Labor Rising

April 16, 2012
In an era when workers are in desperate straits, labor historians Katz (All Together Different) and Greenwald offer a passionate and thought-provoking collection of original essays that focuses on the prospects for empowering labor in the U.S. As the activists, professors, and social critics who contributed to this collection note, U.S. workers haven’t had a real raise since 1979; their unions are weak and fractured, and according to recent estimates from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, almost 30% of all Americans work contingently as contractors, consultants, day laborers, or are self-employed. Some essays highlight the labor successes of the past to draw lessons for the future, such as how in the 1920s in a similar period of union decline, the Jewish-led International Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Union built one of the most influential unions of the mid-20th century by promoting multiculturalism through labor education. With such topics as how Wal-Mart transformed the labor market, the need to embrace green jobs, and the potential for reframing labor rights as a moral issue on college campuses, this cogent, varied, and accessible collection has much to offer union leaders, social advocates, and all those curious about the future of the labor movement.

May 15, 2012
This book developed from consensus among labor scholars on the state of labor today and how to change or expand it, given its history. After WWII and into the 1950s, industrial production appeared to be the engine of prosperity in the U.S., yet changes in the 1960s through the 1970s prompted manufacturing to be moved to developing countries; unions became helpless in preserving jobs, and their power and clout eroded. Defeat came in 1981 with the unsuccessful air-traffic-controllers' strike, and thus began the long decline of labor power, although new life emerged in Wisconsin in 2011 when organized labor protested the assault on collective-bargaining rights. The book's essays address the need for American workers to move forward, and they cover topics including cultivating community-based coalitions; location of modern work; demands on the state about labor law, equal opportunity, and fair labor standards; the effect on labor of the current global crisis; and labor as a global movement. This is an informative, inspiring book.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2012, American Library Association.)