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The principles of trade unionism are based on working people acting
together in solidarity with each other, to improve wages, working
conditions, and life for themselves and all others. In its most
developed forms, this extends not only to the worker next to you,
but to working people all around the world, wherever they might be.
Some of the foremost proponents of these principles in the United
States since the 1880s has been the American Federation of Labor
(AFL), then later the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO),
and since their merger in 1955, the AFL-CIO. However, unknown to
many labor leaders and most union members in the U.S., the foreign
policy leaders of the AFL and then the AFL-CIO, have been carrying
out an international foreign policy that has worked against workers
in a number of "developing countries." This has been done on their
own, and in collaboration with the U.S. Government and its
agencies, such as the Central Intelligence Agency, U.S. Agency for
International Development, the National Endowment for Democracy,
and the U.S. State Department's Advisory Committee for Labor and
Diplomacy. In the post-World War II period, this foreign policy
program has led to the AFL-CIO's foreign policy leadership helping
to overthrow democratically elected governments Guatemala (1954),
Brazil (1964), Chile (1973); to support dictatorships in countries
such as Guatemala, Brazil and Chile (after their respective
military coups), as well as in countries such as Indonesia, the
Philippines, and South Korea; and to support efforts by reactionary
labor leaders to help overthrow their democratically-elected
leaders as in Venezuela in 2002. It has also included providing
AFL-CIO support for U.S. Government policies around the world,
including support for apartheid in South Africa. This book argues
that these activities done behind the backs and without the
informed knowledge of American trade unionists acts to sabotage the
very principles of trade unionism that these leaders proclaim to
In the spring of 2011, Wisconsinites took to the streets in what
became the largest and liveliest labor demonstrations in modern
American history. Protesters in the Middle East sent greetings-and
pizzas-to the thousands occupying the Capitol building in Madison,
and 150,000 demonstrators converged on the city. In a year that has
seen a revival of protest in America, here is a riveting account of
the first great wave of grassroots resistance to the corporate
restructuring of the Great Recession. It Started in Wisconsin
includes eyewitness reports by striking teachers, students, and
others (such as Wisconsin-born musician Tom Morello), as well as
essays explaining Wisconsin's progressive legacy by acclaimed
historians. The book lays bare the national corporate campaign that
crafted Wisconsin's anti-union legislation and similar laws across
the country, and it conveys the infectious esprit de corps that
pervaded the protests with original pictures and comics.
Building Global Labor Solidarity During A Time Of Accelerating
Globalization is an intimate and authoritative look at how workers
are building solidarity, both at home and around the world, and
identifies nine different types of global labour solidarity. While
workers in the global South are looking for information, workers in
the North are looking for inspiration. This book unites them both.
Efforts to build bottom-up global labor solidarity began in the
late 1970s and continue today, having greater social impact than
ever before. In Building Global Labor Solidarity: Lessons from the
Philippines, South Africa, Northwestern Europe, and the United
States Kim Scipes-who worked as a union printer in 1984 and has
remained an active participant in, researcher about, and writer
chronicling the efforts to build global labor solidarity ever
since-compiles several articles about these efforts. Grounded in
his research on the KMU Labor Center of the Philippines, Scipes
joins first-hand accounts from the field with analyses and
theoretical propositions to suggest that much can be learned from
past efforts which, though previously ignored, have increasing
relevance today. Joined with earlier works on the KMU, AFL-CIO
foreign policy, and efforts to develop global labor solidarity in a
time of accelerating globalization, the essays in this volume
further develop contemporary understandings of this emerging global
phenomenon.
The principles of trade unionism are based on working people acting
together in solidarity with each other, to improve wages, working
conditions, and life for themselves and all others. In its most
developed forms, this extends not only to the worker next to you,
but to working people all around the world, wherever they might be.
Some of the foremost proponents of these principles in the United
States since the 1880s has been the American Federation of Labor
(AFL), then later the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO),
and since their merger in 1955, the AFL-CIO.
Efforts to build bottom-up global labor solidarity began in the
late 1970s and continue today, having greater social impact than
ever before. In Building Global Labor Solidarity: Lessons from the
Philippines, South Africa, Northwestern Europe, and the United
States Kim Scipes-who worked as a union printer in 1984 and has
remained an active participant in, researcher about, and writer
chronicling the efforts to build global labor solidarity ever
since-compiles several articles about these efforts. Grounded in
his research on the KMU Labor Center of the Philippines, Scipes
joins first-hand accounts from the field with analyses and
theoretical propositions to suggest that much can be learned from
past efforts which, though previously ignored, have increasing
relevance today. Joined with earlier works on the KMU, AFL-CIO
foreign policy, and efforts to develop global labor solidarity in a
time of accelerating globalization, the essays in this volume
further develop contemporary understandings of this emerging global
phenomenon.
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