Organizing Dissent examines the democratic movement that emerged in the 1970s and 1980s within Mexico's National Union of Education Workers, the largest union in Latin America. The size, perseverance, and success the movement stood out in a country whose governing regime was renowned for its ability to co-opt, control, and repress dissent.

Maria Lorena Cook analyzes the development of the teachers' movement from its origins in the 1970s through the economic crisis 0f the 1980s and into the early 1990s under the Salinas administration. She explores the evolving relationship among the union leadership, the state, and rank-and-file teachers, looks closely at organization dynamics and competing strategies within the movement, and compares the successes and failures of six regional contingents of the teachers' movement located in southern and central Mexico.

In 1897 the Berwind-White Coal Mining Company founded Windber as a company town for its miners in the bituminous coal country of Pennsylvania. The Miners of Windber chronicles the coming of unionization to Windber, from the 1890s, when thousands of new immigrants flooded Pennsylvania in search of work, through the New Deal era of the 1930s, when the miners' rights to organize, join the United Mine Workers of America, and bargain collectively were recognized after years of bitter struggle.

Mildred Allen Beik, a Windber native whose father entered the coal mines at age eleven in 1914, explores the struggle of miners and their families against the company, whose repressive policies encroached on every part of their lives. That Windber's population represented twenty-five different nationalities, including Slovaks, Hungarians, Poles, Italians, and Carpatho-Russians, was a potential obstacle to the solidarity of miners. Beik, however, shows how the immigrants overcame ethnic fragmentation by banding together as a class to unionize the mines. Work, family, church, fraternal societies, and civic institutions all proved critical as men and women alike adapted to new working conditions and to a new culture. Circumstance, if not principle, forced miners to embrace cultural pluralism in their fight for greater democracy, reforms of capitalism, and an inclusive, working-class, definition of what it meant to be an American.

Beik draws on a wide variety of sources, including oral histories gathered from thirty-five of the oldest living immigrants in Windber, foreign-language newspapers, fraternal society collections, church manuscripts, public documents, union records, and census materials. The struggles of Windber's diverse working class undeniably mirror the efforts of working people everywhere to democratize the undemocratic America they knew. Their history suggests some of the possibilities and limitations, strengths and weaknesses, of worker protest in the early twentieth century.

Current and anticipated changes in this country's health care system are likely to add momentum to the physicians' union movement, according to Grace Budrys. She documents the emergence and development of the Union of American Physicians and Dentists (UAPD), founded in the San Francisco Bay area in 1972, and suggests it may be a harbinger of renewed organizing efforts throughout the country.Representing both salaried and private practice doctors, the UAPD gained strength in the early 1980s during the crisis in malpractice suits, and surged again in recent years in response to steadily increasing medical corporatization. Budrys argues that the approach to modernization now favored across the country resembles that of the industrialization era. As health organizations become larger, more centralized, and more hierarchical, decisions are made further from the work site and some traditional responsibilities are delegated to lower-paid, less-trained workers.Nevertheless, the image of blue-collar industrial workers organizing into unions is not easily reconciled with our society's image of physicians as highly trained and highly skilled members of a profession long considered the bastion of individualists. Budrys suggests that doctors' unions in general and the UAPD in particular may provide a model for other nontraditional groups and occupations seeking solutions to contemporary problems in the workplace. After discussing the laws governing workers' organizing rights and their interpretation by the courts, she concludes with commentary on the organizing activity taking place among highly paid and highly educated workers.

Daniel Clark demonstrates the dramatic impact unionization made on the lives of textile workers in Henderson, North Carolina, in the decade after World War II. Focusing on the Harriet and Henderson Cotton Mills, he shows that workers valued the Textile Workers Union of America for more than the higher wages and improved benefits it secured for them. Specifically, Clark points to the importance members placed on union-instituted grievance and arbitration procedures, which most labor historians have seen as impediments rather than improvements. From the signing of contracts in 1943 until a devastating strike fifteen years later, the union gave local workers the tools they needed to secure at least some measure of workplace autonomy and respect from their employer. Union-instituted grievance procedures were not without flaws, says Clark, but they were the linchpin of these efforts. When arbitration and grievance agreements collapsed in 1958, the result was the strike that ultimately broke the union. Based on complete access to company archives and transcripts of grievance hearings, this case study recasts our understanding of labor-management relations in the postwar South. |Clark demonstrates the dramatic impact unionization made on the lives of textile workers in Henderson, N.C., in the decade after World War II. Focusing on the Harriet and Henderson Cotton Mills, he shows that workers valued the Textile Workers Union of America for more than the higher wages and improved benefits it secured for them. Members also placed great importance on union-instituted grievance and arbitration procedures, which most labor historians have seen as impediments rather than improvements. Based on complete access to company archives and transcripts of grievance hearings, this case study recasts our understanding of labor-management relations in the postwar South.

The past fifteen years have been difficult for the labor movements in industrial countries. Gary N. Chaison addresses questions implicit in the decline of unions in the United States, Canada, Great Britain, Australia, and New Zealand: How and why do labor unions merge under pressure? What role do mergers play in the unions' strategies to deal with membership losses, management opposition, and hostile governments? Are there distinctive national profiles of union mergers?

Chaison begins by describing the dynamics of the union merger process as large unions combine with each other in amalgamations, as small unions are absorbed into larger ones, and as local unions affiliate into nationals. He discusses the reasons for mergers, the barriers to consolidation, and the problems of integration which may result. The five chapters that follow are arranged in order of increasing intensity in merger activity, ranging from the United States, where interest in mergers is growing, to New Zealand, where changing legislation has catalyzed an enormous wave of mergers.

For each of the five countries considered, Chaison characterizes the industrial relations climate and merger record since 1980, explains landmark mergers, identifies the antecedents, and assesses the chances that a sudden flood of mergers will occur. The final chapter compares the national profiles, extrapolating the significant differences and common threads. Chaison concludes that while mergers can play a critical role in revitalizing labor movements and building the dominant unions of the future, they are not necessarily solving the fundamental economic and political problems that plague unions.

In his visionary analysis, Charles Heckscher argues for "associational unionism," a model outside the tradition of American labor law. Rejecting the usual boundary between workers and management, Heckscher defines a genuinely new system of representation that encourages multilateral negotiation involving management, different groups of employees, and other interested parties, such as consumers or environmentalists. The New Unionism, a Twentieth Century Fund Book, was first published in 1988. This edition includes a new introduction by the author in which he reviews the significance of recent economic and political trends and addresses some of the criticisms of the concept of an associational union.

After a decade dominated by `neo-liberal' policies and by increasing managerial pressures towards labour flexibility in industrial relations, the role of labour movements is under challenge. In the light of the experience of the 1980s this volume provides an interdisciplinary reassessment of the traditions and future of collective worker's action in Western states. Contributors assess the roles of labour movements as actors in the economic system through such mechanisms as collective bargaining, and as actors in the political arena. Labour movements and the institutions in which they are embodied, particularly trade unions, are also examined in the light of the broader social movements from which they originate. Bringing together comparative research from a number of countries, this collection presents a unique source of analysis of recent and future trends in labour movements.

The authority of Polish communists in 1944-1945 was usurpatory; it was not given to them by the Polish people. Nor was the power they held the result of their own actions; they were installed as the country's rulers by the Soviet army. Yet Polish Communists set out to produce credible claims to authority and legitimacy for their power by reshaping the nation's culture and traditions.

Jan Kubik begins his study by demonstrating how the strategy for remodeling the national culture was implemented through extensive use of public ceremonies and displays of symbols by the Gierek regime (1970-1980). He then reconstructs the emergence of the Catholic Church and the organized opposition as viable counter-hegemonic subcultures. Their growing strength opened the way for counter-hegemonic politics, the delegitimization of the regime, the rise of Solidarity, and the collapse of communism.

He is not studying politics per se, but rather culture and the subtle and indirect ways power is realized within it, often outside of traditionally defined politics. Kubik's approach, which draws heavily on modern anthropological theory, helps explain why Solidarity happened in Poland and not elsewhere in the Communist bloc.

David Walsh examines the historically insular unions in the airline industry, where the need for cooperation has been heightened in the era since deregulation. Guided by organizational theory, he analyzes extensive data on pairs of unions, coalitions, and the airline union network as a whole, finding a complex web of connections. Drawing on quantitative data from his network analysis, on the historical background, and on descriptive case studies, including the Eastern Airlines strike, Walsh identifies the possibilities and the limitations of labor solidarity.

Brought up to date, with a new chapter on the labour movement under Reagan.

A ground-breaking study of the Hadrami community in Indonesia. The book considers the evolution of Indonesian Arab identity in the context of the rise of nationalism throughout Southeast Asia during the early twentieth century.

This classic study of the American working class, originally published in 1973, is now back in print with a new introduction and epilogue by the author. An innovative blend of first-person experience and original scholarship, Aronowitz traces the historical development of the American working class from post-Civil War times and shows why radical movements have failed to overcome the forces that tend to divde groups of workers from one another. The rise of labor unions is analyzed, as well as their decline as a force for social change. Aronowitz's new introduction situates the book in the context of developments in current scholarship and the epilogue discusses the effects of recent economic and political changes in the American labor movement.

More than any other labor victory of the 1930s, the emergence of the Steel Workers' Organizing Committee symbolized the rise of organized labor to a position of power in the United States. Yet, as the contributors to this volume demonstrate, the unionization of the steel industry, and most notably the role of SWOC and Philip Murray in that process, has received far less attention than it deserves. Beginning with a discussion of why the unionization of steel has been relatively neglected by labor historians, the contributors to this volume analyze early organizing efforts in steel, the major transformations wrought and felt by the union, and the character of the union members and leaders. Critical throughout is discussion of the role of Philip Murray in shaping the United Steelworkers of America into one of the premier economic, social, and political institution of the war years and beyond. Contributors: David Brody, Malvyn Dubovsky, Ronald L. Filippelli, Mark McColloch, Ronald W. Schatz

It is a bedrock American belief: the 1950s were a golden age of prosperity for autoworkers. Flush with high wages and enjoying the benefits of generous union contracts, these workers became the backbone of a thriving blue-collar middle class. It is also a myth. Daniel J. Clark began by interviewing dozens of former autoworkers in the Detroit area and found a different story--one of economic insecurity caused by frequent layoffs, unrealized contract provisions, and indispensable second jobs. Disruption in Detroit is a vivid portrait of workers and an industry that experienced anything but stable prosperity. As Clark reveals, the myths--whether of rising incomes or hard-nosed union bargaining success--came later. In the 1950s, ordinary autoworkers, union leaders, and auto company executives recognized that although jobs in their industry paid high wages, they were far from steady and often impossible to find.

A wave of teacher strikes in the 1960s and 1970s roiled urban communities. Jon Shelton illuminates how this tumultuous era helped shatter the liberal-labor coalition and opened the door to the neoliberal challenge at the heart of urban education today. As Shelton shows, many working- and middle-class whites sided with corporate interests in seeing themselves as society's only legitimate, productive members. This alliance increasingly argued that public employees and the urban poor took but did not give. Drawing on a wealth of research ranging from school board meetings to TV news reports, Shelton puts readers in the middle of fraught, intense strikes in Newark, St. Louis, and three other cities where these debates and shifting attitudes played out. He also demonstrates how the labor actions contributed to the growing public perception of unions as irrelevant or even detrimental to American prosperity. Foes of the labor movement, meanwhile, tapped into cultural and economic fears to undermine not just teacher unionism but the whole of liberalism.

The New York City Teachers Union shares a deep history with the American left, having participated in some of its most explosive battles. Established in 1916, the union maintained an early, unofficial partnership with the American Communist Party, winning key union positions and advocating a number of Party goals. Clarence Taylor recounts this pivotal relationship and the backlash it created, as the union threw its support behind controversial policies and rights movements. Taylor's research reaffirms the party's close ties with the union--yet it also makes clear that the organization was anything but a puppet of Communist power.

"Reds at the Blackboard" showcases the rise of a unique type of unionism that would later dominate the organizational efforts behind civil rights, academic freedom, and the empowerment of blacks and Latinos. Through its affiliation with the Communist Party, the union pioneered what would later become social movement unionism, solidifying ties with labor groups, black and Latino parents, and civil rights organizations to acquire greater school and community resources. It also militantly fought to improve working conditions for teachers while championing broader social concerns. For the first time, Taylor reveals the union's early growth and the somewhat illegal attempts by the Board of Education to eradicate the group. He describes how the infamous Red Squad and other undercover agents worked with the board to bring down the union and how the union and its opponents wrestled with charges of anti-Semitism.

Surveys the relationships of workers and trade unions to the state in Egypt, bringing to light the often overlooked effect of workers' collective actions in shaping public policy.

A wave of teacher strikes in the 1960s and 1970s roiled urban communities. Jon Shelton illuminates how this tumultuous era helped shatter the liberal-labor coalition and opened the door to the neoliberal challenge at the heart of urban education today. As Shelton shows, many working- and middle-class whites sided with corporate interests in seeing themselves as society's only legitimate, productive members. This alliance increasingly argued that public employees and the urban poor took but did not give. Drawing on a wealth of research ranging from school board meetings to TV news reports, Shelton puts readers in the middle of fraught, intense strikes in Newark, St. Louis, and three other cities where these debates and shifting attitudes played out. He also demonstrates how the labor actions contributed to the growing public perception of unions as irrelevant or even detrimental to American prosperity. Foes of the labor movement, meanwhile, tapped into cultural and economic fears to undermine not just teacher unionism but the whole of liberalism.

This is a collection of essays by an array of contributors from the Global Labour Column, which highlights and examines class struggle as the core of resistance against capitalism today. It provides insights into the dynamics of neoliberalism and its persistence and stimulates debates about the continued impact of the economic crisis, focusing on labour as both a victim and a crucial social force which can push for an alternative. Examples of the subjects it covers include the Indonesian Sportswear Industry, Chinese construction companies in Africa, mining in South Africa, job quality in Europe, globalised 'T-shirt economics' and the marketisation and securitisation of UK international aid, amongst many others. The Global Labour Column, managed by the Corporate Strategy and Industrial Development research programme at the University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa, is part of the Global Labour University.

Lynn Williams remains one of the most influential North American union leaders of the twentieth century. His two terms as president of the United Steelworkers of America, from 1983 until 1994, capped off a career in labour relations spanning nearly five decades. Among his many notable achievements were the new bargaining techniques he developed to face challenges from anti-union politicians such as Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher. Williams also played a major role in the structural readjustment of the North American steel industry during its most turbulent period, the 1980s and 1990s. In his memoirs, Williams vividly recounts his life in labour, with all its triumphs, challenges, hopes, and dreams. While telling his own story, Williams also traces the rise and transformation of the labour movement from the Second World War to today. Providing an insider's perspective on union developments and issues, One Day Longer is a profound reflection of Williams's impressive career.

Dedicated to organizing workers from diverse racial, ethnic, and religious backgrounds, many of whom were considered "unorganizable" by other unions, the progressive New York City-based labor union District 65 counted among its 30,000 members retail clerks, office workers, warehouse workers, and wholesale workers. In this book, Lisa Phillips presents a distinctive study of District 65 and its efforts to secure economic equality for minority workers in sales and processing jobs in small, low-end shops and warehouses throughout the city. Phillips shows how organizers fought tirelessly to achieve better hours and higher wages for "unskilled," unrepresented workers and to destigmatize the kind of work they performed.  Closely examining the strategies employed by District 65 from the 1930s through the early Cold War years, Phillips assesses the impact of the McCarthy era on the union's quest for economic equality across divisions of race, ethnicity, and skill. Though their stories have been overshadowed by those of auto, steel, and electrical workers who forced American manufacturing giants to unionize, the District 65 workers believed their union provided them with an opportunity to re-value their work, the result of an economy inclining toward fewer manufacturing jobs and more low-wage service and processing jobs. Phillips recounts how District 65 first broke with the CIO over the latter's hostility to left-oriented politics and organizing agendas, then rejoined to facilitate alliances with the NAACP. In telling the story of District 65 and detailing community organizing efforts during the first part of the Cold War and under the AFL-CIO umbrella, A Renegade Union continues to revise the history of the left-led unions of the Congress of Industrial Organizations. 

Still working hard in his seventies, Samuel Gompers gave no thought to retiring. But he faced a world of challenges in his final years as president of the American Federation of Labor. Ascendant Republicans were hostile. Conflicts over tactics and strategies divided the labour movement. And continuing unemployment kept the workforce in check. Despite all this, Gompers kept the faith, helping revitalize the AFL's nonpartisan political efforts, launching a campaign to organize women workers, and strengthening the Pan-American Federation of Labor. At the same time, he challenged government agencies like the Railroad Labor Board and continued his efforts to abolish child labor and fight labour injunctions. Although historians often assess these years as the most conservative and least productive period of Gompers's life, this final volume of the Samuel Gompers Papers demonstrates that even in this tumultuous time he continued his forward-looking leadership of the labor movement and retained his keen sense of judgment.