argues that Indian informal workers are using their power as voters to demand welfare benefits from the state, rather than demanding traditional work benefits from employers. In addition, they are organizing at the neighborhood level, rather than the shop floor, and appealing to 'citizenship', rather than labor rights.

Arthur Horner (1894-1968) was a miners' leader from the 1926 general strike to his retirement as general secretary of the National Union of Mineworkers in 1959. During his life he played a crucial role in the fight for a national mineworkers union, and in the development of the National Coal Board. He was a champion of the Republicans in Spain, was imprisoned several times for his views, and was in constant demand as a speaker. But it was his warmth, good humour and enthusiasm which made 'little Arthur', as he was affectionately known by his union colleagues, really memorable. Horner was a committed communist, but was also able to exercise effective leadership in a major trade union committed to social democratic principles, playing a key role in the social democratic settlement after the second world war.

The Miners' Unions of Northumberland and Durham by the historian Edward Welbourne was first published in 1923. It was based on a study which had previously been awarded the Thirlwall Prize, the Seeley Medal for History, and the Gladstone Prize in the year 1921 at the University of Cambridge. The book presents an historical analysis of the charged social conditions and conflicts that shaped the coal mining industry in the north of England from the middle of the eighteenth to the end of the nineteenth century.

Clear and effective instruction on MADM methods for students, researchers, and practitioners. A Handbook on Multi-Attribute Decision-Making Methods describes multi-attribute decision-making (MADM) methods and provides step-by-step guidelines for applying them. The authors describe the most important MADM methods and provide an assessment of their performance in solving problems across disciplines. After offering an overview of decision-making and its fundamental concepts, this book covers 20 leading MADM methods and contains an appendix on weight assignment methods. Chapters are arranged with optimal learning in mind, so you can easily engage with the content found in each chapter. Dedicated readers may go through the entire book to gain a deep understanding of MADM methods and their theoretical foundation, and others may choose to review only specific chapters. Each standalone chapter contains a brief description of prerequisite materials, methods, and mathematical concepts needed to cover its content, so you will not face any difficulty understanding single chapters. Each chapter: Describes, step-by-step, a specific MADM method, or in some cases a family of methods Contains a thorough literature review for each MADM method, supported with numerous examples of the method's implementation in various fields Provides a detailed yet concise description of each method's theoretical foundation Maps each method's philosophical basis to its corresponding mathematical framework Demonstrates how to implement each MADM method to real-world problems in a variety of disciplines In MADM methods, stakeholders' objectives are expressible through a set of often conflicting criteria, making this family of decision-making approaches relevant to a wide range of situations. A Handbook on Multi-Attribute Decision-Making Methods compiles and explains the most important methodologies in a clear and systematic manner, perfect for students and professionals whose work involves operations research and decision making.

Henry Demarest Lloyd (1847 1903), writer and social reformer, rose to prominence as one of America's first muckraker journalists. Born in New York City, Lloyd started his journalism career at the Chicago Tribune and went on to expose the abuse of power in American oil companies. He also pursued a career in politics. In 1899 he travelled to New Zealand and Australia, the 'political laboratories' of Great Britain, to investigate how they resolved the conflict between organised capital and organised labour, and how they promoted social welfare. This book, published in 1900, praises New Zealand's system of compulsory arbitration and describes many instances of successful dispute resolution, from clothing manufacture to newspaper typesetting. The book includes an introduction by William Pember Reeves (1857 1932), liberal newspaper editor and writer, who as New Zealand's minister of labour had brought in the Arbitration Act of 1894 and other important labour legislation."

This book combines currency matters with competitiveness considerations, with a view to raising the understanding of exchange rate dynamics and to analysing the role of exchange rates in reinforcing economic competitiveness. The overall focus is on highlighting the link between currency developments and the real side of the economy. From a regional perspective, the contributions centre on developments in Central, Eastern and South-eastern Europe and thus put a special emphasis on aspects of transition and convergence. More specifically, the book addresses key issues of financial globalization and global imbalances; the role of macroeconomic fundamentals in exchange rate economics; the role, objectives and challenges of regional monetary unions; exchange rate dynamics in transition economies and the competitiveness of catching-up countries. It also addresses the structural aspects of competitiveness and the significance of qualitative and quantitative aspects of competitiveness. Offering the views of eminent academics and professionals, this book will be of great interest to economists and central bankers as well as to international organizations, universities and research institutes.

The fourth edition of Effective Negotiation provides a practical and thematic approach to negotiation and mediation in professional contexts. Drawing on research and extensive teaching and practical experience, Fells and Sheer describe key elements of negotiations and explain the core tasks involved in reaching an agreement: information exchange, solution-seeking and concession management. This edition features a substantial revision and re-alignment of content, providing discussion of overarching themes and methodologies before moving to focused considerations of the underlying mechanics of negotiation. A new chapter on deadlocks provides detailed analysis of strategically managing and resolving deadlocked negotiations. In addition to the 'Negotiation in Practice' and 'Negotiation Skill Tips' boxes, chapters now include real-world case studies. An accessible, practical and strategic exploration of the complex mechanics and dynamics of negotiation, mediation and dispute resolution, Effective Negotiation remains an essential resource for students and professionals in business and management, law and human resource management.

When NAFTA went into effect in 1994, many feared it would intensify animosity among North American unions, lead to the scapegoating of Mexican workers and immigrants, and eclipse any possibility for cross-border labor cooperation. But far from polarizing workers, NAFTA unexpectedly helped stimulate labor transnationalism among key North American unions and erode union policies and discourses rooted in racism. The emergence of labor transnationalism in North America presents compelling political and sociological puzzles: how did NAFTA, the concrete manifestation of globalization processes in North America, help deepen labor solidarity on the continent? In addition to making the provocative argument that global governance institutions can play a pivotal role in the development of transnational social movements, this book suggests that globalization need not undermine labor movements: collectively, unions can help shape how the rules governing the global economy are made.

Art has always played a significant role in the history of the labour movement. Songs, stories, poems, pamphlets, and comics, have inspired workers to take action against greedy bosses and helped shape ideas of a more equal world. They also help fan the flames of discontent. Radical social change doesn't come without radical art. It would be impossible to think about labour unrest without its iconic songs like "Solidarity Forever" or its cartoons like Ernest Riebe's creation, Mr. Block. In this vein, The Graphic History Collective has created an illustrated chronicle of the strike--the organized withdrawal of labour power--in Canada. For centuries, workers in Canada--Indigenous and non-Indigenous, union and non-union, men and women--have used the strike as a powerful tool, not just for better wages, but also for growing working-class power. This lively comic book will inspire new generations to learn more about labour and working-class history and the power of solidarity.

The most controversial aspect of institutional regeneration in North America and Europe has been the restructuring of labour relations. Media attention has been drawn to the resulting claims of excess employer power: however, supporters of union reform point to the spate of strikes in Western Europe as the predicament that the UK has escaped. In this book, Martyn Wright examines how competitive crisis affected the management of work relations in Britain between 1979 and 1991. Using longitudinal analysis and a wealth of case study material from companies and employers associations, the study moves beyond the normal cross-sectional survey to reveal a complex pattern of procedural and substantive rule change, and illustrates considerable variation in the context to which competitive crisis was harnessed by employers to generate an ongoing momentum for change. Managing Competitive Crisis is a must for students of organisational change.

It is fashionable to speak of trades unions in the UK as organisations in decline. However, it is their organisation and, in particular, their financial status, which ultimately dictates unions' ability to survive, recruit, and influence employers. This book provides the first systematic picture of union financial status for thirty years, and reveals a dramatic picture. Though, overall, unions have become financially less healthy in the post-war period, many unions experienced an improved financial position during the membership contraction of the Thatcher years. It also shows that the long term financial decline of unions has been more affected by competition between unions for membership than by the effects of traumatic industrial disputes.

Collective bargaining is the main vehicle for labour worldwide to negotiate wages, benefits, retirement policies, training and other terms of working with management in both the public and private sectors. Labour economists have long been active in modelling the relations between collective bargaining agreements, labour markets and social welfare conditions. This book presents a theoretical model of unions which offers a unified treatment of the centralisation of bargaining, the credibility of labour contracts, the unionisation of labour markets and the relative bargaining power of the union. Tapio Palokangas develops the microfoundations of bargaining and examines collective bargaining interacting with public policy, investment and growth, and international trade and specialisation. In conclusion Professor Palokangas challenges the commonly held view that collective bargaining has a negative impact on economics welfare, and argues that with the existence of market failure, collective bargaining can be welfare enhancing.

First published in 1981, this book, a political history of organised labour in Japan during the 1920s and 1930s, broke ground in research on the Japanese socialist movement by examining the movement from the perspective of the unions, which then provided the socialist parties with much of their popular support. Focusing on the Japan General Federation of Labour, an important pacesetter for labour politics, the author analyses why a significant cross-section of organised workers began the 1920s with promising vitality and high hopes of contributing to a progressive, socialist reconstruction of Japan, only to abandon this political commitment in the 1930s, with adverse consequences both for the unions and for their political party allies. Throughout, the author assesses Japanese and Western interpretations of Japanese society and politics in seeking a balanced understanding of the dynamics and significance of popular social protest in the critical interwar decades.

Beginning in the 1890s, and continuing into the twentieth century, Jewish workers in the Russian Pale of Settlement organised themselves to improve their economic and cultural situation. Their struggle was the result of an alliance with the Jewish socialist intelligentsia, which began by teaching workers in select 'circles' and ended by assuming the leadership of a mass labour movement. In this book, originally published in 1970, Dr Mendelsohn analyses the nature and condition of the Russian Jewish proletariat. There follows a discussion on the 'propaganda' period and the subsequent transition to 'agitation'. The Jewish strike movement is analysed, with special attention to the workers' aims, tactics and relations with the formal institutions of the organised labour movement. Dr Mendelson also considers the relationship between the proletarian rank-and-file and the movement's leadership, placing emphasis on movements of opposition. The study concludes by considering the ultimate value of the Jewish labour movement for its participants, and by assessing its unique position in the context of Russian labour history.

"...A Serf's Journal is a powerful and much-needed overdue call for solidarity today." Alfie Bown, Hong Kong Review of Books Recalling the JeffBoat incident of 2001, A Serf's Journal is Terry Tapp's formidable first-hand account of American workers as they fight a multinational company and their corrupt union to stage the longest wildcat strike in US history.

The attempt to establish a 'new social contract' between the Government and the unions, with a view to stabilising the economy and restraining industrial militancy, emerged as a burning issues of contemporary British politics during the 1970s. This study uncovers the roots of this development in the incomes policies of successive post-war Governments, especially of the 1964 70 Labour Government, and traces the way in which wage restraint was secured from the unions, or imposed upon them, in the context of the attempted registration of the unions within the existing economic and political order. Professor Panitch concentrates on the crucial role of the Labour Party and shows how Labour's incomes policies, and industrial relations generally, have derived less from a concern with socialist economic planning than from the Party's 'integrative' ideology, its rejection of the concept of class struggle in favour of affecting a compromise between the different classes in British society.

Chartered in 1921, the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) is a worldwide organization that represents more than two million workers in occupations from healthcare and government service to custodians and taxi drivers. Women form more than half the membership while people in minority groups make up approximately forty percent. Luís LM Aguiar and Joseph A. McCartin edit essays on one of contemporary labor’s bedrock organizations. The contributors explore key episodes, themes, and features in the union’s recent history and evaluate SEIU as a union with global aspirations and impact. The first section traces the SEIU’s growth in the last and current centuries. The second section offers in-depth studies of key campaigns in the United States, including the Justice for Janitors and Fight for $15 movements. The third section focuses on the SEIU’s work representing low-wage workers in Canada, Australia, Europe, and Brazil. An interview with Justice for Janitors architect Stephen Lerner rounds out the volume. Contributors: Luís LM Aguiar, Adrienne E. Eaton, Janice Fine, Euan Gibb, Laurence Hamel-Roy, Tashlin Lakhani, Joseph A. McCartin, Yanick Noiseux, Benjamin L. Peterson, Allison Porter, Alyssa May Kuchinski, Maite Tapia, Veronica Terriquez, and Kyoung-Hee Yu

The Commonwealth of Australia was federated in 1901. Only three short years later the Federal Government established a court system to arbitrate over industrial disputes in a young country that already had a history of half a century of organised labour. This 2004 book is a thematic history of an important Australian institution, the federal conciliation and arbitration system, on the occasion of its centenary. The various chapters written by leading scholars deal with the system's political history, the work of the tribunal, the legal framework, economic and social effects, the effects on indigenous and women workers, the role of employers associations and unions, and the management of industrial conflict. It is a story rich in drama involving strikes, lockouts, imprisonment of union officials, noisy protests in courtrooms and in the streets, momentous High Court judgements, and the rise and fall of governments.

On 16th August 2012, thirty-four black mineworkers were gunned down by the police under the auspices of South Africa's African National Congress (ANC) in what has become known as the Marikana massacre. This attempt to drown independent working-class power in blood backfired and is now recognised as a turning point in the country's history. The Spirit of Marikana tells the story of the uncelebrated leaders at the world's three largest platinum mining companies who survived the barrage of state violence, intimidation, torture and murder which was being perpetrated during this tumultuous period. What began as a discussion about wage increases between two workers in the changing rooms at one mine became a rallying cry for economic freedom and basic dignity. This gripping ethnographic account is the first comprehensive study of this movement, revealing how seemingly ordinary people became heroic figures who transformed their workplace and their country.

Economic growth in Asia over the past half century has led to significant changes in societies, business organization and the nature of work. This has been accompanied by the rise in some countries of trade unions and also of employers' associations. This book explores the nature of employers' associations in the major countries of Asia. It considers how employers' associations have developed in recent decades, how changes in market structures and the profile of economies have affected employers' associations, how employers' associations deal with issues to do with pay and employment conditions, and how they interact with regulation and the state. The book shows how the differing political and institutional contexts of different countries, and different economic conditions, greatly affect the nature of employers' associations and also the wider context of labour markets and trade unions.