In 1984, the oil, chemical and atomic workers began a 5-year campaign to win back the jobs of its members locked out by the BASF Corp. in Geismar, Louisiana. The multiscale campaign involved coalitions with local environmentalists as well as international solidarity from environmental and religious organizations. The local coalition which helped break the lockout was maintained and expanded in the 1990s. This alliance is one of numerous labor-community coalitions to emerge increasingly over the past 20 years.""Labor-Environmental Coalitions: Lessons from a Louisiana Petrochemical Region"" traces the development of the Louisiana Labor-Neighbor Project from 1985 to the present, within the context of a long history of divisions between labor and community in the U.S. The Project continued after the lockout, thriving during 1990s, expanding from one community to four counties to include 20 local member organizations, and broadening its agenda from the original jobs crisis and pollution problems to address a wide range of worker, environmental health, and economic justice issues."" Labor-Environmental Coalitions"" explores the dynamics of the Louisiana coalition to offer lessons for other coalition efforts. The book seeks to understand coalitions as a necessary strategy to counteract the dominant forces of capitalist development. The author contends that the Labor-Neighbor Project, like labor-community coalitions generally, created a unique blend of politics shaped by the geographic nature industry's politics; by the relative openness of government; and by the class experience of labor and community members.The Louisiana Project demonstrates that for labor-community coalitions to thrive they must broaden their agenda, strengthen their leadership and coalition-building skills, and develop access to multiscale resources. The author argues that for labor-community coalitions to have longer term political impact, they should adopt an explicitly progressive approach by building a broader class and cultural leadership, and by demanding state and corporate accountability on economic, public health, and environmental justice issues.

This title analyses the results of a survey of the political attitudes of members of the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) undertaken in the run up to South Africa's third democratic general election in 2004. The survey was the third in a series, two previous ones having been conducted by some of the authors writing in the present collection before the elections of 1994 and 1999. The results of all three surveys are presented in an appendix, and taken together constitute a unique data base whose interpretation makes a major contribution to our understanding of contemporary South African history, notably with regard to how and why COSATU has become a major political actor within the 'tripartite alliance' which links it to the ruling African National Congress and the South African Communist Party. Carefully analysing both the changes and (remarkable) continuities which characterise workers' political orientations, the book highlights not only the complexity (and contradictions) of COSATU's stand on the ANC's politics and policies, but the quite extraordinary extent to which the federation's leadership reflects the opinions and attitudes of its base. informalisation of work, internal union and parliamentary democracy, black empowerment and the marginalisation of women within the trade union movement, the collection concludes with considerations of COSATU's relation to working class politics and the democratic transformation of South Africa more generally. Written by leading scholars of the South African labour movement, this book constitutes a major challenge to competing views which present COSATU as representing, on the one hand, a 'labour aristocracy' within a context of massive unemployment, and on the other, the core of an emergent political party to the left of the ANC. It is a resource which no serious student of South African politics can do without.

In recent years, New Yorkers have been surprised to see workers they had taken for grantedOCoMexicans in greengroceries, West African supermarket deliverymen and South Asian limousine driversOCostriking, picketing, and seeking support for better working conditions. Suddenly, businesses in New York and the nation had changed and were now dependent upon low-paid immigrants to fill the entry-level jobs that few native-born Americans would take. "Immigrants, Unions, and the New U.S. Labor Market" tells the story of these workers' struggle for living wages, humane working conditions, and the respect due to all people. It describes how they found the courage to organize labor actions at a time when most laborers have become quiescent and while most labor unions were ignoring them. Showing how unions can learn from the example of these laborers, and demonstrating the importance of solidarity beyond the workplace, Immanuel Ness offers a telling look into the lives of some of America's newest immigrants."

Ela Bhatt is widely recognized as one of the world's most remarkable pioneers and entrepreneurial forces in grassroots development. Known as the "gentle revolutionary," she has dedicated her life to improving the lives of India's poorest and most oppressed citizens. In India, where 93 percent
of the labor force are self-employed, 94 percent of this sector are women. Yet self-employed women have historically enjoyed few legal protections or worker's rights. In fact, most are illiterate and subject to exploitation and harassment by moneylenders, employers, and officials. Witnessing the
terrible conditions faced by women working as weavers, stitchers, cigarette rollers, and waste collectors, Ela Bhatt began helping these women to organize themselves. In 1972, Ela Bhatt founded the Self-Employed Women's Association (SEWA) to bring poor women together and give them ways to fight for
their rights and earn better livings. Three years after SEWA was founded, it had 7,000 members. Today it has a total membership of 700,000 women, making it the largest single primary trade union in India. Bhatt lead SEWA to form a cooperative bank in 1974 - with a share capital of $30,000 - that
offered microcredit loans to help women save and become financially independent. Today the SEWA Cooperative Bank has $1.5 million in working capital and more than 30,000 depositors with a loan return rate of 94 percent. Through years of organization and strategic action, Ela Bhatt developed SEWA
from a small, often ignored group into a powerful trade union and bank with allies around the world. During the last three decades, SEWA's efforts to increase the bargaining power, economic opportunities, healthsecurity, legal representation, and organizational abilities of Indian women have
brought dramatic improvements to hundreds of thousands of lives and influenced similar initiatives around the globe. We Are Poor but So Many is a first-hand account of the vision, rise, and success of SEWA, in India as well as internationally. The book begins with a history of the early days of SEWA
and an exploration of the Ghandian philosophy that helped shape SEWA's formation and vision. It follows with an account of the struggles and challenges that SEWA faced in its journey and describes how these were addressed and overcome. It then explores the freedom that SEWA has facilitated for women
working in the informal economy by presenting several inspirational stories of individual SEWA members. The final chapter describes the international extension of SEWA's work, the challenges that women face in the informal economy worldwide, and how SEWA can be effectively replicated in other parts
of the world. This volume is unique in that it will elaborate the specific experience and knowledge of Ela Bhatt in her and SEWA's journey and provide insights and knowledge that no outside researcher would ever be in a position to replicate.

A comprehensive and practical analysis of the Information and Consultation of Employees Regulations 2004. The Regulations, which come into force on a rolling basis from spring 2005, represent a fundamental and complex change to employee relations in the UK, requesting companies to set up domestic works councils and inform and consult them about a wide range of business issues. This book provides a detailed explanation of the contents of the regulations, as well as offering expert guidance on their implications for employers in practice. The text explains the operation of the new law on a mechanical level and provides expert guidance on its implications. It addresses the practical concerns and questions of those affected - when do the regulations apply; how is the information and consultation process started; how does an employer negotiate; when should a voluntary procedure be considered; what does 'information and consultation' mean; how is confidential information best treated; how will the new be procedure enforced; how does it interact with existing laws on redundancy and TUPE? The Narrative is supported by flowcharts and sample procedures, together with the full text of relevant materials (the Regulations, the Directive, and DTI guidance).

Several thousand new trade union recognition agreements have been signed since 1997, representing a major development within industrial relations in Britain. This has resulted from the interaction of union organizing efforts and the statutory union recognition provisions of the Employment Relations Act 1999. However for trade unions recognition alone is not enough, a vital issue is whether, having gained union recognition, trade unions are now effectively delivering upon the promises and prospects of union recognition.
The essays in "Union Recognition" examine the substantive outcomes of the new agreements in regard to union representation and collective bargaining. In particular, the impact on terms and conditions of employment, employers' behavior and strategy, the nature of the union-management bargaining relationship, and the building of workplace unionism are explored. While the collection focuses primarily on Britain, the germane issues are also looked at in the context of Australia, Canada and the US. Conceptually and theoretically, "Union Recognition" offers contributions which develop our understanding of the relationship between workplace and national unionisms and of mobilization theory.

In recent years, New Yorkers have been surprised to see workers they had taken for granted-Mexicans in greengroceries, West African supermarket deliverymen and South Asian limousine drivers-striking, picketing, and seeking support for better working conditions. Suddenly, businesses in New York and the nation had changed and were now dependent upon low-paid immigrants to fill the entry-level jobs that few native-born Americans would take. Immigrants, Unions, and the New U.S. Labor Market tells the story of these workers' struggle for living wages, humane working conditions, and the respect due to all people. It describes how they found the courage to organize labor actions at a time when most laborers have become quiescent and while most labor unions were ignoring them. Showing how unions can learn from the example of these laborers, and demonstrating the importance of solidarity beyond the workplace, Immanuel Ness offers a telling look into the lives of some of America's newest immigrants.

Born in Panama in 1910, Maida Springer grew up in Harlem. While still a young girl she learned firsthand of the bleak employment options available to African American females of her time. After one employer closed his garment shop and ran off with the workers' wages in the midst of the Depression, Springer joined Local 22 of the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union.
This proved to be the first step in a remarkable advancement through the ranks of labor leadership positions that were typically dominated by white men. Ultimately, Springer became one of the AFL-CIO's most important envoys to emerging African nations, earning her the nickname "Mama Maida" throughout that continent.
In this brilliantly edited collection of interviews, Yevette Richards allows Springer to tell her story in her own words. The result is a rare glimpse into the private struggles and thoughts behind one of the twentieth century's most fascinating international labor leaders.

"Based on his immersion in heated campaigns, Lopez analyzes just how difficult organizing for today's trade unions can be. Still the Sisyphean effort goes on, led by unions, such as SEIU, which notch up victories despite the uphill struggle. Lopez's participant observation is a model of clarity, theoretical imagination and methodological innovation. It is a must-read for anyone who wants to understand why unions are so weak in the US, and how they could become stronger."--Michael Burawoy, President of the American Sociological Association

"Lopez's beautifully written, lucid analysis of the new labor movement bristles with insights. This rare insider's account of contemporary organizing consistently avoids the easy answers and relentlessly confronts the limitations of union achievements, even as he appreciates their transformative potential."--Ruth Milkman, Director, UC Institute for Labor and Employment and author of "Farewell to the Factory

""Reorganizing the Rust Belt is the best ethnography around of what it's like, day-to-day, to be inside an organizing campaign and contract mobilization. Lopez brings to life the limits and problems, the changes over time, the victories and ambiguities, experienced by workers and organizers in a progressive union."--Dan Clawson, author of "The Next Upsurge: Labor and the New Social Movements

Cesar Chavez urged the farm laborers of America to proclaim, "Si se puede--Yes, we can!" An indefatigable speaker, writer, and organizer, Chavez developed a well-thought-out approach to his rhetorical discourse and placed his speaking and writing at the very center of his career. By merging thought and character in his themes, arguments, and explanations, he identified with the character of his listeners. Award-winning scholars John C. Hammerback and Richard J. Jensen offer a thorough examination of how Chavez developed his speeches and writings to further his agenda for union activism. They analyze his world view, the rhetorical approaches he took, and many of his own texts, showing that although bron into one of the least powerful segments of American society, Chavez led the farm-labor movement to unprecedented heights.

Coming at a time of profound change in the global conditions under which American organized labor exists, The Future of the American Labor Movement describes and analyzes labor's strategic alternatives. It casts its net broadly, taking into account ideas that range from the current European Social Dialogue to the methods of the nineteenth Century American Knights of Labor. There are a number of intriguing strategies that have potential for reviving the U.S. labor movement, of which worker ownership and labor capital strategies are examples. There is a necessity for a number of diverse strategies to be pursued simultaneously. For this to work, there has to be a a broad movement of labor, consisting of diverse parts, held together by a clear idea of its purpose and a new structure. Hoyt N. Wheeler is Professor of Management and Chair, Management Department, Moore School of Business, University of South Carolina. Wheeler is a former president of the Industrial Relations Research Association, and editor of its magazine Perspectives on Work. He has won teaching awards at the University of Minnesota and at the University of South Carolina. His publications include Industrial Conflict: An Integrative Theory (South Carolina, 1985), which was a Choice magazine as a Outstanding Academic title, and Workplace Justice: Employment Justice in International Perspective (co-editor, Flower, 1994). Wheeler is an attorney specializing in labor law, and labor relations arbitrator and a member of the National Academy of Arbitrators.

The Directory of 12,500 Trade and Professional Associations in the EU lists the postal and e-mail addresses, telephone and fax numbers, chairman, secretary general, contact person and publications of some 800 EU associations. Also included are details of some 11,700 national member organizations. Four indexes provide easy reference to this essential volume.

In this lucid and supremely readable study, Brian Kelly challenges the prevailing notion that white workers were the main source of resistance to racial equality in the Jim Crow South. Focusing on a period framed by two major coalfield strikes, this important volume presents new evidence of the role white elites played in fomenting racial discord at the bottom of southern society.

Supported by the voices of the coal miners, trade unionists, and mine operators of early twentieth-century Birmingham, Alabama, Kelly chronicles the hard-fought strike of 1908, during which black and white miners came together in a practical alliance. After breaking the strike, the region's powerful industrialists consolidated their control, combining techniques anchored in the discriminatory and paternalistic structure of the Old South with northern-inspired welfare capitalism to hold wages to the lowest levels in the country.

When the demand for labor brought on by World War I shifted the balance of power and rejuvenated mineworkers' militancy, the operators panicked, resorting to race-baiting, coercion, and vigilantism to combat the threat of black and white unity. In the lead-up to the dramatic 1920 strike, the employers were aided in their efforts to split the workforce by Birmingham's small but influential black middle class, whose espousal of industrial accommodation outraged black miners and revealed significant tensions within the African-American community.

Linking the labor movement to African Americans' campaign for racial equality Between World War I and World War II, African Americans' quest for civil rights took on a more aggressive character as a new group of black activists challenged the politics of civility traditionally embraced by old-guard leaders in favor of a more forceful protest strategy. Beth Tompkins Bates traces the rise of this new protest politics - which was grounded in making demands and backing them up with collective action - by focusing on the struggle of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters (BSCP) to form a union in Chicago, headquarters of the Pullman Company. Bates shows how the BSCP overcame initial opposition from most of Chicago's black leaders by linking its union message with the broader social movement for racial equality. As members of BSCP protest networks mobilized the black community around the quest for manhood rights and economic freedom, they broke down resistance to organized labor even as they expanded the boundaries of citizenship to include equal economic opportunity. By the mid-1930s, BSCP protest networks gained platforms at the national level, fusing Brotherhood activities first with those of the National Negro Congress and later with the March on Washington Movement. Lessons learned during this era guided the next generation of activists, who carried the black freedom struggle forward after World War II.

Having come of age during a period of vibrant union-centered activism, Jack Metzgar begins this book wondering how his father, a U.S> Steel shop steward in the 1950s and '60s, and so many contemporary historians could forget what this country owes to the union movement. Combining personal memoir and historical narrative, Striking Steel argues for reassessment of unionism in American life during the second half of the twentieth century and a recasting of \u0022official memory.\u0022 As he traces the history of union steelworkers after World War II, Metzgar draws on his father's powerful stories about the publishing work in the mills, stories in which time is divided between \u0022before the union\u0022 and since. His father, Johnny Metzgar, fought ardently for workplace rules as a means of giving \u0022the men\u0022 some control over their working conditions and protection from venal foremen. He pursued grievances until he eroded management's authority, and he badgered foremen until he established shop-floor practices that would become part of the next negotiated contract. As a passionate advocate of solidarity, he urged coworkers to stick together so that the rules were upheld and everyone could earn a decent wage. Striking Steel's pivotal event is the four-month nationwide steel strike of 1959, a landmark union victory that has been all but erased from public memory. With remarkable tenacity, union members held out for the shop-floor rules that gave them dignity in the workplace and raised their standard of living. Their victory underscored the value of sticking together and reinforced their sense that they were contributing to a general improvement in American working and living conditions. The Metzgar family's story vividly illustrates the larger narrative of how unionism lifted the fortunes and prospects of working-class families. It also offers an account of how the broad social changes of the period helped to shift the balance of power in a conflict-ridden, patriarchal household. Even if the optimism of his generation faded in the upheavals of the 1960s, Johnny Metzgar's commitment to his union and the strike itself stands as an honorable example of what a collective action can and did achieve. Jack Metzgar's Striking Steel is a stirring call to remember and renew the struggle.

Collective bargaining is still the main vehicle worldwide for labor to negotiate with management in both the public and private sectors. This book presents a new theoretical model of union bargaining. It challenges the commonly held view that collective bargaining has a negative impact on economic welfare and argues that with the existence of market failure, collective bargaining can be welfare enhancing. This book will be a research resource for scholars, professionals and policymakers and supplementary reading for upper-level courses in labor economics, public economics, game theory and international economics.

In a few short decades before the First World War, Calgary was transformed from a frontier outpost into a complex industrial metropolis. With industrialization there emerged a diverse and equally complex working class. David Bright explores the various levels of class formation and class identity in the city to argue that Calgary’s reputation as a prewar centre of labour conservatism is in need of revision.

After a long period of quiescence, the US union movement is once more making waves. Under a new leadership the AFL-CIO has won dramatic victories for a minimum wage and against fast-track, mounted high-profile interventions in Congressional elections, extended its international links and, above all, directed greater resources to grassroots recruitment. And, as this book reveals, that's only the beginning ... These pages bring together a group of writers, many directly involved in the AFL-CIO, who describe in detail the work now underway to rebuild the movement. Together they provide an indispensable guide for union members, students and teachers, and all those interested in progressive social change America today. Contributors: Jo-Ann Mort, Harold Meyerson, Richard Bensinger, Karen Nussbaum, Steve Rosenthal, Kelly Candaele, Jerry Hudson, Amy Dean, Hector Figueroa, Barbara Shaillor, Guy Molyneux, David Kusnet, Mark Baldwin, David Glenn, Matt Witt, Rand Wilson, Juan Gonzalez and Noel Beasley.

One of the major intentions of the Conservative governments of the 1980s was to redraw the landscape and map of industrial relations. They aimed to achieve this by means of a combination of measures: political initiatives and campaigning; a changed economic and social environment; and most directly a programme of industrial relations legislation that increasingly curtailed the role and influence of trade unions. This book examines the policies and associated legislation directly intended to change union behaviour. It considers origins, purpose, and impact on union behaviour and structures, focusing in particular on the role of ballots as the central mechanism chosen for changing union decision-making. The changes that occurred as a consequence of this legislation are placed in the wider union context and the relative influence of the balloting legislation is assessed against other developments affecting union behaviour, including the strategies adopted by the unions' leaders. It finds the results were not always as intended by the Conservative governments. In a concluding chapter the authors ask whether the framework created in the UK will be an exemplar or exceptional case when compared with developments in other European countries. The book is the result of research carried out over almost a decade by a highly experienced and respected team who base their analysis on interviews, detailed analysis of legislation and union rule books, and a series of indepth case studies. This richly detailed and authoritative book will be essential reading for anyone who wishes to understand how the changing framework of labour relations affected changes in union behaviour. The book will thus appeal tostudents and academics working in industrial relations, human resource management, labour law, labour economics, and politics. Employee relations practitioners and policy makers - managers and trade unionists - will also find it useful for increasing their understanding of the purpose and effect of the legislation.

This book analyzes the crucial features of unionized labor markets in industrialized countries, with particular emphasis on Britain and the United States. The techniques used by economists to model unionized labor markets are carefully explained. The connection between theoretical modeling and empirical testing of the theories is also emphasized. The book is directed to undergraduate economics students studying labor economics and to masters students in economics or industrial relations, but it is also accessible to general readers with a quantitative background.

This work explores three key topics in social psychology: the manner in which labour unions shape organizational behaviour, a relationship which has been effectively ignored in the literature; the organization of the union itself, a fascinating test case for the organizational psychologist; and the way in which theories and methods of organizational psychology may assist labor organizations in achieving their goals. Since the union maintains unique characteristics of democracy, conflict, and voluntary participation within a larger organization, the authors offer a detailed study of a union's dynamics, including demographic and personality predictors of membership, voting behaviour, union commitment and loyalty, the nature of participation, leadership styles, collective bargaining, among other topics. This is the first book to be published in the new Industrial and Organizational Psychology Series. It will be of interest to not only industrial and organizational psychologists in industry, academica, and private and public organizations, but to graduate students in psychology departments and business schools, and to academics and professionals in business and management studying industrial relations.

Kathryn Kish Sklar calls this work "a major contribution to our historical understanding of the role of women in organizing American miners in the twentieth century."

Agnes Burns Wieck was a crusading labor organizer, an activist known as "the Mother Jones of Illinois." This first book-length biography is a unique portrait of her energy and unremitting dedication to social justice.

Wieck organized miners' wives and led a movement of Illinois coalfield women. She used her talents as a journalist and a public speaker to campaign for a decent standard of living, for good schools and working conditions in communities free of corporate domination, and for union democracy, racial equality, and acceptance of women in political life.

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.

In 1950, Mexican American miners went on strike for fair working conditions in Hanover, New Mexico. When an injunction prohibited miners from picketing, their wives took over the picket lines - an unprecedented act that disrupted mining families but ultimately ensured the strikers' victory in 1952. In ""On Strike and on Film"", Ellen Baker examines the building of a leftist union that linked class justice to ethnic equality. She shows how women's participation in union activities paved the way for their taking over the picket lines and thereby forcing their husbands, and the union, to face troubling questions about gender equality. Baker also explores the collaboration between mining families and blacklisted Hollywood filmmakers that resulted in the controversial 1954 film ""Salt of the Earth"". She shows how this worker-artist alliance gave the mining families a unique chance to clarify the meanings of the strike in their own lives and allowed the filmmakers to create a progressive alternative to Hollywood productions. An inspiring story of working-class solidarity, Mexican American dignity, and women's liberation, ""Salt of the Earth"" was itself blacklisted by powerful anticommunists, yet the movie has endured as a vital contribution to American cinema.