During the 1970s and 1980s, a hazardous waste management industry emerged in the U.S., driven by government and polluting industry responses to a hazardous waste crisis. In 1979, labor unions began to seek federal health and safety protections for workers in that industry and for firefighters responding to hazardous materials fires. Those efforts led to a worker health and safety section in the Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act of 1986. The legislation mandated regulation of hazardous waste operations and emergency response worker protection, and establishment of a national health and safety training grant program - which became the Worker Education and Training Program (WETP).Craig Slatin provides a history of labor's success on the coattails of the environmental movement and in the middle of a rightward shift in American politics. He explores how the WETP established a national worker training effort across industrial sectors, with case studies on the health and safety training programs of two unions in the WETP - the Oil, Chemical, and Atomic Workers and the Laborers' Union. Lessons can be learned from one of the last major worker health and safety/environmental protection victories of the 1960s-1980s reform era, coming at the end of the golden age of regulation and just before the new era of deregulation and market dominance. Slatin's analysis calls for a critical survey of the social and political tasks facing those concerned about worker and community health and environmental protection in order to make a transition toward just and sustainable production.

Trade Unions and European Integration brings together pessimists and optimists on trade unionism under the contemporary pressures of European integration. The Great Recession has brought new attention to structural problems of the European integration process, specifically monetary integration; holding the potential of disabling any trans-national co-ordination. Other authors argue that the current crisis also poses the chance for mobilization and new impulses for European trade unionism. This is discussed in the volume alongside a variety of topics including bargaining coordination, co-determination, European governance regimes, and European wide mobilization. While the importance of the question of how trade unionism and wage policy can, will, and should develop under the conditions of European integration seems widely shared, the polarization of the debate itself deserves our attention to learn about the opposing arguments and points of view; and to enhance academic discussion as well as consultancy to policy makers. This volume addresses this debate by bringing together the most distinguished voices and searching for common ground as well as new perspectives on European trade unionism and collective bargaining. The chapters of the volume, organised topically, are each accompanied by a comment from a distinguished scholar, highlighting the divisions of the debate. With this innovative approach, this book advances the dialogue between what have become openly opposed camps of optimists and pessimists on the future of European integration, trade unionism and its future chances. Trade Unions and European Integration will appeal to students and researchers interested in fields such as European Studies, Industrial Relations, Political Economics, Social Movements and Sociology of Work.

Using Marxist and systems theory as guides, this book offers an entry point to the current debate on the role of economy in modern society, the change in work organizations and the effect of the economy on the individual. It explores the concepts of 'work society', 'industrial society' and 'capitalist society' to explain the conditions of society as a whole, and not just the conditions of businesses, making particular use of the category of 'work'. The first systematic theoretical comparison of Marxism and systems theory, it provides a brief overview of the central debates concerning work society and the controversies surrounding organizations in capitalism. As such, it will appeal to social scientists and social theorists with interests in the sociology of work, industry and organizations.

A key factor in Korea's economic success is the nature of industrial relations in Korean business and industry. Joo-Yeon Jeong presents a comprehensive survey of the current state of industrial relations in Korea. He shows how union membership has changed over recent decades, and how the focus of bargaining has widened from purely financial considerations to include a much wider range of issues including, principally, issues related to job security. In addition, the book considers the role of government in shaping the legal and institutional environment, and of employers, who have taken a more aggressive role towards unions since the mid-1990s.

This book examines international and European protection of the right to strike. In particular, it focuses on the extent to which the International Labour Organisation, the Council of Europe and the European Union have set standards designed to protect those who organise or participate in industrial action.

In a time of controversy over the relevance and utility of industrial action, this book outlines the case for protection of a right to strike. It argues that such a right can be viewed as civil, political and socio-economic in nature, depending upon one's conception of 'good governance' and 'democratic participation' at the national level. This has consequences for what is perceived to be the appropriate scope of the right and the extent of any legitimate exceptions.

In 1934, the Pacific Coast was shaken by a massive strike of waterfront workers- on the docks and the ships. In this mighty struggle, the Sailor's Union of the Pacific, quiescent since it's defeat in the period after the first World War was reborn. Fighting on San Francisco's Embarcadero led to the stationing of National Guard troops on the 'front'. This book looks at the Union from 1885 to 1985.

The book examines the integration of European trade union movement and explores the prospects for European or transnational solidarity among workers.

Contrary to much existing research and despite national differences, Gajewska examines how trade unions cooperate and the forms in which this cooperation take place. Drawing on four case studies illustrating experiences of Polish, German, British, Latvian and Swedish trade unions in various sectors and workers representatives at a multinational company, this book investigates the conditions under which trade unions and workers formulate their interests in non-national / regional terms, and analyzes the character, limits and potentials of solidarity in a transnational context.

Seeking to generate a new theory of European integration of labour and to contribute to sociological approaches on the European integration and Europeanization of society, this book will be of interest to students and scholars of European politics, European integration, labour/industrial relations, trade unionism and sociology.

For most of the twentieth century, the Conservative Party engaged in an ongoing struggle to curb the power of the trade unions, culminating in the radical legislation of the Thatcher governments. Yet, as this book shows, for a brief period between the end of the Second World War and the election of Harold Wilson's Labour government in 1964, the Conservative Party adopted a remarkably constructive and conciliatory approach to the trade unions, dubbed 'voluntarism'. During this time the party leadership made strenuous efforts to avoid, as far as was politically possible, confrontation with, or legislation against, the trade unions, even when this incurred the wrath of some Conservative backbenchers and the Party's mass membership. In explaining why the Conservative leadership sought to avoid conflict with the trade unions, this study considers the economic circumstances of the period in question, the political environment, electoral considerations, the perspective adopted by the Conservative leadership in comprehending industrial relations and explaining conflict in the workplace, and the personalities of both the Conservative leadership and the key figures in the trade unions. Making extensive use of primary and archival sources it explains why the 1945-64 period was unique in the Conservative Party's approach to Britain's trade unions. By 1964, though, even hitherto Conservative defenders of voluntarism were acknowledging that some form of official inquiry into the conduct and operation of trade British unionism, as a prelude to legislation, was necessary, thereby signifying that the heyday of 'voluntarism' and cordial relations between senior Conservatives and the trade unions was coming to an end.

Originally published in 2005. Countries at different stages of social, cultural and economic development approach the process of skill formation in different ways. In this enlightening collection, Marcus Powell uses empirical evidence to document how different nations formulate their training strategy, including how labour market information is used to inform decision making and the role stakeholders play in the process. Drawing on unique practical and research based experience from a variety of authors (all of whom have been employed as senior advisors or consultants to national governments or multilateral donor agencies) it provides unparalleled access to the expertise of key professionals and their knowledge about skill formation.

How can unions move from a defensive strategy to one of class transformation? Mulder demonstrates how the current union strategies of class blindness lead to weak and often unintended results. Unions, she argues, do not use their collective power for class transformation and union commentators/critics do not theorize about unions as possible agents for such class transformations. Using the case study of the Broadway musicians' union, Mulder shows how unions can facilitate a class transformation that increases workers' control over their working conditions and enables them to make the changes needed to improve their lives. This innovative and needed study will be of interest to labor economists, scholars of class and labor, and those interested in the plight of unions and the potential they still hold for social and economic transformations.

This book provides a ground breaking re-examination of the changing relationship between art, craft, and industry focusing on the transition from workshop to studio, apprentice to pupil, guild to gallery and artisan to artist. Responding to the question whether the artist is a relic of the feudal mode of production or is a commodity producer corresponding to the capitalist mode of cultural production, Beech reveals, instead, that the history of the formation of art as distinct from handicraft, commerce, and industry can be traced back to the dissolution of the dual system of guild and court. This essential history needs to be revisited in order to rethink the categories of aesthetic labour, attractive labour, alienated labour, nonalienated labour and unwaged labour that shape the modern and contemporary politics of work in art.

As workers in the private sector struggle with stagnant wages, disappearing benefits, and retirement ages that are moving further and further out onto the horizon, unionized gym teachers and lifeguards employed by the public sector retire in their fifties with over $100,000 a year in pension and healthcare benefits. Some even supplement this generous income by taking other jobs in their "retirement." Attempts to rein in the unions, as in Wisconsin and New Jersey, have met with massive resistance. Yet as Daniel DiSalvo argues in Government against Itself, public sector unions threaten the integrity of our very democracy.
DiSalvo, a third generation union member, recognizes the difference that collective bargaining made in the lives of his immigrant grandfather, a steelworker in Pittsburgh, and his father, a carpenter. He is not opposed to unions on ideological grounds. Rather, he opposes the form they have taken in the public sector, where they often face no real opposition in negotiations. Moreover, the public sector can't go out of business no matter how much union members manage to squeeze out of it. Union members have no incentive to ever settle for less, and this has a profound impact on the health of our society, as the costs get passed along to the taxpayer. States and municipalities break under the weight of their pension obligations, and the chasm between well-compensated public sector employees and their beleaguered private sector counterparts widens. Where private sector unions can provide a necessary counterweight to the power of capital, public employee unions are basically bargaining against themselves; it's no wonder they almost always win. The left is largely in thrall to the unions, both ideologically and financially; the right would simply take a hatchet to the state itself, eliminating important and valuable government services. Neither side offers a realistic vision of well-run, efficient government that serves the public.
Moving beyond stale and unproductive partisan divisions, DiSalvo argues that we can build a better, more responsive government that is accountable to taxpayers. But we cannot do it until we challenge the dominance of public sector unions in government. This carefully reasoned analysis of the power of public sector unions is sure to be controversial, and will be an important contribution to the debates about public vs. private unions, increasing inequality, and the role of government in American life.

East Asia has undergone an intense period of economic development and accompanying social change in recent years and among the unforeseen social phenomena that have emerged are new forms of trade unions. This book analyzes the importance of such a new union movement in Korea by focusing on the promotion of social reforms by, and the intensification of interunion solidarity between the white-collar movement factions.

Three sectors of the white-collar movement are examineda "financial, hospital, and research unions. In comparing their success in raising social reforms and fortifying interunion solidarity, Doowon Suh considers diverse macro and micro social relations, such as the structure of political opportunities, organization leadership, and the effects of internal labor markets.

This book is an important read for those interested in industrial relations, labor history and social movements in Korea.

Richard B. Freeman and James L. Medoff's now classic 1984 book What Do Unions Do? stimulated an enormous theoretical and empirical literature on the economic impact of trade unions. Trade unions continue to be a significant feature of many labor markets, particularly in developing countries, and issues of labor market regulations and labor institutions remain critically important to researchers and policy makers. The relations between unions and management can range between cooperation and conflict; unions have powerful offsetting wage and non-wage effects that economists and other social scientists have long debated. Do the benefits of unionism exceed the costs to the economy and society writ large, or do the costs exceed the benefits? The Economics of Trade Unions offers the first comprehensive review, analysis and evaluation of the empirical literature on the microeconomic effects of trade unions using the tools of meta-regression analysis to identify and quantify the economic impact of trade unions, as well as to correct research design faults, the effects of selection bias and model misspecification. This volume makes use of a unique dataset of hundreds of empirical studies and their reported estimates of the microeconomic impact of trade unions. Written by three authors who have been at the forefront of this research field (including the co-author of the original volume, What Do Unions Do?), this book offers an overview of a subject that is of huge importance to scholars of labor economics, industrial and employee relations, and human resource management, as well as those with an interest in meta-analysis.

Much has been written about communicating within organizations but relatively little on the critical skill of communicating upward. Green and Knippen, experts in employee motivation and performance, show how essential it is to the success of an organization, public or private, for employees to get their ideas up the ladder and into the hands of the top decision-makers. Their book outlines more than 40 specific upward communication needs and offers a structure that will ensure that the movement of ideas upward actually takes place. Unique in that it provides concrete advice for executives, managers, and employees alike, the book is especially important for human resource specialists, people engaged in training and developing the managers of tomorrow and contributing to the organization's success today.

Green and Knippen are quick to identify the barriers to communication of any kind, and particularly the special barriers that inhibit the flow of ideas upward. They provide readers with concrete advice, not only on what to communicate upward but the essential skills of how to do it. They maintain that knowing both what to communicate and how to communicate are the most crucial talents that one can have, and yes, they can be taught. But not only do they help people in their careers, they also help people take control of their lives off the job as well. Those who want to improve these essential skills and in doing so get along better with people in higher level positions will find much wisdom here, in a readable, engaging presentation, and a thoughtful look at what they must do first, and do now.

This comparative study of industrial relations provides an analysis of a wide range of phenomena, with a view to uncovering the origins of national diversity. It takes into account the notion of strategic choice, set within a series of constraints of environment, organizational and institutional conditions and power relationships.
The book:
* Covers a wide range of examples from the UK, USA, France, Germany Italy, Sweden, Eastern Europe, Latin America, India and Japan
* Includes a comprehensive analysis of management and employers' associations, labour and trades unions
* Examines the role of the state in comparative perspective

Offering a comprehensive account of the role of trade unions in Asia today, this book, put together by two editors who have published extensively in the areas of business and economics in Asia, covers all the important Asian economies: both developed and developing.

Making a vital contribution to the very small amount of literature that has been published on this topic, this book focuses, in particular on how trade unions have organized to represent workers and the strategies they have adopted. It discusses the issues surrounding wages and working conditions, health and safety, women's employment opportunities and human resource development, in the context of the major regional economies, including Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, China, India, Vietnam, Thailand and Indonesia.

This is an essential read for both professional and postgraduate students, studying or working in the areas of Asian business.

This book presents and examines evidence and theories about changing patterns of industrial relations and their links to convergence on the one hand, and economic competitiveness on the other. It includes a comprehensive set of comparable date on industrial relations in twenty OECD countries including Australia, the United States, Canada, Japan, and most leading European countries.

This is a book about how global unionism was born in the maritime shipping sector. It argues that the industrial structure of shipping, and specifically the interconnected nature of shipping production chains, facilitated the globalization of union bargaining strategy, and the transnationalization of union structures for mobilizing industrial action. This, in turn, led to global collective bargaining institutions and effective union participation in global regulatory politics. This study uses a variety of source and analytical techniques, relying heavily on interviews with union official and other maritime industry people in many countries.

Over the past 30 years Robert Dingwall has published an influential series of articles on the professions, especially law and medicine. This represents a substantial and coherent body of work in an important sub-discipline of sociology. This volume assembles the best of these writings in one single accessible place. The ten essays are republished in their original form, each bearing the traces of the time and place it was written. In sum, they provide a fascinating account of an academic journey. They are introduced with a foreword from the author, who places the work in context and offers some thoughts about how the work might be used by scholars in developing the field, to evaluate, for example, the effects of the New Labour period on professional autonomy. The essays will be indispensable to sociologists with a general interest in the professions and to scholars of law, medicine and business.

Recasting labor studies in a long-term and global framework, the book draws on a major new database on world labor unrest to show how local labor movements have been related to world-scale political, economic, and social processes since the late nineteenth century. Through an in-depth empirical analysis of select global industries, the book demonstrates how the main locations of labor unrest have shifted from country to country together with shifts in the geographical location of production. It shows how the main sites of labor unrest have shifted over time together with the rise or decline of new leading sectors of capitalist development and demonstrates that labor movements have been deeply embedded (as both cause and effect) in world political dynamics. Over the history of the modern labor movement, the book isolates what is truly novel about the contemporary global crisis of labor movements. Arguing against the view that this is a terminal crisis, the book concludes by exploring the likely forms that emergent labor movements will take in the twenty-first century.

'Jane Holgate is a brilliant thinker' - Jane McAlevey In Arise, Jane Holgate argues that unions must revisit their understanding of power in order to regain influence and confront capital. Drawing on two decades of research and organising experience, Holgate examines the structural inertia of today's unions from a range of perspectives: from strategic choice, leadership and union democracy to politics, tactics and the agency afforded to rank-and-file members. In the midst of a neoliberal era of economic crisis and political upheaval, the labour movement stands at a crossroads. Union membership is on the rise, but the 'turn to organising' has largely failed to translate into meaningful gains for workers. There is considerable discussion about the lack of collectivism among workers due to casualisation, gig work and precarity, yet these conditions were standard in the UK when workers built the foundations of the 19th-century trade union movement. Drawing on history and case studies of unions developing and using power effectively, this book offers strategies for moving beyond the pessimism that prevails in much of today's union movement. By placing power analysis back at the heart of workers' struggle, Holgate shows us that transformational change is not only possible, but within reach.

Since 1996 a growing number of European employees have access to a European works council (EWC), a transnational employee body designed to complement national forms of labour representation . This volume brings together a hep hive of contributors who present valuable new insights into how employee representatives from different European countries perform their jobs as members of European Works Councils in an attempt to develop some sense of a common European labour identity

The transnational character of the EWC makes it an ideal microscopic structure through which the wider discourse surrounding identity a " especially when associated with globalization, Europeanization, and mobility a " can occur. a ~Towards a European Labour Identitya (TM) examines not only the workings of the EWCs, utilising individual case studies, but also analyses and asses the link with the broader discussions on European identity as well as European trade union co-ordination and solidarity.

This work explores developments in the labor markets of five countries--South Korea, Malaysia, Taiwan, Thailand, and the Philippines--which have undergone successful economic development during the past quarter of a century. This includes employment, earnings, industrial relations, and social security measures. While the Philippines' progress has lagged, the other four countries constitute the most successful group of the world's developing countries--offering a interesting contrast in approaches to growth. The author's methodology is comparative by specific subject, so that a correlation of developmental stages and the emergence of particular features of the labor market emerges.

This study is unique in that inter-country comparisons are made in terms of specific aspects of the labor market. The work will be of interest to economists, political scientists, and sociologists concerned with problems of development. And it will be useful in pointing the way to successful development practices.

The readings in this volume will enlighten and enliven the contents of any standard public administration text covering human resource management. Selected mainly from the pages of Public Administration Review and Review of Public Personnel Administration, these classic articles trace the historical and evolutionary development of the fields of public personnel administration and labor relations from the point at which the first civil service law was passed - the Pendelton Act in 1883 - through the 21st century. The collection covers everything from the seminal concerns of civil service (e.g., keeping spoils out) to topics that early reformers would never have envisioned (e.g., affirmative action and drug testing). These works continue to inform the theory and practice of public personnel and labor relations. To facilitate an instructor's ability to assign readings that illuminate lectures and course material, a correlation matrix on the M.E. Sharpe website shows how this book can be used easily alongside eight leading textbooks.