First published in 1984. This book represents a major study of union responses to the economic crisis of the 1970s and 1980s. Abjuring governmental or managerial outlooks, it argues that unions, as representatives of essential producer groups, would be central to the renegotiation of the economic world. The work also stresses the importance of situating union responses to the crisis within the socio-historical evolution of their political economies during the rise and decline of the post-war economic boom. The Social Democratic affiliation of unions in Britain, West Germany and Sweden make them particularly comparable. This title will be of interest to students of politics and economics.

Cole saw the trade unions as being critical to progress, but to realise their role they needed to change and the issue of trade union structure therefore became fundamental. He considered in this volume that trade union structure was a central problem of the labour movement - he described British trade unionism as a movement bereft of ideas and policy. He discusses the evolution in the trade unions to cover not only wages and working conditions but the organisation and control of industry.

This book showcases the inequalities experienced between the Global North and the Global South by exploring the production and distribution model of goods and services worldwide through an analysis of why the structure, framework, and interconnectedness of global supply chains increases the persistence of worker rights' violations. The narrative explains the power relationships between multinational corporations, their subcontractors, governments, non-governmental organizations, labor unions, and workers. The text focuses primarily on competition between workers in the Global South and the Global North who are compelled to work in global supply chains for their survival and takes a macro-look at how global supply chains operate, how they are governed, who invests and why, and who wins and who loses. From the workers' perspective, the text highlights the millions of low-wage workers who suffer exploitation and abuse at the hands of greedy multi-national corporations who are able to distance themselves from any liability for workers' welfare through an institutional system created by national/state governments, trade agreements, and tax and investment strategies which protect property rights over workers' rights. The fragile plight of workers crescendos through examples of exploitation and abuse in the fishing, mining, apparel, electronic and manufacturing industries, focusing events of workplace disasters, and slave-like working conditions, then climaxes by providing strategies to help strengthen workers through legislative and policy initiatives, collective action, and social and public pressure.

This work provides a history of the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union. Topics covered include: the union's influence on political legislation and global economy; the story of the East European immigrants at the turn of the 20th century; and the union's spirit of social reform.

This work provides a history of the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union. Topics covered include: the union's influence on political legislation and global economy; the story of the East European immigrants at the turn of the 20th century; and the union's spirit of social reform.

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.

The essays in this volume examine the historic and present-day role of the internal critics of the postwar regimes in Eastern Europe who, whatever their intentions, used Marxism as critique to demolish Marxism as ideocracy, but did not succeed in replacing it.

The essays in this volume examine the historic and present-day role of the internal critics of the postwar regimes in Eastern Europe who, whatever their intentions, used Marxism as critique to demolish Marxism as ideocracy, but did not succeed in replacing it.

On attaining office in Autumn 1989, the Solidarity-led government in Poland faced two enormous tasks. First was the restoration of stability to an economy prone to hyperinflation; second, was the replacement of a crumbling command system in favour of a market mechanism, in a country whose market institutions had been destroyed under 40 years of communist rule. "Stabilization and Structural Adjustment in Poland" recounts the events of this period and the course taken by the new government. The authors analyze the issues involved and their significance for the transition process in Poland and elsewhere. The book is divided into four parts. Part 1 outlines the economic and intellectual climate prior to the introduction of the government's bold plan. Named the "Balcerowicz Plan", after its chief architect, this aimed to liberalize and stabilize the economy simultaneously. Part 2 examines the macroeconomic situation in this period. The authors discuss the initial improvements - the improved balance of trade, the accumulation of foreign reserves and the increase in the external value of the zloty. These developments, however, were short lived, and the macroeconomy soon began to decline.

Bob Crow was the most high-profile and militant union leader of his generation. This biography focuses on his leadership of the RMT union, examining and exposing a number of popular myths created about him by political opponents. Using the schema of his personal characteristics (including his public persona), his politics and the power of his members, it explains how and why he was able to punch above his weight in industrial relations and on the political stage, helping the small RMT union become as influential as many of its much larger counterparts. As RMT leader, Crow oversaw a rise in membership and promoted a more assertive and successful bargaining approach. While he failed to unite all socialists into one new party, he established himself as the leading popular critic of neo-liberalism, 'New' Labour and the age of austerity. -- .

This stimulating collection of essays by distinguished British, American, Australian and German scholars, originally published in 1985, offers a picture of the upsurge of New Unionism and the growth of old unions, and looks at the severe setbacks which occurred in the labour movements of Britain and Germany between the 1880s and the First World War. Labour history is seen from a European perspective and special emphasis is placed on the role of the state in Britain and Germany in its desire to contain and suppress trade union activity by law or force. Insights are provided into the political allegiances of the unions and their members to the parties of the working class and the state.

Using data from the 2000 Census, this collection examines the major demographic and employment trends in the rural Midwestern states with special attention to the issues that state and local policy makers must address in the near future.

Using data from the 2000 Census, this collection examines the major demographic and employment trends in the rural Midwestern states with special attention to the issues that state and local policy makers must address in the near future.

Japanese trade unions are generally considered to be rather weak and their co-operative relationship with employers has been a major factor contributing to Japanese economic success. Paradoxically, Japanese labour law has hitherto been viewed as relatively pro-union. Anthony Woodiwiss traces the development of Japanese labour law from the middle of the 19th century to the present. He shows how labour law has grown out of prevailing economic and political circumstances and relates the development of labour law to the development of society and of citizenship rights. On this basis he argues that Japanese labour law is not in fact as pro-union as previously thought, and concludes that the prospects for trade unions in Japan continue to deteriorate rather than improve.

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Longshoremen stand at the nexus of the global economy, handling nearly every cargo container that enters or leaves any country. Even in the face of cargo acontainerizationa in the 70s and 80s, a development that decimated longshore unions, they have managed to win contracts that provide health benefits and high wages.

On the Global Waterfront tells the story of how longshoremen in South Carolina confronted attempts to wipe out the stateas most powerful black organization. When a Danish shipping company began to shift their transportation to a nonunion firm in 1999, Local 1422 in Charleston, South Carolina, mobilized to protect their hard-won rights. What followed culminated in a protest in which 660 riot police were deployed against fifty dockworkers, a group that grew to 150 before the night was over. Four black and one white longshoreman -- subsequently known as the Charleston 5 -- were held for twenty months under house arrest on trumped-up felony charges of inciting a riot.

Within the politically conservative, racially charged, and intensely religious climate of the South, the unassuming local union president, Ken Riley -- supported behind the scenes by a militant AFL-CIO staffer -- crafted an international, grassroots campaign in defense of the arrested longshoremen. From Australia to Europe to Korea to the entire west coast of the United States, longshoremen threatened to shut down ports jeopardizing billions of dollars in trade per day. Their ultimate success vaulted Riley, and his reform-minded coworkers, to higher leadership in a notoriously corrupt union, and laid the foundation for successful rebuffs in ports around the world. On the GlobalWaterfront explores in detail a local conflict and in the process exposes the powers that rule the United States and the global economy. This compelling narrative of a local struggle, a transformed union leader, and a newly energized international worker movement highlights the resounding importance of the international labor movement that is not only still vital, but still capable of stopping global commerce on a dime.

Historical Studies in Industrial Relations was established in 1996 by the Centre for Industrial Relations, Keele University, to provide an outlet for, and to stimulate an interest in, historical work in the field of industrial relations and the history of industrial relations thought. Content broadly covers the employment relationship and economic, social and political factors surrounding it - such as labour markets, union and employer policies and organization, the law, and gender and ethnicity. Articles with an explicit political dimension, particularly recognising divisions within the working class and within workers' organizations, will be encouraged, as will historical work on labour law.

Almost half of government employees are represented by labor organizations, and public-sector unions act as a significant force in the effective operation of government and can exert substantial control over labor costs and procedures in the workplace. The response by state and local officials has varied greatly, with collective bargaining frameworks existing as a patchwork of experiments--from mandated collective bargaining to outright prohibition. While their policy actions seem to recognize the benefits of bilateral negotiation, the spectre of service disruption continues to haunt them. Because public-sector bargaining is a recent development, policy analysts lack a firm handle on policymaking in this sphere. Piskulich examines the dimensions of state and local public-sector labor policy and explores policies that enable policymakers to manage the collective bargaining process in line with their goals.

This study looks at the three questions most crucial to policy efficacy: what governments do; why they do it; and what difference it makes. Three central findings emerge from the issue of what governments do. The evidence indicates increasing enactment of labor policy over time across subnational jurisdictions. Policy across occupations is stable, though there are important differences in the willingness of the employer to tolerate strikes and resolve impasses. Third, it appears that policy actors make three distinct sets of decisions: basic policy; the availability and mechanics of the arbitration mechanism; and the degree to which they provide public unions with institutionalized union security. The answer to why they do it hinges on factors of ideology and policy; the effects are mitigated when unionization is considered. What difference it makes, examines two variables in particular: unionization and service disruption. Piskulich reaches three conclusions: that a majority of subnational jurisdictions see value in collective bargaining for their public employees, that unions can help themselves, and that unionization and disruption vary with policies implemented. These findings provide insight into the larger questions on the role of organized labor in American democracy.

This book, first published in 1994, explores the impact of work and gender roles on union activism, and identifies factors that support and hinder women's representation in trade unions. These issues are discussed in terms of gender role, work-related and union-related factors. The author details what trade unionists are doing to challenge inequalities that still exist, and identifies factors that divide and unite men and women within trade unions. The author shows the impact that feminism has had on the trade union movement and explores the extent to which men and women have similar priorities for collective bargaining.

In this book, first published in 1975, the author examines the role of women in the workforce. Despite representing a rapidly increasing section of the workforce, why are women still overwhelmingly confined to unskilled jobs? Why do they hold such a tiny proportion of managerial and professional posts? In answering these vital questions Ross Davies shows how women's economic roles in pre-industrial society were modified and distorted by industrialisation; how this legacy of exploitation has affected contemporary attitudes among both men and women; and how the present situation should be seen and assessed in its proper perspective.

This book, first published in 1941, is concerned to relate the argument for Trade Unionism to the needs of women who work, whether in their homes or outside them. It is, in part, a historical analysis of the inter-war years, and it also prefigures the changes to women's working conditions brought about by the two World Wars. War necessitated the mass employment of women, and Trade Union action had greatly improved the position of the woman war-worker of 1941 compared to a quarter century previously. This invaluable book examines that Trade Union action.

This is the third volume on the history of the Transport and General Workers' Union (TGWU), covering the period 1945 to 1960, and starting with an extraordinary moment in its history. There were such high hopes with the election of Attlee’s Labour government, committed to a series of radical reforms, establishing the Welfare State and nationalising key sectors of the economy. These reforms seemed to offer unique opportunities to move forwards towards what Nye Bevan, the main architect of the NHS, saw as a ‘new world both at home and abroad’. Or did it? This volume explores the challenges as well as the opportunities for radical reform, as these played out between 1945 and 1960. There was renewed industrial unrest, with disputes in the docks and transport industries, despite the best efforts of the Labour Government to contain them. Much remained to be achieved in terms of equalities, and there were challenges when it came to calls for international solidarity in the Cold War context. But still, there had been major developments in terms of trade union education. The T&G had become a much more democratic organisation, and, overall, was a more powerful, progressive force by the end of this period. This volume explores issues with continuing relevance for the trade union and labour movement.

Save Our Unions: Dispatches From A Movement in Distress brings together recent essays and reporting by labor journalist Steve Early. The author illuminates the challenges facing U.S. workers, whether they're trying to democratize their union, win a strike, defend past contract gains, or bargain with management for the first time. Drawing on forty years of personal experience, Early writes about cross-border union campaigning, labor strategies for organizing and health care reform, and political initiatives that might lessen worker dependence on the Democratic Party. Save Our Unions contains vivid portraits of rank-and-file heroes and heroines, both well-known and unsung. It takes readers to union conventions and funerals, strikes and picket-lines, celebrations of labor's past and struggles to insure that unions still have a future in the 21st century. The book's insight, analysis and advocacy make this an important contribution to the project of labor revitalization and reform.

First published in 1995. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

First published in 1988. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

Throughout the 1980s Mrs Thatcher dominated political life in the UK and Thatcherism became the shorthand for a series of political initiatives all over the world. Most accounts of these years have concentrated on the economics of free markets and privatization. This book takes a different stance through a detailed analysis of the responses of NALGO (The National and Local Government Officers Association) members, activists, leaders, and officials to the government's public sector reform and restructuring programme. Employees in health, local government, and education faced cuts in funding, compulsory competitive tendering, internal markets, and new management practices associated with HRM and TQM. Others in the gas, water, electricity, and transport industries faced wholesale privatization. This unique account of the period written from the evidence and perspective of those involved will be an important source for researchers, teachers, and practitioners in politics, industrial relations, public administration, and management concerned with the events and lessons of the 1980s.