This book, based on detailed research at national, regional and workplace level, analyzes the development of trade unions and industrial relations in Russia since the collapse of the Soviet system.

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.

Institutions such as trade unions that were once relied upon to protect workers' wages, conditions and job security are eroding. In response, new forms of worker protections are emerging. Protecting the Future of Work examines new forms of regulation that have emerged in response to increasing social concern about poor labour practices, growing inequality, and detrimental working conditions. It looks at how trade unions, community organisations and other actors have mobilised to raise public awareness and pressure businesses and governments to improve working conditions. Featuring a balance of texts on the changing nature of and the history of trade union change and transformation, the series Trade Unionism gives space for in-depth, detailed analysis and captures key themes on the nature of internationalism and trade unionism.

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.

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

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

First published in 1982, Unions, Change and Crisis represents the first detailed, comparative, historical and theoretically grounded study of two of the major trade union movements of Europe. It brings together the results of the first part of the first major study from Harvard University's Centre for European Studies. The book explores, first individually and then comparatively, the evolution of the French and Italian Union movements through the end of the 1970s. It will be of particular interest for students of trade unions, industrial relations and political economy in France and Italy, but also those interested in the comparative analysis of advanced industrial democracies more generally.

In Art Work, Katja Praznik counters the Western understanding of art - as a passion for self-expression and an activity done out of love, without any concern for its financial aspects - and instead builds a case for understanding art as a form of invisible labour. Focusing on the experiences of art workers and the history of labour regulation in the arts in socialist Yugoslavia, Praznik helps elucidate the contradiction at the heart of artistic production and the origins of the mystification of art as labour. This profoundly interdisciplinary book highlights the Yugoslav socialist model of culture as the blueprint for uncovering the interconnected aesthetic and economic mechanisms at work in the exploitation of artistic labour. It also shows the historical trajectory of how policies toward art and artistic labour changed by the end of the 1980s. Calling for a fundamental rethinking of the assumptions behind Western art and exploitative labour practices across the world, Art Work will be of interest to scholars in East European studies, art theory, and cultural policy, as well as to practicing artists.

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.

First published in 1986, this book assesses the politics of the West German trade unions in the context of their larger role as major actors in the polity. By focusing on the historical realities of the labour movement both before and after 1945, the study explains the extent to which organized labour solidified and challenged the dominant structures of politics and authority. It examines the metalworkers' union, the construction workers' union, the printers' union and the chemical workers' union and shows how the industrial reality of each organisation helped shape its political outlook and strategic thinking. This book will be of particular interest to students of trade unions, industrial relations and political economy in West Germany.

If you're lucky enough to be employed today in the United States, there's about a one-in-ten chance that you're in a labor union. And even if you re part of that unionized 10 percent, chances are your union doesn't carry much economic or political clout. But this was not always the case, as historian and activist James Young shows in this vibrant story of the United Electrical Workers Union. The UE, built by hundreds of rank-and-file worker-activists in the quintessentially industrial town of Erie, Pennsylvania, was able to transform the conditions of the working class largely because it went beyond the standard call for living wages to demand quantum leaps in worker control over workplaces, community institutions, and the policies of the federal government itself. James Young's book is a richly empowering history told from below, showing that the collective efforts of the many can challenge the supremacy of the few. Erie's two UE locals confronted a daunting array of obstacles: the corporate superpower General Electric; ferocious red baiting; and later, the debilitating impact of globalization. Yet, by working through and across ethnic, gender, and racial divides, communities of people built a viable working-class base powered by real democracy. While the union's victories could not be sustained completely, the UE is still alive and fighting in Erie. This book is an exuberant and eloquent testament to this fight, and a reminder to every worker employed or unemployed; in a union or out that an injury to one is an injury to all."

In the midst of the freezing winter of 1978-79, more than 2,000 strikes, infamously coined the "Winter of Discontent," erupted across Britain as workers rejected the then Labour Government's attempts to curtail wage increases with an incomes policy. Labour's subsequent electoral defeat at the hands of the Conservative Party under the leadership of Margaret Thatcher ushered in an era of unprecedented political, economic, and social change for Britain. A potent social myth also quickly developed around the Winter of Discontent, one where "bloody-minded" and "greedy" workers brought down a sympathetic government and supposedly invited the ravages of Thatcherism upon the British labour movement. 'The Winter of Discontent' provides a re-examination of this crucial series of events in British history by charting the construction of the myth of the Winter of Discontent. Highlighting key strikes and bringing forward the previously-ignored experiences of female, black, and Asian rank-and-file workers along-side local trade union leaders, the author places their experiences within a broader constellation of trade union, Labour Party, and Conservative Party changes in the 1970s, showing how striking workers' motivations become much more textured and complex than the "bloody-minded" or "greedy" labels imply. The author further illustrates that participants' memories represent a powerful force of "counter-memory," which for some participants, frame the Winter of Discontent as a positive and transformative series of events, especially for the growing number of female activists. Overall, this fascinating book illuminates the nuanced contours of myth, memory, and history of the Winter of Discontent.

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

This book explores the international leadership of the AFL-CIO, the UAW and UAW Local 600, the world's largest union local, and reveals that overall, working-class response to the Vietnam War mirrored that of the American society as a whole.

'Free trade' strategies have increasingly become a problem for the international labour movement. While trade unions in the North especially in manufacturing have supported free trade agreements to secure export markets for their companies, trade unions in the Global South oppose these agreements, since they often imply deindustrialisation. Especially the expansion of the free trade agenda into services, public procurement, investment, intellectual property rights as well as investor to state dispute settlement provisions are considered to be problematic. The purpose of this volume is to understand better these dynamics underlying 'free trade' policy-making in order to explore possibilities for transnational labour solidarity. Bringing together labour academics with trade union researchers and social movement activists, this volume moves from conceptual reflections about the impact of 'free trade' via the analysis of struggles around free trade agreements to considerations of concrete alternatives. This book was published as a special issue of Globalizations.

This volume traces the themes of power, independence, and workers' control as they were practiced by Numsa. A number of small metal organizations, with at times antagonistic organizational and political strategies, were built in different ways and with different attitudes to the exiled liberation movements of the early 1980s. They eventually unified into one powerful organization. Forrest describes how workers' struggles built this power, and she scrutinizes the strategies used in the late 1980s, such as innovative bargaining strategies, to significantly improve the conditions of South Africa's impoverished workers. The volume then progresses to examine how Numsa used its power in an attempt to insert a workers' perspective into the political transition of the early 1990s. It explores the obstacles the union faced, such as the violence that erupted across the country, and its commonality and divergence from the politics of the liberation movements (chiefly the ANC).

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Growing interest in corporate social responsibility (CSR) has focused attention on the relationship between businesses and key stakeholders, such as NGOs and local communities. Curiously, however, commentators on CSR rarely discuss the role of trade unions, while commentators on employment relations seldom engage with CSR. This situation is all the more remarkable since unions are a critically important social actor and have traditionally played a prominent role in defending the interests of one key stakeholder in the company, the employee.

Written by dedicated experts in their field, this book addresses a key gap in the literature on both CSR and employment relations, namely trade union policies towards CSR, as well as union engagement with particular CSR initiatives and the challenges they face in doing so. The research covers eleven European countries which, when taken together, constitute a representative sample of industrial relations structures across the continent.

This book will be essential reading for scholars, students and practitioners of international business, employment relations, public policy and CSR. Its foreword is written by Philippe Pochet and Maria Jepsen, Directors of the European Trade Union Institute in Brussels.

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Unemployment in Theory and Practice examines the effectiveness of current policies in the battle against unemployment. It uses a variety of country case studies to analyse the range of potential causes of and cures for unemployment and analyses the complex nature of labour markets. This volume surveys the policy options and prescribes a mix of both macro and microeconomic policies to combat unemployment effectively. The contributors address the issue of policy targeted groups, including self-employed and older workers, and offer a comprehensive survey of key empirical findings. Issues considered include the rising number of self-employed in Australia and the labour market prospects for the aged in Germany. Particular labour market policies are discussed including the role of training and concerted international action through social democratic and trade union collaboration. The nature of unemployment in countries characterized by economic and social transformation, such as Bulgaria and Poland, is also analysed in detail. The final section of the book is dedicated to wage policy and compensatory pay for the unemployed. It challenges the conventional neoclassical wisdom that wage constraints and limited trade union power will necessarily lead to labour market improvements and reduced unemployment. Evidence from Germany and South Africa is used to argue that collective action is a promising policy alternative. International in scope, the book will be essential reading for undergraduate and postgraduate students of economics, political economy, industrial relations and international economics. It will also appeal to professional economists, sociologists, political scientists, trade unionists and policy advisors.

'Free trade' strategies have increasingly become a problem for the international labour movement. While trade unions in the North especially in manufacturing have supported free trade agreements to secure export markets for their companies, trade unions in the Global South oppose these agreements, since they often imply deindustrialisation. Especially the expansion of the free trade agenda into services, public procurement, investment, intellectual property rights as well as investor to state dispute settlement provisions are considered to be problematic. The purpose of this volume is to understand better these dynamics underlying 'free trade' policy-making in order to explore possibilities for transnational labour solidarity. Bringing together labour academics with trade union researchers and social movement activists, this volume moves from conceptual reflections about the impact of 'free trade' via the analysis of struggles around free trade agreements to considerations of concrete alternatives. This book was published as a special issue of Globalizations.

First published in 1968, the main purpose of this study is to present an account of the Russian Labour Movement, based mainly on original Russian sources. The Labour Movement differed greatly from those of the chief European countries from its inception to the final stage. This text investigates the main trends of the m; to analyse the origins and nature of soviets; and to describe the scope and character of the Russian Labour organization.

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.

'Early in my research, a friend with excellent knowledge of the United Auto Workers internal operations told me, "Don't give up. They are hiding something"...' It's 1990, and US labour is being outsourced to Mexico. Rumours of a violent confrontation at the Mexican Ford Assembly plant on January 8 reach the United Auto Workers (UAW) union in the US: nine employees had been shot by a group of drunken thugs and gangsters, in an act of political repression which changed the course of Mexican and US workers' rights forever. Rob McKenzie was working at the Ford Twin Cities Assembly plant in Minnesota when he heard of the attack. He didn't believe the official story, and began a years-long investigation to uncover the truth. His findings took him further than he expected - all the way to the doors of the CIA. Virtually unknown outside of Mexico, the full story of 'El Golpe', or 'The Coup', is a dark tale of political intrigue that still resonates today.

Teachers and Teacher Unions in a Globalised World asks a series of pressing questions of teacher educators, teachers and teacher unions worldwide in this era of global capitalism. As governments around the world support austerity politics in the face of financial meltdowns, social inequalities, terrorist threats, climate catastrophe, wars and mass migrations, the book questions whether practitioners in teaching and teacher education are succumbing to pressures to dismantle their nation-state systems of education. The authors present a clearly argued case in Ireland for teachers and teacher educators organising to realise their moral and social responsibilities of free and fair schooling for all when it is most needed, as well as insisting on policy debates about a free publicly funded school system. At a time when teachers are feeling overwhelmed with workload and frustrated by the visible turning of events away from the historical record, the book emphasises the importance of practitioner research in informing decisions about a strategic and democratic way forward for education around the globe. Teachers and Teacher Unions in a Globalised World will be of great interest to academics and researchers in the field of education, as well as teacher educators, practitioners and policymakers.

This book examines the status of trade unions in contemporary China, exploring the degree to which trade unions have been reformed as China is increasingly integrated into the global economy, and discussing the key question of how autonomous China's trade unions are. Based on an extensive, grass-roots survey of local trade union chairpersons, the book reveals that although trade unions in foreign owned firms and in firms dealing with foreign firms are beginning to resemble trade unions in the West, in the majority of firms a state corporatist model of trade unions continues, with chairmen appointed by the party, with many of them occupying simultaneously party and trade union positions, and thinking it right to do so, and having power bases and networks in both the party and the trade union, with initiatives for protecting workers? interests coming from the top down, rather than the bottom up, and with collective negotiation and democratic participation in union affairs continuing to be a mere formality. The book shows how the state - wishing to maintain political stability - continues to regard itself, legitimated by the concepts of "socialism" and "proletarian dictatorship," as the sole arbiter of and protector of workers? rights, with no place for workers protecting their own interests themselves in the harsh environment of the new market economy. The book concludes, however, that because the different model of industrial relations which prevails in foreign owned firms is formally part of the government system, there is the possibility that this new more Western model will in time spread more widely.