A study of the long-term decline of the labour movement in America, exploring the outlook for labour and unions in the 21st century. There are insights from contributors from a range of backgrounds - academic and non-academic, domestic and foreign, pro- and anti-union.

A study of the long-term decline of the labour movement in America, exploring the outlook for labour and unions in the 21st century. There are insights from contributors from a range of backgrounds - academic and non-academic, domestic and foreign, pro- and anti-union.

In his original book on CyberUnions, Shostak presented a bold plan for unions to develop a more significant role in the 21st century by adopting four strategic aids -- futuristics, innovations, services, and traditions (F-I-S-T) -- knit together by cutting-edge InfoTech resources. The CyberUnion Handbook expands on the F-I-S-T model with practical, how-to information and advice on every aspect of using technology to advance Labor's interests. It looks at gains and setbacks in pioneering efforts to create CyberUnions, highlights relevant websites, and includes interviews with key CyberUnion advocates. The book also reviews overseas efforts for transferable lessons, and pays special attention to the AFL-CIO campaign to ensure Labor's advances in the use of InfoTech.

Unlike Europe, where most public sector workers have long been included in collective bargaining agreements, the United States excluded public employees from such legislation until the 1960s and 70s. Since then, union membership in the U. S. has grown more rapidly among public workers than among workers in the private sector. This book provides up-to-date information on public sector collective bargaining in the United States today. The editors' seek to understand the real nature of PSB by examining eight states where the action is taking place -- California, Hawaii, Illinois, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. The chapters offer unique case studies of legal origins, developments, and challenges to collective bargaining; negotiations experience and outcomes; discussion of legislation; and emphasis of histoical development as well as current practice.

Unlike Europe, where most public sector workers have long been included in collective bargaining agreements, the United States excluded public employees from such legislation until the 1960s and 70s. Since then, union membership in the U. S. has grown more rapidly among public workers than among workers in the private sector. This book provides up-to-date information on public sector collective bargaining in the United States today. The editors' seek to understand the real nature of PSB by examining eight states where the action is taking place -- California, Hawaii, Illinois, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. The chapters offer unique case studies of legal origins, developments, and challenges to collective bargaining; negotiations experience and outcomes; discussion of legislation; and emphasis of histoical development as well as current practice.

Based on an industrial relations case study conducted in a British Steel plant in the north east coast iron and steel industry, this book, first published in 1976, is an account of the application of sociological concepts and ideas to the process of social relations between employer and employee, and between all types of workers in industrial organisations.

This book, first published in 1973, analyses and sets in context one of the major issues in the growth of the European economy. Workers' participation played an increasingly vital role in industrial relations. This book looks at the background and development of different types of participation in Britain, ranging from workers' attempts at co-operative production, through the schemes in the nationalised industries of mining and steel, to the Fairfields Experiment and the Upper Clyde 'work-in' in shipbuilding. This book concludes with an account of the developments in worker councils and worker directors in nine other European countries.

The focus of this book is the process of unionization in the road haulage industry, in particular, the role of leadership in determining the quality of union organization. It analyzes the early history of road haulage unions, the creation of the TGWU, the failure to organize the industry during the 1930s and the consequent reliance upon statutory regulation of wages and conditions, and the subsequent institutional stasis of the TGWU during the 1950s. The transformation and expansion of union organization during the period of 1963-1973, conceived as the mobilization of collective power by workers within the employment relationship, is explored in case studies of TGWU branches in Birmingham, Liverpool and London, and within the wider context of TGWU. The retrenchment of union organization as a result of recession and Conservative government legislation, 1980-1994, is explored. The book concludes with an assessment of theories of unionization and democracy, and the role of leadership, with reference to the historical development of British trade unionism.

This book offers wide-ranging insights into the organising capacities of workers in Asia today. Nine case-studies examine workers' responses to class relations through independent unions, non-government organisations (NGOs) and more (dis)organised struggles. Countering the notion that globalisation holds entirely negative consequences for labour organisation, the authors reveal some of the openings for local activism which can arise from transnational production arrangements. They reject the assertion that globalisation is the main determinant of labour's weakness and marginalisation in the region.
The volume covers the "second-tier" industrializers - China, Thailand, Malaysia, the Philippines, Indonesia, India and Bangladesh. Interdisciplinary in nature, it will be of great interest to students and scholars of Asian studies, development studies and international labour studies.

Focussing on a period of rapid and significant change in the coal industry, this volume, originally published in 1936, sets out the economic facts of the industry and discusses the extent to which politics and industry became interwoven during the years 1910-1936. As well as covering key events such as the General Strike of 1926 and the effects this had on both the UK mining industry and the general population, this volume also examines industrial relations, the growth of the unions and modernization of the industry.

This title was first published in 2001. Detailed interviews with activists and case studies of decision-making bodies show how different membership groups exploit equal opportunities strategies to facilitate or impede women. These case studies expose the conundrum of understanding women as a differentiated but distinct membership group. They illustrate why women activists need to be understood in their diverse and multiple roles of being low paid workers, black women, lesbians and members of political parties, but also demonstrate that women are most empowered when treated as an oppressed social group.

This book offers wide-ranging insights into the organising capacities of workers in Asia today. Nine case-studies examine workers' responses to class relations through independent unions, non-government organisations (NGOs) and more (dis)organised struggles. Countering the notion that globalisation holds entirely negative consequences for labour organisation, the authors reveal some of the openings for local activism which can arise from transnational production arrangements.
The volume covers the "second-tier" industrializers - China, Thailand, Malaysia, the Philippines, Indonesia, India and Bangladesh. Interdisciplinary in nature, it will be of great interest to students and scholars of Asian studies, development studies and international labour studies.

This book breaks new ground on a controversial subject in industrial relations and human resource management -- nonunion forms of employee representation in the workplace. Practiced in many different ways, such as joint committees, employee forums, and plant councils, nonunion methods of employee representation are spreading rapidly as part of employee involvement and participation programs. But these employee groups remain highly controversial and heavily restricted by labor law in the United States because of their potential abuse in union avoidance. The American approach stands in sharp contrast to policies in other countries, such as Canada, Germany and Japan, where nonunion employee representation is largely unrestricted or even encouraged by law.

In this volume a distinguished, international set of authors provide an in-depth, balanced analysis and evaluation of this timely and much-debated topic. They give special emphasis to an historical assessment of nonunion employee representation, its practice and performance in modern workplaces, and cross-national differences in law and public policy. Recent proposals for reform of American legal treatment of nonunion employee representation are also carefully considered, and an evaluation and suggested plan of action are put forward.

By providing a detailed analysis of the extent to which the McDonald's Corporation adapts or imposes its labour relations policies in Europe, this volume represents a real life case study revealing the interaction between a global multi-national enterprise and the regulatory systems of a number of different European countries.

"Justice in the Workplace" acts as a central reference point for application of organizational justice and helps human resource managers relate the importance of justice to their work environments.
Forming much of this book's content, outcomes, processes, and interpersonal treatment are three powerful tools for building and maintaining workplace justice. In Part I these books are discussed at a theoretical level. Part II applies these theories to several issues important to both human resource management and society. And Part III looks at organizational justice in the years ahead.
Compared to the first volume, this book will appeal to practitioners and researchers in such applied areas as human resource management, industrial organizational psychology, and management.

In this ground breaking contribution to Marxist economic theory, Peter H. Jones provides a comprehensive analysis of profit rates in the lead up to the Great Recession. The Falling Rate of Profit and the Great Recession of 2007-2009 develops a new interpretation of Marx's labour theory of value rooted in non-equilibrium, and applies this theory to US national accounting data. In so doing Jones shows that, when measured correctly, the profit rate falls in the lead up to the Great Recession due to the rising organic composition of capital-the primary reason for crises in Marx's own account. From there Jones also details a new theory of finance, showing how cycles in the profit rate relate to stock market booms and slumps, and movements in the interest rate. He then discusses the implications of this analysis, and Marx and Engels' work generally, for a democratic socialist strategy.

Contents:
1. Introduction: UNISON and public service trade unionism Michael Terry
Part I. UNISON: Structures and Processes
2. The creation of UNISON Rodney Bickerstaffe
3. The making of UNISON: a framework to review key events, processes and issues Bob Fryer
4. UNISON's management of the merger and beyond Michael Dempsey
5. UNISON's approach to organisation development in a democratic organisation Margaret Wheeler
6. Strategic review and organisational change in UNISON Trevor Colling and Tim Claydon
7. Promoting representation of women within UNISON Anne McBride
8. Working with Labour: the impact of UNISONs political settlement Maggie Jones
9. UNISON and New Labour: Searching for new relationships Tom Sawyer
Part II. The UNISON Agenda
10. UNISON and changes in collective bargaining in health and local government Carole Thornley, Mike Ironside and Roger Seifert
11. UNISON and low pay policy Peter Morris
12. UNISON and low pay policy: a comment on Morris Carole Thornley
13. UNISONs approach to lifelong learning Anne Munro and Helen Rainbird
14. UNISONs approach to lifelong learning: a comment on Munro and Rainbird Jim Sutherland
15. Between elation and despair: UNISON and the new social policy agenda Mick Carpenter
16. UNISON and the quality of public service provision: any lessons from the rest of Europe? Michael Terry
17. Towards an organising model in UNISON? A trade union membership strategy in transition Jeremy Waddington and Allan Kerr
18. Reflections on UNISON after five years John Monks

Contents:
1. Introduction and overview:Understanding working time around the world Part I: Current trends and patterns in work hours: What is the evidence? 2. The enigma of working time trends 3. Working time reduction in the European Union: A diversity of trends and approaches 4:.The longest day: Working time for teachers 5. Working hours and time pressure: The controversy about trends in time use Part II: Empirical and theoretical foundations:Explaining overwork and underemployment 6. Who are the overworked Americans? 7. The incentive to work hard: Differences in black and white workers hours and preferences 8. Driven to spend: Longer work hours as a by-product of market forces 9. Natural, social and political limits to work time: The contemporary relevance of Marx's analysis 10. Revising the labour supply curve: Implications for work time and minimum wage legislation Part III: Innovations in working time and public policy 11. Working time reductions, employment consequences and lessons from Europe: Defusing a quasi-religious controversy 12. The perennial 'lump of labour' case against worksharing: Populist fallacy or marginalist throwback? 13. Better timing: Work schedule flexibility among US workers and policy directions 14. The social implications of European work time policies: Promoting gender equity? 15. History and housework: :Implications for work hours and family policies in market economies

In developed countries, the food superstore or hypermarket has become the dominant mode of food distribution; and their success has transformed the retail sector. But each new store has changed the employment regime of the stores they replace. For retailers, labour is a major cost; with opening hours being extended, and consumer demand patterns changing, one solution has been the use of part-time labour. Extensive use of such labour characterises British food retailing for example whereas it is less common in France. This book examines the reasons for such differences, and the potential which management and employees have within the operation to manage working time to their benefit. This book makes use of a four country research programme, covering France, Germany, Great Britain and Japan. Investigations and interviews at store, company and individual level, paint a picture of working time in the sector and in each of the countries. The volume provides some explanations for national differences as well as the similarities; supply and demand issues, as well as societal and social backgrounds. Large format food retailing is a major force in each country, employing millions in many di

Worker Activism After Successful Union Organizing shows how different levels of worker participation during an organizing campaign influence the perceptions and actions of those same workers after a campaign ends and, thereby, the long-term effectiveness and success of the organizing effort. Drawing on historical and current examples, Markowitz analyzes the political and economic contexts within which today's unions are organizing, and she proves that the act of organizing is a long-term process that continues far beyond an actual campaign. And, in today's anti-union business climate, this book sends a clear message that the key to the future vitality of labor is to involve all workers more fully in the organizing process.

An examination of the complex process of transformation in work organization, technology and labour and product markets that has occurred. The analysis moves between a broad appreciation of structural developments within the economies of the advanced industrial nations, and an in-depth study of enterprise and workplace. It is divided into four parts. The first part reviews the theoretical issues and debates raised by the growth of service industries and employment in the advanced industrial countries. Parts Two and Three are case studies of two service sectors - financial services and the National Health Service. Part Four relates the evidence to a broader appreciation of developments in management/workforce relations occurring in the service sector.

"The Necessity of Organization " describes Mary Kenney O'Sullivan's struggle to improve labor conditions through trade unionism. Appointed the first woman organizer for the American Federation of Labor in 1892, she went on to be a co-founder of the Women's Trade Union League, formed in 1903 as a cross-class alliance of women workers and their middle- and upper-class allies. The possibilities and limits of trade unionism for women, given the class and gender constraints of the period, are the focus of this book.
(Ph.D. dissertation, University of Massachusetts, 1998; revised with new preface, bibliography, and index)

Shows how different levels of worker participation during a union organizing campaign influence the perceptions and actions of those same workers after the campaign ends, and, thereby, the long-term effectiveness and success of the organizing effort. Drawing on historical and current examples, the author analyzes the political and economic contexts within which today's unions are organizing, including a detailed examination of the impact of the Wagner Act.

Although it is hardly publicized, something remarkable is happening to Organized Labor. Key players in the United States and abroad are busy modernizing their communications, and making creative and effective use of computers and other technology. Drawing on "infotech" devices (computer networks, the Internet, video conferencing, fax machines, wireless communication, and multi-media), Labor struggles to renew its "voice" and "ears", and, in the process, new hope has been stirred that this just might help it transform its organizational culture, refine its mission, and reinvent itself.

The road to creating a CyberUnion (the combination of four strategic reform aids -- futuristics, innovations, services, and traditions -- knitted together with infotech resources into a comprehensive industrial relations model) has already begun and unions already embracing this model are ensuring a position of strength in the 21st century. CyberUnion is a bold plan for Organized Labor to remain strong for many decades to come, and this work examines the components of the model, progress already made, and plans to ensure continued success.