Does anyone know of a good book/article that makes the case for Labor Unions?

[NAO]

I have found myself in a few heated discussions about organized labor. It seems that the corporatist propaganda machine has been working so hard and so effectively for so many years that nearly EVERYBODY in the US - blue collar, white collar, tee-shirt, and every other conceivable type of worker HATES unions.

They all seem to focus on union members as being "greedy" (why not look at the greedy stockholders?); they see them as obstructing work by striking (why not look at uncooperative management?) etc.

Does anyone know if there are any good books or articles that make a reasoned defense of organized labor and un-do some of the myths propagated by the corporatist propaganda machine?

Please provide as many sources as possible. Thanks.

[sinkingfeeling]

1. Any good history book should do it.

Here's a good site with info: http://www.geocities.com/CollegePark/Quad/6460/AmLabHist/

And a good book here: http://www.ashp.cuny.edu/books.html


Edited with link

[BlooInBloo]

21. It really IS the obvious response, isn't it? lol!

[Poll_Blind]

2. The Grapes of Wrath. I know you're looking for something...

...nonfiction but it is such a seminal work I could not help but toss it in.

PB

[louis-t]

11. That was the ONLY book that came to mind.

Read it in junior high and it still affects me today.

[ms liberty]

3. Here's a link to a thread about unions from yesterday that...

has a booklet you can download about unions...the impression I got was that it was more or less a "Unions for Beginners" type of booklet. I bookmarked it for myself because it looked like something I could use with the dufus-heads around here in the backwoods!


http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=132&topic_id=3070891

[no_hypocrisy]

4. "Whose Side Are You On?"

Book published ca. 1992 or 93 regarding the history of the American Labor Movement.

Or contact the American Labor Museum for references.
http://www.geocities.com/labormuseum/

P.S. Go rent "Norma Rae" (1978?)

[mrcheerful]

5. No matter what evidence you can dig up that shows unions as the working mans

voice, your never going to get the union haters to switch their views on unions. Those who never worked for a union know all the evils of unions, the workers get paid so much that it drives the price of the product up, the unions are to blame for out sourcing, the unions keep lazy workers on the job, union workers take to many sick days and do half the work of non-union workers, unions allow unskilled workers to make more then what the job would pay in a non union work place. After all Ronnie the union prez said so. It's funny how the working man is so ready to eat their own when they think someone is getting more them themselves.

[Justitia]

6. The Jungle by Upton Sinclair, google the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire,

Do they like a 40-hr / 5 day work week? Thank the unions.

Child labor laws? Thank the unions.

A minimum wage? Protection from discrimination? Safe working conditions? Thank the unions.

Either these folks have a very, very short memory or a total ignorance of their own history.

[aquart]

7. 1877: Year of Violence by Robert V. Bruce

I kinda like that one.

"By 1877 the United States had ground through four years of depression with no end in sight. The mood of the nation was explosive. As lbor sought to unite against the great corporations, violence and lawlessness spread through the cities, accented by race riots, lynchings, government corruption, scandal in high places, and the shocking growth of teenage gangs. The summer of 1877 produced a climax: a nationwide railroad strike accompanied by rioting coast to coast. Mr. Bruce's moving account of these events portrays a nation trying to cope with an industrial depression before it had learned about the problems of industrialism. The upheaval was perhaps our closest brush with class revolution in America. - Eric F. Goldman, NYT"

Betcha no one ever taught you about 1877 in school.

And I don't know what kind of people you know, but the first thing I learned after learning how to walk was not to cross a picket line.

My grandmother was the first person in her sweatshop who went out for the ILGWU. She was 17. By "went out," I mean she walked out of the shop onto the picket line.

Ask your buddies where the 40-hour week came from.

[RufusTFirefly]

8. Three Strikes

It's not exactly what you're looking for, but Howard Zinn's little book called Three Strikes: Miners, Musicians, Salesgirls, and the Fighting Spirit of Labor's Last Century is an interesting read.

Most people who object to organized labor do so in the abstract. One day a right-wing friend of mine was griping about how his boss was making him work extra-long hours and take on the jobs of some of his colleagues. I innocently asked, "Did you tell your union rep?"

Of course, he has no union, but for once I could almost hear the sound of the gears grinding in his brain. Suddenly he understood -- albeit for just an instant -- the value of organized labor.

[pnorman]

9. Right off the top of my head is: "Which Side Are You On?"

Here's the Amazon.com review: http://www.amazon.com/Which-Side-Are-You-Revised/dp/1565848861/sr=1-1/qid=1169570819/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/105-5666198-1646821?ie=UTF8&s=books That's a looong way from being the best, but you might want to start with that one. Howard Zinn's book on US history is probably a lot better, and there are MANY more. PM me if you will, to establish contact for when this thread disappears, and I could add more.

But once you have the broad outlines to give you enough key-words, search engines will probably give you what you need. Just Google DEEP, and don't stop just because you found something that'll "make your point", or you may find yourself sandbagged. Bear in mind that most of the "anti-commie" red-baiting" over all these years, was done to cripple and/or DESTROY the labor movement. Dig deep behind most anti-union stuff, and you'll find Corporate America --- and their pockets are DEEP. ie: The MSM is already "on the pad".

pnorman

[pnorman]

23. Here's another recommendation:

"Selling Free Enterprise: The Business Assault on Labor and Liberalism, 1945-60 (History of Communication)": http://www.amazon.com/Selling-Free-Enterprise-Liberalism-Communication/dp/0252064399/sr=1-1/qid=1169606929/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/105-5666198-1646821?ie=UTF8&s=books

Nothing specifically on unions per se, but it should give you a good idea of the forces that have opposed the US labor movement, from early days. And how well they've shaped it's image in the public perception.

pnorman

[RufusTFirefly]

10. Turn on the TV

Just flip on network TV and watch any one of the liberal media's weekly labor news shows. That should help.

:sarcasm:

[kestrel91316]

12. THE JUNGLE, written by Upton Sinclair over 100 years ago.

[More Than A Feeling]

13. Everything for Sale by Robert Kuttner has a chapter on the economics of labor

and why its a bad idea to leave employment/working conditions/wages solely to market forces.

[aikoaiko]

14. Thanks for asking this question

I have to admit that while I am grateful for the massive gains unions made for workers' rights in the 50 years around 1900, I too have fallen into current anti-union mentality and I don't want one where I work.


I look forward to reading about the benefits of modern unionization.

[Dora]

15. The Divine Right of Capital: Dethroning the Corporate Aristocracy

VERY informative, VERY eye-opening, VERY thought-changing. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS BOOK.


http://www.amazon.com/Divine-Right-Capital-Dethroning-Aristocracy/dp/1576751252

[NAO]

16. I need apologetic material for CURRENT unions

First off, I am not brainwashed. I am not, nor have I ever been a member of a union. In fact, for the past 5 years I have owned my own business so I cannot be part of a union. But still I recognize how important unions were/ARE in our system.

The problem is that the anti-union interests have waged a massive 50 year PR war against unions. They have managed to turn most people against unions; it has been so effective that many become hostile at the mere mention of unions.

Now there are some people who will say, "Well, unions had their place 100 years ago, when they were working for mine safety and plant safety and such, but nowadays it is just about greed and laziness." I've talked with people who actually think that employers would have VOLUNTARILY enacted the 5-day/40 hour work week on their own if the unions hadn't forced things...

So what I am trying to do is put something together that shows why unions are important NOW - possibly more important now than ever before.

But there is so much deeply ingrained negative programming that it is hard to even be heard.

[pnorman]

30. I get your needs better now,

and you seem to be looking for a single volume that will summarize concisely and clearly, the NEED for a viable labor movement NOW. With my bookshelves full of relevant books & periodicals, and my HD loaded with related material, I'm probably not the best person to offer help. Check out some of the other postings here.

But for others following this thread, it's important to to understand the forces that have been arrayed against the American labor movement from the early days. The other major industrial nations have, over the centuries, evolved a sort of Social Contract. Labor struggles are relatively "mild" there, and they're frequently APPALLED at the class-war violence used against the labor movement here --- in a so-called "classless society".

Here's an observation: Up to the Thirties, the term "middle class" was used to denote a fairly small sector of society --- doctors, lawyers, educators, foremen, and the like. By and large, it was a pretty docile bunch, who "knew their place in society". The remainder, the working people, were pretty well off the radar --- except when it occasionally became necessary to demonize them. But as a result of a resurgence of the labor movement in the Thirties & Forties, much of the skilled working people were brought UP to "middle class" levels. And the rest, semi-skilled & unskilled, had a shot at a far better livelihood than ever before. That was the TRUE "Age Of The Common Man"!

But that was UNTHINKABLE to the upper 10% (and their brown-nose lackeys) and they respond accordingly. That book I had earlier suggested goes into that in some detail. This Nation article, "Rolling Back the 20th Century", would also be a good read. Here it is: http://www.thenation.com/doc/20030512/greider It's pretty lengthy, but worth the effort.

pnorman

[MzNov]

17. you should turn to Thom Hartmann's collection, which is quite extensive

I'm sure you would find something since he is a great defender of American workers. His last book Screwed..... is very good. I just finished it.

:-)

[Lisa]

18. Canadian economist Jim Stanford

.... has written some interesting papers and articles about unions and productivity. (He's also a very entertaining speaker -- I was lucky enough to hear him at a conference a while back.) He used to study issues for the Canadian Auto Workers.

www.csls.ca/events/jan2000/Stanford.pdf
"Other literature suggests that unions can have productivity-enhancingeffects through the provision of secure means for employees to offer opinions, the reduction ofemployee turnover, and other factors."

[Jim Warren]

19. Don't forget

Howard Zinn's People History of America.

[cosmik debris]

20. There are only two reasons to join a union

Better wages.

Better working conditions.

If you are happy with the wages and working conditions, you don't need a union, but if you expect the wages and working conditions to improve, it takes a union.

[tnlefty]

22. Thom Hartmann's, "SCREWED, The Undeclared War Against the

Middle Class" might be interesting to you. I'm halfway through it and there are already many references to the importance of the labor unions and it mentions the language the right has been using, particularly since the Reagan years forward, to persuade people that unions aren't necessary and that workers are just being greedy.

Then again, I enjoy Thom Hartmann's history lessons. :hi:

[BlueIris]

24. "You Could Be Fired For Reading This Book," by Glenn Solomon.

It doesn't purport to be a case for unions, (which is sneaky, but in a nice way--Solomon's an employment law attorney) but basically every chapter comes around to the same point: not union? Basically, unless you live in Montana, you have nothing else that can protect you from being fired from your job, discriminated against at work, persecuted or illegally treated in any other way. And even if you are union, uh, well....it's a seller's market.

Good book. Affordable.

[PreacherCasey]

25. "People's History of the US" - Howard Zinn

[nealmhughes]

26. Besides Zinn's People's History, check out Eric Hobsbawm, specifically

Worlds of Labour, Labouring Men: Studies in the History of Labour, Industry and Empire, and Age of Empire and Age of Exremes.
Hobsbawm is a British Marxist historian who treats labor, the common man, peasantry, nationalism and colonialism and also jazz! He coined the term "Vulgar Marxist" in which everything in world is a headon collision of good guys vs. bad. No tangents, nothing but absolutes. Hobsbawm, a vulgar Marxist ain't and very good prose writer.

Always ask an academic librarian, we know everything except how to dress well, seeing a tie and Birkenstock clogs perfectly acceptable semiformal attire.

[blondeatlast]

27. Any decent American History text prior to 1984. nt

[WinkyDink]

28. Any person who gets job-provided health-care; works a 40-hour week; likes a safe workplace;

is promoted based on merit; can acquire seniority on the job; is guaranteed a lunch break; has access to dispute resolution; gets guaranteed vacation days; etc.~~~ask any of them.

Or ask those without, and who would like to have those job provisions.
But young RW punks might not listen, as they think they're all baby Trumps.

[Blue_Tires]

29. ttt

I've been having trouble online and in real life winning pro-union arguments as well....I keep getting the whole "Unions are outdated because workers in the U.S. already have all the rights/salary they need" bullshit....

It's saddening, because I'm a car guy and used to post on a lot of automotive boards where inevitably the topic of the UAW/CAW comes up, and 90 percent of the posters out there are convinced that the union assembly workers are lazy, make too much salary, and eat up too much healthcare/retirement....I mean honestly, what the shit? I never thought I'd see the day where one working class American would begrudge the salary of another, and today it is the norm and not the exception....