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List of issues Vol 32.#2 Vol 32.#1 Vol 31, #4 Vol 31, #3 Vol 31, #2 Vol 31, #1 Vol 30, #4 Vol 30, #3 Vol 30, #2 Vol 29, #4 Vol 29, #3 Vol 29, #2 Vol 29, #1 Back Issues (Winter 2004 - Fall 2000) Back Issues Index Current issue Back Issues II (Current back through Winter 2004) Volume 32, No. 2 June 2007 Contents 2007 ARTICLES   Putting Uncle Milton to Bed: Reexamining Milton Friedman's Essay on the Friedman's Essay on the Social Responsibility of Business Abstract: Almost four decades ago Nobel prize-winning economist Milton Friedman published an essay on the social responsibility of business in the New York Times Magazine that has since reached legendary status. Friedman's argument - that essentially firms had no social responsibility beyond making profits - was not unknown among fellow pioneers of what has become known as neoliberalism, "Chicago School," or Austrian economics. Yet while the thesis was known to those specialists familiar with the work of F.A. Hayek or Ludwing von Mises, Friedman's exposition did much to popularize what had previously and largely been considered a form of rightist economic extremism. After three decades of actual neoliberal experimentation in Washington and London, the present essay looks again at what Friedman wrote. This essay finds Friedman's work to be profoundly unpersuasive - indeed much of it illogical, sophistic, and potentially foundational for a form of economic ans social callousness. Glenn Feldman Trade Unions Walking the Tightrope in Defending Workers' Interests: Wielding a Weapon Too Strong? Abstract: This article explores the new opportunities and barriers to global trade unionism in contemporary capitalism. Through analyzing a concrete example of a labor dispute in the textile and garment industries, employing theories on the geography of class struggle, solidarity, and global trade unionism, it is argued that there are no easy ways out when it comes to globle trade union strategies. The International Textile, Garment and Leather Workers' Federation's (ITGLWF) involvement in a labor dispute with the Malaysian multinational Ramatex illustrates a currently favored global union strategy that had quite a drastic outcome. By way of conclusion, I reflect on alternative global trade union strategies, focusing particularly on rank-and-file involvement in a more concrete and proactive approach. However, it is emphasized that there are no panaceas, and that global trade union strategies must be trailored to individual circumstances. This necessitates an understanding of company strategies and having insights into the characteristics of the industry. Ann Cecilie Bergene Union Building and Professionalism: The Chicago Teachers Union Campaign to Close the Educational "Governance Gap" Abstract: Since at least the mid - 1980s critical voices have called for reforming public education. In 1995 the Chicago Public School system was placed under the mayor's control and a labor agreement with nearly 30,000 teachers was stripped of many essential provisions. But in 2001 a leadership change at the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) promised a new representational approach that would not only win back contract rights, but also embrace a more assertive responsibility for teachers in determining how education would be delivered to the city's 400,000 school children. This work focuses on an extensive project by the CTU to have a substantive impact on school "governance" and the impact that effort had in influencing the outcome of a union leadership election. Robert Bruno Canada's East Asian Transplants Reach Maturity: Rewards and Perils Abstract: Most East Asian auto transplants in North America are now a quarter-century or more old. This perspective should now allow their evolution from the original post-Fordist model and their impact on surrounding local and regional economies to be subjects for comparative analysis. This article seeks to contribute to this research task by assessing one joint venture and three auto transplants - the CAMI plant in Ingersoll, Ontario, the Toyota plant in Cambridge, Ontario, the Honda plant in Alliston, Ontario, and the Hyundai Plant in Bromont. Based on fieldwork and interviews in Canada in 1991 and 2004, it seeks to evaluate the promise and fulfillment and the successes and shortfalls of these four plants as instruments of work reorganization and business management  and as catalysts of local and regional economic development. Ernest J. Yanarella INNOVATIONS     "Why Unions Matter" An Orientation for Oregon Legislators, Candidates, and Their Staffs Robert Bussel Book Reviews   Schools of Democracy: A History of the American Labor Movement By Clayton Sinyai. Ithaca, NY: ILR Press, 2006. 292 pp. $22.50 paper. DOI: 10.1177/0160449X07302178 Reviewed by Bill Barry Community College of Baltimore County Gender Equality and Decent Work: Good Practices at the Workplace. By ILO Bureau for Gender Equality. Geneva, Switzerland: International Labour Organization, 2005. 194 pp. Free download from ILO. DOI: 10.1177/0160449X07302147 Reviewed by Tracy F.H. Chang University of Alabama, Birmingham No One Makes You Shop at Wal-Mart: The Surprising Deceptions of Individual Choice. By Tom Slee. Toronto, ON: Between the Lines, 2006. 240 pp. $19.95 paper. DOI: 10.1177/0160449X07302032 Reviewed by Bart Dredge Austin College Radical Unionism in the Midwest, 1900-1950. By Rosemary Feurer. Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press, 2006. 360 pp. $65.00 hardcover, $25.00 paper. DOI: 10.1177/0160449X07302140 Reviewed by Aaron Goings Simon Fraser University New Working-Class Studies. Edited by John Russo and Sherry Lee Linkon. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2005. 276 pp. $19.95 paper. DOI: 10.1177/0160449X07302141 Reviewed by Jennifer M. Harrison National Labor College Justice on the Job: Perspectives on the Erosion of Collective Bargaining in the United States. Edited by Richard N. Block, Sheldon Friedman, Michelle Kaminski, and Andy Levin. Kalamazoo, MI: W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research, 2006. 353 pp. $22.00 paper. DOI: 10.1177/0160449X07302143 Reviewed by Rich Klimmer American Federation of Teachers Fighting Against the Odds: A History of Southern Labor Since World War II. Edited by Timothy J. Minchin. Gainesville, FL: University Press of Florida, 2005. 186 pp. $59.95 hardcover, $24.95 paper. DOI: 10.1177/0160449X07302144 Reviewed by Chris Marston Community Services, AFL-CIO Worker Centers: Organizing Communities at the Edge of a Dream. By Janice Fine. Ithaca, NY: Cambridge University Press, 2006. 313 pp. $21.95 paper. DOI: 10.1177/0160449X07302145 Reviewed by Immanuel Ness City University of New York When Affirmative Action Was White: An Untold History of Racial Inequality in Twentieth-Century America. By Ira Katznelson. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., 2006. 238 pp. $14.95 paper. DOI: 10.1177/0160449X07302146 Reviewed by Susan W. Thomas University of North Carolina, Greensboro Teaching Defiance; Stories and Strategies for Activist Educators. By Michael Newman. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2006. 305 pp. $35 hardcover. DOI: 10.1177/0160449X07302395 Reviewed by Marcus Widenor University of Oregon Authors Glenn Feldman is an associate professor and Director of the Center for Labor Education and Research, University of Alabama at Birmingham. Ann Cecilie Bergene is a PhD student at the Department of Sociology and Human Geography, University of Oslo. Robert Bruno, PhD is an associate professor of Labor and Industrial Relations at the Institute of Labor and Industrial Relations at the University of Illinois. Ernest J. Yanarella is a professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of Kentucky Robert Bussel is associate professor of history and director of the Labor Education and Research Center at the University of Oregon To Order Top of page Back to Labor Studies Journal home page Volume 32, No. 1 March 2007 Contents 2007 ARTICLES   Cowboy Campaigning Patriotism, "Freedom," and Right-to-Work in Oklahoma Abstract: The 2001 right-to-work referendum in Oklahoma provided unique challenges for the labor movement. This article examines the Oklahoma campaign in the context of right-to-work and other labor referendums and discusses the consequences of particular strategies used by the labor and business campaigns. The authors argue that despite a strong member mobilization campaigns, the impact of September 11 and the influence of the print media may have been determining factors in the campaign. Judith L. King and Laurel C. Catlett-King Emergent Design: The Internstional Research Network on Autowork in the Americas Abstract: Union seeking cross-border alliances need research that identifies allies, analyzes the economic and political terrain, and clarifies the issues that unify workers. The International Research Network on Autowork in the Americas (IRNAA) is analyzed as one such effort that began as an academic enterprise and evolved into a clearinghouse for cross-border union communication and from there into a national forum for Mexican auto unions. This unanticipated evolution and the eventual disappointment of IRNAA's ambitious goals suggests that labor-oriented academics can make a substantial contribution to initiating cross-border links between unions but cannot sustain them independently of other necessary conditions for international solidarity. IRNAA's experience also demonstrates both the strengths and the weaknesses of personal networks in initiating cross-border collaboration. The narrative and analysis depends primarily on the authors' "insider account" as cofounders and coordinators of this undertaking. Steve Babson and Huberto Juarez Fighting Marketization: An Analysis of Municipal Manual Labor in the United Kingdom and the United States Abstract: As public-service unions and workers struggle against privatization, they must emphasize that their labor is distinctive because it produces use-values composed of concrete, unquantifiable labor. Use-value production responds to social needs and permits the development of a "public service ethos." Market mechanisms are continually eroding public-service labor and welfare services in an effort to reduce their value to that of a commodity. Case study evidence presented here shows that such marketization causes job loss, casualization, intensification, and loss of worker morale. Workers and unions have fought hard to overcome the worst effects of contracting out by cooperating with other unions, with sympathetic managers, and with the local community. To keep their service from deteriorating, they can argue that municipal labor is distinctive. The article relates the findings and arguments to municipal manual labor in the United States. Whyeda Gill-Mclure Giving Labor the Business? Changes in Business and Labor Reporting from 1980 to 2000 Abstract: This study empirically examines the extent to which business journalism has taken over labor reporting between 1980 and 2000. The authors conduct a content analysis of The New York Times, The Washington Post, and Associated Press during this time frame. Our results note a widening gap between labor and business coverage dramatically in favor of business-oriented journalism. Business journalists now cover labor issues. Qualitative and quantitative changes in coverage are discussed, as well as the implications from these trends. The authors suggest that labor groups invest in more media and/or public relations to better convey their messages. David J. Park and Larry M. Wright "Fighting for Our Share of the American Pie" The 1985 Wheeling-Pittsburgh Steel Strike Abstract: This article analyzes the 1985 Wheeling-Pittsburgh Steel Strike and places it in the context of the declining American steel industry and deteriorating relationship between the steel companies and the United Steelworkers of America. Within the hostile 1980s economic and political climate, steelworkers at Wheeling-Pitt unleashed a repertoire of bargaining tactics that would help them achieve at least some of their demands while preventing the company's liquidation. Besides exploring the reasons why steelworkers struck a bankrupt company and how they secured their demands, the article demonstrates how the strike offered new strategies for negotiating with capital at a time when unions' options were severely limited. Jennifer L. Worley Labor Organizing among Mexican-born Workers in the United States: Recent Trends and Future Prospects Abstract: This article surveys unionization patterns and other workplace-oriented organizing among Mexican-born workers since the mid-1990s. Although the number of Mexican-born union members grew during that decade, the unionized proportion declined, especially among noncitizens. The decline reflects the large proportion of new immigrants in the Mexican-born population and the increased geographic dispersion of immigrantion in recent years away from highly unionized states such as Illinois and California. Another factor is that recent Mexican immigrants are underrepresented in the most unionized sectors (such as government employment). However, unions, especially in California, have effectively mobilized Mexican immigrants into electoral politics in the 1990s, and new community-based organizations with a focus on economic justice have also recruited low-wage Mexican immigrant workers in occupations such as day labor and domestic service, in which conventional unionism is rare. Ruth Milkman INNOVATIONS   Educating Immigrant Workers for Action Kent Wong and Victor Narro Authors Judith L. King is associate professor, Center for Labor Education and Research, University of Alabama at Birmingham. Laurel C. Catlett-King received her MHRIR from the University of Illinois in 2005. She is a human resources generalist. Steve Babson is a former staff member of the Labor Studies Center of Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan; e-mail: s.babson@wayne.edu Huberto Juarez is professor on the economics faculty of the Autonomous University of Puebla, Mexico; e-mail: hujuarez@siu.buap.mx Whyeda Gill-McLure teaches employment relations at the University of Derby, United Kingdom David J. Park is an assistant professor at Xavier University in the communications Department, New Orleans, Louisiana;      e-mail: dpark@xula.edu Larry M. Wright is the executive director of the Washington State Mentoring Partnership and teaches in the Institute of Nonprofit Management at Seattle University, Issaquah; e-mail: lwright@washingtonmentoring.org Jennifer L. Worley is a PhD candidate in American culture studies at Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, Ohio Ruth Milkman is a professor of sociology and the director of the Institute of Industrial Relations at UCLA. Kent Wong is the director of the UCLA Labor Center. Victor Narro is a project director at the UCLA Downtown Labor Center.   To Order Top of page Back to Labor Studies Journal home page   Volume 31, No. 4 Winter 2007 Contents Intevactive Forum   The Employee Free Choice Act: A Skeptical View and Alternative           Roy Adams Why the Employee Free Choice Act Deserves: Support: Response to Adams       Sheldon Friedman Why We Should Support the Employee Choice Act       Julie Martinez Ortega 2007 ARTICLES   Unions Facing the Future: Questions and Possibilities Abstract: The current circumstances of trade unions are subject to extensive debate. As a contribution to these debates, three sets of issues are addressed: how unions organize and operate in relation to members, how unions reposition and rebuild themselves against changing forms of ownership and different managerial practices, and how unions attempt to face the challenges of multinational capital. Unions have sought to renew and revitalize themselves by changing organizational practices or changing aims and ambitions, as well as by recomposing past relationalship, especially between unions and state bodies. These themes are addressed via three case studies chosen to exemplify particular aspects of union organization and activity. The study concludes with a comparative evaluation of the three cases in terms of the principles of union renewal. Peter Fairbrother and Glynne Williams with Ruth Barton, Enrico Gibellieri, and Andrea Tropeoli State Intervention and Trade Unions in New Zealand Abstract: The orthodox interpretation of trade union development in New Zealand (and Australia) holds that the unique antipodal systems of compulsory arbitration produced dependent union movements. This article assesses the structure and character of New Zealand unions under state intervention from three vastly different regimes. The paper examines how trade unions developed during the long era of compulsory arbitration from 1894-1991. It then considers the fate of trade unions during the hostile employment contracts era of the 1990s. The paper finally considers the recent fortunes of unions since union protections were reintroduced under the Employment Relations Act 2000. Although the structure of the union movement has changed across the three regimes, the paper finds that the union movement has retained its traditional character despite the introduction of renewal initiatives and despite the marked differences in protections afforded unions under these regimes of state intervention. Michael Barry and Pat Walsh Book Reviews   Worker Safety Under Siege: Labor, Capital and the Politics of Workplace Safety in a Deregulated World. Edited by Vernon Mogensen. Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe, 2005. 220 pp. $69.95 hardback, $24.95 paper. Reviewed by Robin Baker University of California, Berkeley True Mission: Socialists and the Labor Party Questions in the U.S. By Eric Thomas Chester. Sterling, VA: Pluto Press, 2004. 260 pp. $24.95 paper. Reviewed by Bart Dredge Austin College The FMLA Handbook: A Union Guide to Family and Medical Leave Act, Third Edition. By Robert M. Schwartz. Cambridge, MA: Work Rights Press, 2006. 192 pp. $15 paper. Reviewed by Michelle Fecteau Wayne State University Taking Back the Workers' Law: How to Fight the Assault on Labor Rights. By Ellen Dannin. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2006. 194 pp. $35 hardback. Reviewed by Harris Freeman University of Massachusetts, Amherst Wobblies! A Graphic History of the Industrial Workers of the World. Edited by Paul Buhle and Nicole Schulman. London and New York; Verso, 2005. 305 pp. $25 paper. Reviewed by Aaron Goings Simon Fraser University Coal Hollow: Photographs and Oral Histories. By Ken Light and Melanie Light. University of California Press, Berkeley and Los Angeles, California, 2006. 139 pp. $34.95 hardback. Reviewed by Joan G. Hill USW International Union Tools of the Trade: A Health and Safety Handbook for Action. By Pamela Tau Lee, Robin Baker, and Gene Darling. Berkeley, CA: Labor Occupational Health Program, University of California, 2006. 174 pp. $25 paper. Reviewed by Laurel Kincl University of Oregon Death in the Haymarket: A Story of Chicago, the First Labor Movement and the Bombing that Divided Gilded Age America. By James Green. New York: Pantheon, 2006. 383 pp. $26.95 hardback. Reviewed by John P. Lloyd California State Polytechnic University Nurses on the Move: Migration and the Global Health Care Economy. By Mireille Kingma. ILR Press CaliforniaI: thaca and London, 2006. 275 pp. $24.95 paper. Reviewed by John Paul O'Connor New York State Nurses Association The Practical Utopians: American Workers and the Cooperative Movement in the Gilded Age. By Steve Leiken. Detroit, MI: Wayne State University Press, 2005. 233 pp. $44.95 hardback. Reviewed by Mark Pattison Washington-Baltimore Newspaper Guild The Disposable American: Layoffs and Their Consequences. By Louis Uchitelle. New York: Knopf, 2006. 283 pp. $25.95 hardback. Reviewed by Michael J. Polzin Michigan State University Communities and workforce Development. Edited by Edwin Melendez. Kalamazoo, Michigan: W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research, 2004. 499 pp. $25 paper. Reviewed by Michael J. Polzin Michigan State University Bananeras: Women Transforming The Banana Unions of Latin America. By Dana Frank. Boston, MA: South End Press, 2005. 131 pp. $12 paper. Reviewed by Daisy Rooks University of California, Los Angeles Subterrranean Fire: A History of Working-Class Radicalism in the United States. By Sharon Smith. Chicago, IL: Haymarket Books, 2006. 377 pp. $16 paper. Reviewed by Bill Shields City College of San Francisco The Triangle Fire, The Protocols of Peace, and Industrial Democracy in Progressive Era New York. By Richard A. Greenwald. Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press, 2005. 332 pp. $24.95 paper. Reviewed by Howard R. Stanger Canisius College Labor Rights are Civil Rights: Mexican American Workers in Twentieth-Century America. By Zaragosa Vargas. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2005. 289 pp. $32.95 hardback. Reviewed by Susan W. Thomas University of North Carolina, Greensboro Mobsters, Unions, and Feds: The Mafia and the American Labor Movement. By James B. Jacobs. New York: New York University Press, 2006. 352 pp. $32.95 hardback. Reviewed by Edmund F. Wehrle Eastern Illinois University Dancing on Live Embers: Challenging Racism in Organizations. By Tina Lopes and Barb Thomas. Toronto, Ontario: Between the Lines, 2006. 284 pp. $26.95(CDN) paper. Reviewed by Susan Winning University of Massachusetts, Lowell Authors Roy Adams is Emeritus Professor of Industrial Relations, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada L8S 4L8; e-mail: adamsr@mcmaster.ca Michael Barry is Senior Lecturer in the Department of Industrial Relations, Griffith Business School, Griffith University, Brisbane, Australia; e-mail: m.barry@griffith.edu.au Peter Fairbrother is Professor in the school of Social Sciences, Cardiff University, Cardiff CF10 3XQ, Wales; e-mail: fairbrotherpd@cf.ac.uk Sheldon Friedman is an economist who serves as research coordinator for the AFL-CIO's Voice@Work Campaign. He is a past national president of LERA. Julie Martinez Ortega is the Director of Research at the labor rights organization, American Rights at Work; e-mail: jmartinez@americanrightsatwork.org Pat Walsh is Professor of Human Resources/Industrial Relations and Vice Chancellor of Victoria University of Wellington, Wellington, New Zealand; e-mail: pat.walsh@vuw.ac.nz Glynne Williams teaches in the School of Social Sciences, Cardiff University, Cardiff CF10 3XQ, Wales; e-mail: williamsgv@cardiff.ac.uk To Order Top of page Back to Labor Studies Journal home page     Volume 31, No. 3 Fall 2006 Contents 2006 ARTICLES   How Do Unions Renew? Paths to Union Renewal Abstract: How are unions responding to change? Are they renewing? Drawing on the CRIMT International Colloquium on Union Renewal, this introductory papers the overarching themes in this special thematic issue of Labor Studies Journal. After a synoptic overview of the range of cases and methodological issues highlighted by the papers, three sets of issues are presented: the need to enhance basic union efficiency or instrumentality, the importance of union governance and internal organization, and the need to rethink union resources. The development of collective identities, the mobilization of external expertise and networks, and the development of union leadership are identified as key resources in the union renewal process and as important subjects for further research. Christian Levesque and Gregor Murray Why Do Members Leave? The Importance of Retention to Trade Union Growth Abstract: Drawing on survey results from three British trade unions, this paper examines why members leave trade unions. In this study, as anticipated, a great many members left their unions because of some change to their employment circumstances (they were made redundant, they changed employers, or they retired). A significant proportion left because they were dissatisfied with some aspect of union organization. The paper also demonstrates that the proportion of members leaving because of dissatisfaction varied according to a range of factors, including union "type" and sector of organization. The research implies that if unions are to reverse membership decline and promote retention, they must address a range of issues in addition to introducing new means of organizing and recruitment. Jeremy Waddington Renewal in the United Faculty of Florida: Class War in Paradise? Abstract: This paper reviews faculty union developments in Florida public universities during 2000-2005, a tumultuous period in which the statewide university governance board was abolished and governance was devolved to university-level boards. The Jeb Bush Administration used devolution to eliminate bargaining for thousands of faculty at eleven universities. Using a case study format and participant-observer perspective, we emphasize the perspective of key constituents from Florida State University. A union renewal lens examines various union renewal meanings and controversies over the "organizing model" and "servicing model." Jack Fiorito and Vickie Coleman Gallagher Local Unions and the Restructuring of Work within the Multinational Company: Internal Solidarity and Local Context Abstract: This artical focuses on the influence of a multinational corporation (MNC) on the reorganization of work and labor relations in two Canadian plants. The MNC used coercive comparisons and created a regime of cooperative competition in an effort to promote rationalization and the adoption of flexible work practices. The research used qualitative techniques including interviews, observations, informal conversations, and the study of company and union documents. The results show that both plants modified work organization and work rules in a way that was consistent with the requirements of the MNC. In one plant, however, the union was seriously weakened and unable to influence the process change. In the other plant, the union preserved a central role and negotiated the implementation of new work practices. These differences are explained with reference to the local context and union capabilities. Jean-Noel Grenier Expanding the Union Zone: Union Renewal through Alternative Forms of Worker Organization Abstract: This article presents a conceptual model that seeks to explain why trade union incidence in North America encounters difficulties and how the union movement might approach renewal. Those who use the work of others for profit are considered not only employers, but also "deployers" of labor; even self-employed workers are often in situations of dependency vis-a-vis their deployer. This gives rise to new possibilities and new forms of collective action, which the trade union movement should either embrace or with which it should collaborate. Larry Haiven Authors Jack Fiorito is Professor of Management in the College of Business, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL 32306-1110; e-mail: jfiorit@cob.fsu.edu Vickie Coleman Gallagher is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Management, College of Business, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL 32306-1110; e-mail: vgallagh@garnet.acns.fsu.edu Jean-Noel Grenier is Associate Professor in the Departement des relations industrielles, Universite Laval, Quebec, Canada; e-mail: jean-noel.grenier@rlt.ulaval.ca Larry Haiven is Associate Professor of Management in the Sobey School of Business, Saint Mary's University, 923 Robie St., Halifax, NS, Canada B3H 3C3; e-mail: larry.haiven@smu.ca Christian Levesque is Co-director of the Inter-University Research Centre on Globalization and Work (CRIMT) and a professor at HEC Montreal, 3000 chemin del Cote-Sainte-Catherine, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, H3T 2A7; e-mail: christian.levesque@hec.ca Gregor Murray is Director of the Inter-University Research Centre on Globalization and Work (CRIMT) and a professor in the School of Industrial Relations at Universite de Montreal, CP 6128 succursale Centre-ville, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, H3C 3J7; e-mail: gregor.murray@umontreal.ca Jeremy Waddington is Professor of Human Resource Management, Employment Relations and Law in the Manchester Business School, University of Manchester, Booth Street Wester, Manchester, England M15 6PB; e-mail: jeremy.waddington@mbs.ac.uk To Order Top of page Back to Labor Studies Journal home page   Volume 31, No. 2 Summer 2006 Contents 2006 ARTICLES   Tracking Local Union Involved in Managerial Decision-Making Abstract: This paper reviews the empirical literature on the impact of union and worker participation in managerial decision-making on the union as an institution. It then looks at the experience over time of eleven local unions heavily involved in various forms of participation, tracing both the trajectory of participation and union outcomes. The outcomes examined include membership levels, member participation, leadership development, internal politics, collective bargaining and grievance handling impacts, and enterprise unionism. Analyses of these cases suggest that participation may be declining. At the same time, participation does not seem to have profoundly altered the nature and functioning of these unions. Further, participation does not appear to "cause" enterprise unionism, but local unions that are isolated economically and politically do have trouble coping with participation. Finally, overall, these local unions often lack resources to do both participation and their traditional functions well. Adrienne E. Eaton and Saul A. Rubinstein Driving Street Justice: The Taxicab Driver As The Last American Cowboy Abstract: This research explores workers' solidarity and shared culture in the cab driving industry, using theories of distributive justice and relational justice. Cab driving culture involves a high level of worker solidarity, with drivers relying on fellow drivers for assistance, working together in the face of conflict, and imposing various forms of social control when the cab driving community's norms are violated. This article operationalizes such actions as "street justice." Through both individual and group acts of street justice, the cabdrivers promote the main goals of their occupation's culture: justice and safety. Elizabeth A. Hoffmann Labor Education and Labor Art: The Hidden Potential of Knowing for the Left Hand Abstract: Approaches to education, knowledge and aesthetics are reviewed in order to discuss the role of art in union member education, distinguishing between insurgent art linked to oppositional political projects and dominant forms of Art Proper. Art is observed in terms of both production and consumption, drawing on psychologist Jerome Bruner's notion of knowing for the "right" and "left" hand and cultural-historical approaches to learning. It is argued that labor-based art is an important mediator for expanding labor education and activist development. To illustrate the ideas, a brief case study of a union-based arts productuon with school custodians in Canada is outlined. Peter H. Sawchuk "To Find Answers to the Urgent Problems of Our Society": The Alliance for Labor Action's Atlanta Union Organizing Offensive, 1969-1971 Abstract: The Alliance for Labor Action (ALA) was created through the joint efforts of the United Automobile Workers (UAW) and the Teamsters Union in July 1968, in opposition to the AFL-CIO's policies. The motivation behind the creation of this new labor federation, which lasted until 1972, was to organize the millions of unorganized workers and to promote the social concerns that the two founding unions felt had been ignored since the merger of the AFL-CIO in 1955. The ALA selected Atlanta for its pilot citywide organizational campaign in an attempt to organize workers and to link them with the building of community unions that the ALA envisioned would promote its social concerns among the urban and rural poor. Although the ALA ran an innovative organizing campaign and achieved success when compared to certain standard metrics, the ALA considered the campaign overall to be a disappointment. Lessons from this organizing drive are discussed within the context of union organizing drives in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. Victor G. Devinatz INNOVATIONS   Web Conferences and Labor Education: An After-Action Report John Lund   Book Reviews Made in China: Women Factory Workers in a Global Work-place. By Pun Ngai. Durham and London: Duke University Press and Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 2005. 227 pp. $22.95 paper. Reviewed by Alan L. Chan San Francisco , CA A Primer on American Labor Law. By William B. Gould IV. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 2004. 432 pp. $30 paper. Reviewed by Neill DeClercq University of Wisconsin Bread on the Waters: A History of TGWU Education 1922-2000. By John Fisher. London: Lawrence and Wishart, 2005. 256 pp. $33.95 paper. Reviewed by Anibel Ferus-Comelo Labor Educator, India Labor's Time: Shorter Hours, the UAW, and the Struggle for American Unionism. By Jonathan Cutler. Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press, 2004. 236 pp. $62.50 hardback, 20.95 paper. Reviewed by Daniel A. Gilbert Yale University The Twilight of the Middle Class: Post-World War II American Fiction and White-Collar Work. By Andrew Hoberek. Princeton; Princeton University Press, 2005. 158 pp. $19.95 hardback. Reviewed by Jennifer M. Harrison National Labor College On The Rampage: Corporate Predators and The Destruction of Democracy. By Russell Mokhiber and Robert Weissman. Monroe, Maine: Common Courage Press, 2005. 276 pp. $16.95 paper. Reviewed by Mike Leslia Wayne State University Labor, Loyalty, and Rebellion: Southwestern Illinois Coal Miners and World War I. By Carl R. Weinberg. Carbondale, IL: Southern Illinois University Press, 2005. 246 pp. $28.50 paper. Reviewed by John Lloyd California State Polytechnic University Labor and the Environmental Movement: The Quest for Common Ground. By Brian K. Obach Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 338 pp. $28 paper. Reviewed by Geoff Mann Simon Fraser University Working for Wages, on the Road in the Fifties. By Peter Browning. Lafayette, California: Great West Books, 2003. 173 pp. $15.95 paper. Reviewed by David Nack University of Wisconsin Development NGOs and Labor Unions: Terms of Engagement. Edited by Deborah Eade and Alan Leather. Bloomfield, CT: Kumarian Press, 2005. 400 pp. $25.95 paper. Reviewed by Bruce Nissen Florida International University Notes From Toyota-Land: An American Engineer in Japan. By Darius Mehri. Ithaca, New York: ILR Press, 2005. 256 pp. $26.00 hardback. Reviewed by Jason Russell York University The New Structure of Labor Relations: Tripartism and Decentralization. By Harry C. Katz, Wonduck Lee, and Joohee Lee. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University/ILR Press, 2004. 266 pp. $39.95 hardback. Reviewed by Howard R. Stanger Canisius College Worker Displacement in the US/Mexico Border Region: Issues and Challenges. Edited by Jose A. Pagan. Cheltenham, UK and Northampton, MA, USA: Edward Elgar, 2004. 127 pp. $58.50 hardback. Reviewed by Roger White Franklin and Marshall College Authors Victor G. Devinatz is Professor of Management, Illinois State University, College of Business, Management and Quantitative Methods, Campus Box 5580, Normal, IL 61790-5580; e-mail: vgdevin@ilstu.edu Adrienne E. Eaton is Director of Labor Extension, School of Management and Labor Relations, Rutgers University, Janice H. Levin Building, 94 Rockafeller Road, Rm. 216, Piscataway, NJ 08854; e-mail: eaton@smlr.rutgers.edu Elizabeth A. Hoffman is Assistant Professor of Sociology, Purdue University, 700 W. State Street, West Lafayette, Indiana 47907-2059; e-mail: hoffmane@cla.purdue.edu John Lund is Professor in the School for Workers and the Industrial Relations Research Institute, University of Wisconsin - Madison Saul A. Rubinstein is Professor Labor Studies and Employment Relations, School of Management and Labor Relations, Rutgers University, Janice H. Levin Building, 94 Rockafeller Road, Rm. 216, Piscataway, NJ 08854; e-mail: rubinstein@rutgers.edu Peter Sawchuk is Assistant Professor, Department of Sociology & Equity Studies in Education, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, Centre for Industrial Relations and Human Resources, University of Toronto, 121 St. George Street, Toronto, Ontario M5S 2E8, Canada; e-mail: psawchuk@oise.utoronto.ca To Order Top of page Back to Labor Studies Journal home page       Volume 31, No. 1 Spring 2006 Contents 2005 UALE Conference Papers   Introduction Adrienne Eaton Taking It to the States: The Wisconsin Labor Initiative on Health Care Abstract: This article examines the experiences of the Wisconsin State AFL-CIO and its leadership in developing and advancing a long term strategy to resolve what has become a primary collective bargining problem: maintaining employer-based health care coverage that is both sufficient and affordable to workers, within the context of the ongoing crisis in costs inherent in the American system of privatized and fragmented health insurance. The paper explores the unique solution that has been proposed in Wisconsin: a modified single-payer plan, under the auspices of the state, but with a union-management oversight commission, and a partnership between state government and private health care providers. The solution is assessed in terms of its political viability and the extent to which it might serve as a model for health care reform elsewhere. David Nack Innovation and Adaptation: Contrasting Efforts to Organize Home Care Workers in Four States Abstract: This paper chronicles the SEIU's efforts to organize home care workers in California, Oregon, Washgington, and New York. Drawing on interviews with union leaders and organizers as well as secondary source data, I compare the political strategies employed and the outcomes achieved in these states. Across the cases, the SEIU changed its organizing strategy to adapt to the unique environmental characteristics of each state. Despite the anti-union animus of federal labor law, the labor movement can still achieve important organizing successes, albeit at great expense in time and resources. Employees of private-sector companies that rely primarily on taxpayer funds may prove to be fertile sources of new union members, and unions with a track record of success in both the public and private sectors may be best positioned to stem the long-term decline in American union density. Patrice M. Mareschal Union Strategies for Improving Patient Care: The Key to Nurse Unionism Abstract: Over the past ten years the healthcare industry has become a main target of union organizing efforts. While registered nurses represent the largest group of healthcare professionals, union efforts to organize nurses have met only limited success. Evidence suggest that nurses are more inclined to join a union if they believe the union can help them address one of their most important concerns–- the quality of patient care. This paper discusses the significant workplace problems nurses currently face in acute care hospitals and how these problems negatively impact nurses' abilities to provide effective patient care. the paper also identifies, examines, and analyzes strategies that unions have developed and employed to increase nurse voice and involvement in patient care/nursing practice decisions in acute care settings. Paul F. Clark and Darlene A. Clark Changes in Occupational Segregation by Gender and Race-Ethnicity in Healthcare: Implications for Policy and Union Practice Abstract: This paper analyzes the extent to which gender and racial-ethnic segregation in healthcare occupations changed from 1983-2002. Although gender segregation was sizeably reduced during this period, men and women in healthcare were still substantially segregated in 2002, to a greater extent by gender than by race and ethnicity. Blacks and non-blacks were more segregated than Hispanics and non-Hispanics. Over the last two decades, the index of segregation of blacks compared with non-blacks remained fairly stable while segregation of Hispanics compared with non-Hispanics markedly increased. Although women made progress entering the highest-paying healthcare occupations, they remained substantially underrepresented. Women and blacks were extremely overrepresented in the lowest-paying occupations. Blacks and Hispanics were underrepresented in better-rewarded occupations. This paper also examines the implications of the findings for poilicy and union practice. Hervé Queneau Book Reviews Strategic Unionism and Partnership: Boxing or Dancing? Edited by Tuny Huzzard, Denis Gregory and Regan Scott. Houndmills, Hampshire, UK: Palgrave Macmillan, 2005. 384 pp. $80.95 hardcover Reviewed by Kevin Boyle Corvallis, OR Other People's Money: The Corporate Mugging of America By Nomi Prins. New York, NY: The New Press, 2004. 342 pp. $26.95 hardback. $16.95 paper Reviewed by Gene Carroll Cornell University Organized Labor in Postcommunist States: From Solidarity to Infirmity By Paul J. Kubicek. Pittsburgh, PA: University of Pittsburgh Press, 2004. 256 pp. $29.95 paper Reviewed by Martin Comack Northeastern University Divided We Fall: The Story of the Paperworkers' Union and the Future of Labor By Peter Kellman. New York, NY: The Apex Press, 2004. 194 pp. $29.95 paper Reviewed by Ellen Dannin Wayne State University Safety Practices, Firm Culture, and Workplace Injuries By Richard J. Butler and Yong-Seung Park. Kalamazoo, MI: W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research, 2005. 105 pp. $40 paper; and Workplace Injuries and Diseases: Prevention And Compensation Edited by Karen Roberts, John Burton Jr., Matthew M. Bodah. Kalamazoo, MI: W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research, 2005. 300 pp. $20 paper Reviewed by Jennifer A. Hess University of Oregon The Tribe of Black Ulysses: African-American Workers in the Jim Crow South By William P. Jones. Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press. A volume in The Working Class in America History Series. 2005. 232 pp. $45 hardback, $20 paper Reviewed by Brian Kelly Queen's University, Belfast, Ireland Harry, Tom and Father Rice: Accusation and Betrayal in America's Cold War By John Hoerr. Pittsburgh, PA: University of Pittsburgh Press, 2005. 344 pp. $29.95 hardcover Reviewed by Bruce Nissen Florida International University Immigrants, Unions, and the New U.S. Labor Market By Immanuel Ness. Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press, 2005. 230 pp. $21.95 paper Reviewed by David B. Reynolds Wayne State University The Paradox of American Unionism: Why Americans Like Unions More Than Canadians Do But Join Much Less By Seymour Martin Lipset and Noah M. Meltz, with Rafael Gomez and Ivan Katchanovski. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2004. 226 pp. $32.50 hardback Reviewed by Jason Russell York University The Blue Eagle at Work: Reclaiming Democratic Rights in the American Workplace By Charles Morris. Ithaca, NY and London: Cornell University Press, 2005, 328 pp. $35 hardcover Reviewed by Lisa Schur Rutgers University Authors Adrienne Eaton is Director of Labor Extension at the Labor Education Center, Rutgers University, email: aeeaton@rci.rutgers.edu Darlene A. Clark is Instructor of Nursing, School of Nursing, Penn State University, 205B Health and Human Development East, University Park, PA 16802 Paul F. Clark is a Professor in the Dept. of Labor Studies and Industrial Relations & Dept. of Health Policy and Administration, Penn State University, email: pfc2@psu.edu Patrice M. Mareschal is a Faculty Fellow, Senator Walter Rand Institute for Public Affairs, and Assistant Professor in the Department of Public Policy and Administration at Rutgers University, email: marescha@camden.rutgers.edu David Nack is an Assistant Professor at the School for Workers, University of Wisconsin-Extension, email: david.nack@uwex.edu Hervé Queneau is Associate Professor in the Department of Economics at Brooklyn College of the City University of New York, email: hqueneau@brooklyn.cuny To Order Top of page Back to Top of Vol 31 #1 Back to Labor Studies Journal home page Volume 30, No. 4 Winter 2006 Contents Article   Striking Ensembles: The importance of Clothing on the Picket Line Abstract: Social scientists and historians have long recognized the interaction between fashion and social stratification. The present paper examines the clothing worn by women during two important strikes in the labor history of the United States-specifically, the 1909 Shirtwaist Strike in New York City and the wave of strikes in the Southern textile mills during the late 1920s and early 1930s. Although separated by generation and geographic region, both strikes possessed similarities that reveal a great deal about the evolution of women in the workplace during the first three decades of the least century. Specifically, (1) both strikes were in industries populated heavily by women and almost devoid of systematic labor organization; (2) in both strikes clothing was utilized by women to simultaneously reflect solidarity and emphasize their linkage to society at large; (3) both groups of strikers were faced with a general hostile press-generally more concerned with the women wore on the picket line than with the substantive issues of the strike, and (4) when juxtaposed, these strikers, and the often controversial fashions associated with them, mirrored the changing role of women over a time span marked by the right to vote, a World War, the "flapper" era, and the rise of media culture-especially the film industry. Overall, the analysis demonstrates how the study of clothing can add texture and tangibility to important events in the labor history of the United States. Deirdre Clement Organizing in the Context of Tribal Sovereignty: The Navajo Area Indian Health Service Campaign for Union Recognition Abstract: The article considers the relationship among labor union organizing, American Indian tribal sovereignty, and economic development, focusing on a 2001 campaign by the Laborers' International Union of North American to organize employees of the Navajo Area Indian Health Service. Relying on ethnographic methods, I examine the practices, actions, and attitudes of professional and volunteer organizers of this campaign to consider how organizers connect political conditions and strategies to verbal strategies of face-to-face interaction. This article illustrates how organizing drives conducted in Indian country must negotiate the mutually constitutive political and economic interests of tribal members. The LIUNA campaign succeeded by addressing workplace concerns within an overall context of respect for the Navajo Nation tribal government, tribal sovereignty, and tribal members' feelings about sovereignty, even when the tribal government's actions potentially threatened the stability and security of the tribal workers' jobs. David Kamper The Squeaky Wheel's Dilemma: New Forms of Labor Organizing in the Philippines Abstract: The paper details innovative strategies of local labor organizers to unionize workers under the hostile conditions surrounding export processing zones. The case study from the Philippines outline a comprehensive, scalar strategy with an analysis of four key elements: first, the local political context ; second, community-based organizing attentive to gender and justice issues; third, the adoption of multiple organizational forms; and fourth, the strategic extension of network ties to multiple geographic scales. Through a comparison with campaigns in other export processing zones, the study suggests that the most effective strategy for protecting labor rights combines social movement unionism with strategic international solidarity that supports core local efforts to organize. Steven C. McKay A Tale of Two Factories: Successful Resistance to Sweatshops and the Limits of Firefighting Abstract: College-based U.S. anti-sweatship activists led two solidarity campaigns challenging the proposition that global capitalism and capital mobility necessarily subvert local victories of workers and their unions. Critical to working-class advances are worker self defense, alliance with reformers, and positive governmental policy, but, in two cases, Kukdong/Mexmode in Mexico and BJ&B in the Dominican Republic, the third pillar of decency - public policy - has been weak or missing. These cases show that consumer support for ethical market niches can be an important weapon in the struggle for rights. Nationally based policies are no longer adequate: activists must continue to insist on labor standards in trade agreements. Robert J. S. Ross Innovations Building the Strength of the Labor Movement by Enhancing Institutional and Individual Integrity: Teaching Union Ethics as a First Step Maggie Cohen, Edited by Adrienne Eaton Audio - Visual Reviews For Man Must Work of The End of Work Directed by Jean-Claude Burger, First Run/Icarus Films, 52 minutes, 2001, Closed Captioned Reviewed by David Nack School of Workers University of Wisconsin - Extension Trade Secrets: The Hidden Costs of Free Trade A film by Jeremy Blasi and Casey Peek, 16 minutes, 2002 Reviewed by Howard Kling, Director Labor Education Service University of Minnesota Bangladesh: An Appeal For Solidarity Produced by the National Labor Committee, 2001, 8 minutes Women of Zimbabwe Produced and directed by Joanne Burke, with camera work by David Carpenter, 1997, 26 minutes. Reviewed by Charles McCollester Professor of Employment Relations Director, Pennsylvania Labor Center Indiana University of Pennsylvania Made in Thailand Videotape by Eve-Laure Moros and Linzy Emery, 1999, 30 minutes Reviewed by Jane Kiser Division of Labor Studies Indiana University Northwest at Gary Breaking the Silence: The AFT-Africa AIDS Campaign Public Affairs Departments, American Federation of Teachers, 2002, 12 minutes Reviewed by John P. Beck Labor Education Program Michigan State University Book Reviews The Maya of Morganton: Work and Community in the Nuevo New South By Leon Fink. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2003. 254 pp, 25 photos. $34.95 hardback, $17.95 paper Reviewed by Judy Ancel University of Missouri, Kansas City Rebels, Reformers, and Racketeers: How Insurgents Transformed the Labor Movement By Herman Benson. New York: 1st Book, 2004. 195 pp. $18.00 paper Reviewed by Paul F. Clark Penn State University The 21st Century at Work: Forces Shaping the Future Workforce and Workplace in the United States By Lynn A. Karoly and Constantijn W.A. Panis. Santa Monica, CA: Rand, 2004. 304 pp. $30 paper Reviewed by Ellen Dannin Wayne State University Fighting for a Living Wage By Stephanie Luce. Ithaca, NY: ILR/Cornell University Press, 2004. 266 pp. #18.95 paper Reviewed by Jane Kiser Indiana University Northwest American Labor and the Cold War, Grassroots Politics and Postwar Culture Edited by Robert W. Cherny, William Issel and Kieran Walsh Taylor. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 2004. 320 pp. $23.95 paper Reviewed by David Nack University of Wisconsin Class Matter: Cross-Class Alliance Building for Middle-Class Activists By Betsy Leondar-Wright. Gabriola Island, BC, Canada: New Society Publisher, 2005. 175 pp. $18.95 paper Reviewed by Bruce Nissen Florida International University The Battle of Blair Mountain: The Story of America's Largest labor Uprising By Robert Shogan. New York, NY: Basic Books, 2004. 271 pp. $26 hardcover Reviewed by John Paul O'Connor American Federation of Musicians Local 1000 Poor Workers' Unions: Rebuilding Labor From Below By Vanessa Tait. Cambridge Ma, 2005. 258 pp. $20 paper Reviewed by Raahi Reddy University of California, Berkeley The Social Costs of Underemployment: inadequate Employment as Disguised Unemployment By David Dooley and Joann Prause. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2003. 274 pp. $85 hardback Reviewed by Kristin L. Rosi California Public Employment Relations Board The Voice of Southern Labor: Radio, Music, and Textile Strikes, 1929-1934 By Vincent J. Roscigno and William F. Dannaher. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press, 2004, 137 pp. $19.95 Reviewed by Diane Thomas Holladay University of Arkansas at Little Rock Black Workers' Struggle for Equality in Birmingham Edited by Horace Huntley and David Montgomery. Champaign, IL: University of Illinois Press, 2004. 244 pp. $35 hardback Reviewed by Susan W. Thomas University of North Carolina Skilled Hands, Strong Spirits: A Century of Building Trades History By Grace Palladino. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2005. 274 pp. $36 hardcover Reviewed by Marcus Widenor University of Oregon The Other Women's Movement: Workplace Justice and Social Rights in Modern America By Dorothy Sue Cobble. Princeton, NJ Princeton University Press, 2004. 336 pp. $19.95 paper Reviewed by Susan Winning University of Massachusetts, Lowell Authors David Kamper is Assistant Professor in the Department of American Indian Studies at San Diego State University , Adams Humanities, email: dkamper@mail.sdsu.edu Deirdre Clemente is a doctoral student in history at Carnegie Mellon University, email: declemen@andrew.cmu.edu Maggie Cohen is Adjunct Instructor, National Labor College and Adjunct Professor, University of Maryland, University College, email: drmaggiecohen@yahoo.com Robert J.S. Ross is a Professor of Sociology and the Director of the International Studies Stream at Clark University, email: rjsross@clarku.edu Steven McKay is Assistant Professor of Sociology, University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee, email: scmckay@uwm.edu To Order Top of page Back to Top of Vol 30 #4 Back to Labor Studies Journal home page Volume 30, No. 3 Fall 2005 Contents Article   Newspaper Coverage of the U.S. Labor Movement: The Case of Anti-Union Firings Abstract: If the news media covered anti-labor events such as anti-union firings, the publicity potentially could galvanize community support for workers' unionization efforts. But, when workers are illegally fired for supporting a union, do the news media cover the story? And if they do, under what circumstances? Utilizing the LexisNexis database of newspapers, I systematically searched for and analyzed the extent and nature of news media coverage of anti-union firings. The findings reveal that the news media consistently ignore anti-union firings. When covered, anti-union firings are treated as individualized and isolated events, diminishing the potential impact of the coverage on the public's understanding of U.S. labor movement struggles. The results suggest that the U.S. labor movement faces unique obstacles to gaining favorable news coverage. Joshua L. Carreiro Beyond Strike Support: Labor-Community Alliances and Democratic Power in New Haven Abstract: This paper considers how low-income workers and urban residents can cooperate in their local communities through alliances among unions and community organizations. We focus on the case of the Connecticut Center for a New Economy, a labor-community partnership that includes the unions who represent employees at Yale University. We begin by drawing concepts from debates in political theory and labor movement practice, and then analyze recent union and community struggles in New Haven. Our analysis explores how groups may build capacity for collective voice and action, establish public space for social dialogue, and negotiate binding commitments around mutual concerns. Chris Rhomberg and Louise Simmons Local Union Leaders' Conception and Ideology of Stewards' Roles Abstract: This study investigates the ways in which local union leaders define ship stewards' roles and the ideology that underlies their conception. Drawing on sociological theories, the author proposes three major role ideologies: conflict/activist, rationalization/bureaucratic, and fuctionalist/cooperative. Based on a survey of southern local union leaders, the study finds that "grievance handler" and "representative" are the most commonly identified roles for stewards. Union leaders conceive of stewards' roles in ways that reflect diffuse ideologies; nevertheless, rationalization and functionalist ideologies are more prevalent than conflict ideology. Tracy F. H. Chang Innovations Mapping and Charting Construction Organizing Targets and Opportunities: Lessons from Wisconsin John Lund and Myung-Sook Jun. Edited by Adrienne Eaton Audio - Visual Reviews An Injury to One Directed by Travis Wilkerson, 2002, 53 minutes. Reviewed by Jamie Daniel Director of Organizing and Development UPI Local 4100, IFT, AFT, AFL-CIO Math at Work: Women in Nontraditional Careers, 1997; Women in Dentistry, 1996; Women in Engineering, 2000 A video series produced by Jocelyn Riley, Three videos, each fifteen minutes in length. Reviewed by Courtney Derwinski School of Workers University of Wisconsin - Extension Women in Buildings Construction, 2002; Women in Fire fighting, 1997; Women in Highway Construction, 2001; Women in Machining, 1997; Women in Non-Traditional Careers: An Introduction, 1996: Women in Policing, 1994 Women in Welding, 1997; Work Talk: Women in Non-Traditional Careers in Their Own Words, 2000 A video series produced by Jocelyn Riley, Eight videos, each fifteen minutes in length. Reviewed by Jane Latour Associate Editor Public Employee Press District Council 37 Labors' Comeback: Pensions and Jobs Hedrick Smith, 1998, Films for the Humanities & Sciences, 30 minutes Reviewed by Jayne Zanglein The College of New Jersey Secrets of Silicon Valley Produced and directed by Alan Snitow and Deborah Kaufman, 2001, 60 minutes Reviewed by Lowell Turner Cornell University - NYSILR Fasanella Produced by Glen Pearcy, 1992, 22 minutes Reviewed by Randy Croce Labor Ed. Service - University of Minnesota Book Reviews Hands: Physical Labor, Class, and Cultural Work By Janet Zandy. New Bruncswick: Rutgers University Press, 2004. 240pp. $21.95 Reviewed by Amanda Davis University of Florida What's Class Got to Do with It? Society in the Twenty-First Century Edited by Michael Zweig. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2004. 211pp. $17.95 paper Reviewed by Jennifer M. Harrison National Labor College Rebuilding Labor: Organizing and Organizers in the New Union Movement Edited by Ruth Milkman and Kim Voss. Ithaca: ILR Press, 2004. 320pp. $49.95 hardback, $19.95 paper Reviewed by Nancy Brown Johnson University of Kentucky Framed! Labor and the Corporate Media By Christopher R. Martin. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press. 2003. 248pp. $19.95 paper Reviewed by Howard Kling University of Minnesota Labor's Story in the United States By Philip Yale Nicholson. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2004. 351pp. $27.95 paper Reviewed by John Lloyd California State Polytechnic University. Low Pay, High Profile: The Global Push for Fair Labor By Andrew Ross. New York, NY: The New Press, 2004. 264pp. $18.95 paper Reviewed by Noel Dorman Nawer Jacksonville, FL Partnering for Change: Unions and Community Groups Build Coalitions for Economic Justice Edited by David B. Reynolds. Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe, 2004. 280pp. $24.95 Reviewed by Elissa McBride AFSCME A Troublemaker's Handbook 2: How to Fight Back Where You Work and Win! Edited by Jane Slaughter. Detroit, MI: A Labor Notes Book, 2005. 372pp. $24.00 Reviewed by Bruce Nissen Florida International University Sheatship USA: The American Sweatshop in Historical and Global Perspective Edited by Daniel E. Bender and Richard A. Greenwald. New York: Routledge, 2003. 300pp. $31.95 paper Reviewed by Erik Peterson University of Minnesota The Next Los Angeles: Struggle for a Livable City By Robert Gottlieb, Mark Vallianatos, Regina M. Freer and Peter Dreier. Los Angeles: University of California Press, 2005. 279pp. $21.95 paper Reviewed by Nari Rhee University of California, Berkeley Unfair Advantage: Workers' Freedom of Association in the United States under International Human Rights Standards By Lance Compa. Ithaca, NY: ILR/Cornell University Press, 2004. 220pp. $16.95 Reviewed by Jennifer Sherer University of Iowa The Story of Reo Joe: Work, Kin, and Community in Autotown, U.S.A. By Lisa M. Fine. Philadelphia, PA: 2004. 239pp. $22.95 paper Reviewed by Howard R. Stanger Canisius College Authors Joshua L. Carreiro is a doctoral student in the Department of Sociology at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst; email: carreiro@soc.umass.edu Tracy F. H. Chang is Associate Professor at the Center for Labor Education and Research Center at the University of Alabama at Birmingham; email: TracyC@uab.edu Myung-Sook Jun works for the Korean Labor Education Institute and is completing her doctorate at the University of Wisconsin-Madison John Lund is Professor in the School for Workers and the Industrial Relations Research Institute, University of Wisconsin-Madison, WI, 53703; email: jlund@facstaff.wisc.edu Chris Rhomberg is Associate Professor of Sociology, Yale University, P.O. Box 208265, New Haven, CT 06520, email: christopher.rhomberg@yale.edu Louise Simmons is Director of the Urban Semester Program and Associate Professor Social Work, University of Connecticut School of Social Work, 1798 Asylum Ave. West Hartford, CT; email: Louise.Simmons@uconn.edu To Order Top of page Back to top of Vol. 30 #3 Back to Labor Studies Journal home page Volume 30, No. 2 Summer 2005 Contents Article   A Heroic Defeat: The Caterpillar Labor Dispute and the UAW, 1991-1998 Abstract: In "The Caterpillar Labor Dispute and the UAW, 1991-1998," Isaac Cohen contests the popular notion that the UAW's dispute with Caterpillar resulted in a major defeat for the union. He states that the struggle's outcome did not end in an unconditional union surrender because the UAW obtained a contract that was considerably better than the company's imposed terms and conditions during the dispute. Cohen argues that had the UAW International adopted a different strategy during this dispute the union would have experienced a more favorable outcome. I challenge Cohen's views and argue that, although the UAW membership launched heroic and militant strikes against Caterpillar, the dispute ultimately ended in a decisive union defeat. Victor G. Devinatz Movement Theory and International Labor Solidarity Abstract: As international labor solidarity becomes an important counterweight to corporate globalization, practitioners can benefit from guidance that social movement theory provides. This study applies three strands of movement theory to actual and potential cross-border strategies in the Americas. It explores the structural relevance of political opportunities, the mobilization of networks as a resource, and the emphasis by New Social Movement theory on framing and reflexive identity. It discovers that each strand offers important insights, one clarifying limitations, a second demarcating and cultivation supporters, and a third motivation participation. Taken together, the strands comprise a dynamic basis for solidarity that enriches organizing strategies and gains measurable victories. Henry J. Frundt Low Wage Workers and High Housing Costs Abstract: Housing policy becomes a labor issue when housing costs consume large portions of hard-won wage increases. The extent and the depth of today's housing crisis make this issue more pressing than at any time since the 1930s when labor's participation was critical to the passage of the U.S. Housing Act. Without the benefits of housing-subsidy programs, low-income people often pay more than half their incomes on housing. In this article, we focus on the effect of the housing crisis on members in Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 434B who represent over 100,000 homecare workers in Los Angeles and San Bernardino counties. Living in overcrowded and substandard housing, workers face abusive landlords, suffer feelings of powerlessness and endure compromised self-worth and dignity. Homecare workers use coping strategies in order to live with the problems created by the high costs of housing and poor conditions. Local unions can intervene in ways that tie housing to traditional campaigns and break new ground in the housing arena. Without labor's involvement, the ad hoc housing policy in the United States will continue to burden workers in low-wage occupations. Jackqueline Leavitt and Teresa Lingafelter The Effects Of The Use Of Striker Replacement Workers In Canada: An Analysis Of Four Cases Abstract: The use of striker replacements is one of the most controversial and emotional issues facing those involved with the industrial relations system. However, a paucity of research has been done on the actual use of replacement workers and how that affects industrial relations outcomes, such as strike activity. Initial research suggests that the use of replacements in associated with longer strikes, supporting the contention that the use of replacements should be prohibited. Using four case studies, we explore some of the dynamics of strike that utilize replacements versus those that do not. The results suggest that, in addition to economic factors, social and psychological variables may be intricately linked to the relationship between the use of replacements and strike activity. Parbudyal Singh, Deborah M. Zinni, and Harish C. Jain Book Reviews Black Days, Black Dust: The Memories of an African American Coal Miner. By Robert Armstead, as told to S. L. Gardner. Knoxville, TN: The University of Tennessee Press. 2002. 255 pp. Bill Barry Community College of Baltimore County The Labor Market Experience of Workers with Disabilities: The ADA and Beyond. By Julie L. Hotchkiss. Kalamazoo, MI: W. E. UpJohn Institute for Employment Research, 2003. 229 pp. Neill DeClercq University of Wisconsin Negotiations and Change: From the Workplace to Society. Edited by Thomas A. Kochan and David B. Lipsky. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2002. 353 pp. Rob Hickey Cornell University For All These Rights: Business, Labor and the Shaping of America's Public-Private Welfare State. By Jennifer Klein. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2003. 354 pp. Ken Jacobs University of California Berkeley Whose Detroit?: Politics, Labor, and Race in a Modern American City. By Heather Ann Thompson. Ithaca, NY: ILR/Cornell University Press, 2004. 304 pp. George P. Mason Wayne State University For the People: Can We Fix Public Service? Edited by John D. Donahue and Joseph S. Nye, Jr. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press, 2003. 282 pp. Elissa McBride AFSCME International Hard Work: Remaking the American Labor Movement. By Rick Fantasia and Kim Voss. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 2004. 244 pp. Bruce Nissen Florida International University Can Labor Standards Improve Under Globalization? By Kimberly Ann Elliot and Richard B. Freeman. Washington, DC: Institute for International Economics. 2003. 179 pp. Erik Peterson University of Minnesota Labour and Globalisation: Results and Prospects. By Ronaldo Munck. Liverpool: Liverpool University Press. 2004. 254 pp. Erik Peterson University of Minnesota Joe Hill, the IWW and the Making of a Revolutionary Workingclass Counterculture. By Franklin Rosemont. Chicago, IL: Charles H. Kerr Publishing Company, 2002. 598 pp. Gordon Simmons West Virginia Labor History Association Workplace Education for Low-Wage Workers. By Amanda L. Ahlstrand, Laurie J. Bassi, and Daniel P. McMurrer. Kalamazoo, MI: W. E. UpJohn Institute for Employment Research, 2003. 174 pp. Diane Thomas-Holladay University of Arkansas at Little Rock Welfare, the Working Poor, and Labor. Edited by Louise Simmons. Armonk, NY: M. E. Sharpe, Inc, 2004. 172 pp. Adrienne Valdez University of Hawaii West Oahu The Next Upsurge: Labor and the New Social Movements. By Dan Clawson. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2003. 235 pp. Fred Azcarate Jobs with Justice Authors Victor G. Devinatz, Professor of Management in the Department of Management and Quantitative Methods at Illinois State University Henry J. Frundt, Professor of Sociology at Ramapo College New Jersey Harish C. Jain, Professor Emeritus at the DeGroote School of Business, McMaster University Jacqueline Leavitt, Professor of Urban Planning, UCLA School of Public Affairs Teresa Lingafelter, Doctoral Candidate at the UCLA School of Public Affairs Parbudyal Singh, Assistant Professor in the School of Administrative Studies Deborah M. Zinni, Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Business, Brock University To Order Top of page Back to top of Vol 30 #1 Back to Labor Studies Journal home page Volume 29, No. 4 Winter 2005 Contents Article   Unions as Social Capital: Renewal through a Return to the Logic of Mutual Aid? Abstract: This paper argues that unions can increase both the normative and instrumental value of trade unionism if they organize their activities and functions around regulating and extending the naturally occurring social networks that tie members together in workplaces. In so doing, the paper analyzes how the service model of unionism has contributed to shop-floor weakness, identifies the basic logic and limitations of the organizing model, and details the practices ad structures that would be integral to organizing unions around social-capital formation and mutual-aid functions. Paul Jarley Edited by Bruce Nissen Response to "Unions as Social Capital" Andy Banks Jack Metzgar Response: Organizing, Movements, and Social Capital Dan Clowson New Turf for Organizing: Family Child Care Providers Abstract: Child-Care providers are among the lowest paid wage workers in the United States. Nationwide, less than 5 percent of child-care providers are represented by labor unions. This article addresses the question,: How can family child care providers be effectively organized? I described and analyze Local 880 Service Employees International Union's effort to organize family child-care providers in Illinois. Adapting the grassroots-organizing model that they developed to organize homecare worker, Local 880 has over 2200 signed authorization cards and over 1500 members in the family child-care union. Even without formal recognition, the union won a pay increase for providers in 1999 and has filed numerous successful grievances about disputed back pay. Keys to 880's success in organizing family child-care providers were: (1) prior experience in homecare organizing, especially non-NLRB organizing, (2) experience with grassroots-organizing, and maintaining unions without recognition, and (3) ability to influence state-wide elections and legislative issues by becoming involved in direct politics and joining coalitions. Fred P. Brooks The Conciliation Step of the Unfair Dismissal Process in South Australia Abstract: Alternative dispute resolution (ADR) is attracting increasing attention in the United States as a means of allowing both unionized and non-unionized employees to discuss their grievances in the presence of outside third parties. Public interest groups have looked for mechanisms to accomplish this objective. For some time, South Australia has used a dispute resolution system that provides both mediation and arbitration for individual workers. As good as this system is in overall intent, it falls short of putting people back on their jobs or providing adequate compensation in cases of unfair dismissal. This paper discusses the operation of the mediation step in the unfail-dismissal process of South Australia. George Hagglund Chris Provis Cracking the Temp Trap: Day Laborers' Grievances and Strategies for Change in Cleveland, Ohio Abstract: This article examines the experiences of homeless workers within the day-laborer industry in Cleveland, Ohio and the multiple challenges they encounter in attempting to gain full-time employment. To provide a context for this study, we discuss the specific historical background of the day-labor industry in the city. We present the grievances day laborers raise within the categories of hours and wages, racial discrimination, gender discrimination, sexual harassment, worker safety, barriers to permanent employment, transportation, and retaliation. The article then explains the strategies developed in a series of focus groups with day laborers aimed at addressing the structural inequities of the day-labor market. Additionally, we address the subsequent efforts by the Day Laborers' Organizing Committee to implement these strategies, specifically focusing on the organization's work in establishing an alternative non-profit community hiring hall and lobbying for a municipal ordinance to regulate the day-labor industry. Daniel Kerr Christopher Dole