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Unions are back in the news, with new organizing activity abounding, from Amazon to Starbucks. In
Union Booms and Busts, authors Judith Stepan-Norris and Jasmine Kerrissey explain the evolution of the U.S. labor movement and shed light on the fluctuating strength of unionization in the past 115 years. Unlike other accounts, this book features detailed data to demonstrate the shifting fortunes of workers over time and by industry. While documenting the economic, political, and legal changes of each period, the authors highlight the union and employer actions that were crucial to creating their changing fortunes. By demonstrating how workers used strikes, elections, and other strategies to win power and employers used legal maneuvers, workforce-based strategies, and race and gender divisions to disrupt unions, the authors reveal data-driven truths about the ongoing history of unionization.
Inhaltsverzeichnis
- List of Tables and Figures
- Abbreviations
- Preface
- Chapter 1: Introduction
- Chapter 2: Union Density in the Unregulated Period (1900-1934)
- Chapter 3: Union Density in the Regulated Period (1935-1979)
- Chapter 4: Union Density in the Dis-Regulated Period (1980-2015)
- Chapter 5: Conclusion
- References
- Appendix A: A Brief History of Major Modern Union Federations
- Appendix B: Methodological Appendix
- Index
Über den Autor / die Autorin
Judith Stepan-Norris is Professor Emerita of Sociology at the University of California, Irvine. Her research addresses U.S. labor unions (internal democracy, politics, effectiveness) and gender equity in higher education. She is the co-author of Left Out and Talking Union (both with Maurice Zeitlin) as well as many scholarly articles.
Jasmine Kerrissey is Associate Professor of Sociology and Director of the Labor Center at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. Kerrissey's research examines the historical and contemporary role of labor movements in shaping working conditions, inequality, and politics.
Zusammenfassung
Union Booms and Busts takes a bird's eye view of the shifting fortunes of U.S. workers and their unions on the one hand, and employers and their organizations on the other. Using detailed data, this book analyses union density across 11 industries and 115 years, contrasting the organizing and union building successes and failures across decades. With attention to historical developments and the economic, political, and legal contexts of each period, it highlights workers' and their unions' actions, including strikes, union elections, and organizing strategies as well those of employers, who aimed to disrupt union organizing using legal maneuvers, workforce-based strategies, and race and gender divisions. By demonstrating how workers used strikes, elections, and other strategies to win power and employers used legal maneuvers, workforce-based strategies, and race and gender divisions to disrupt unions, the authors reveal data-driven truths about the ongoing history of unionization.
Chapters follow time periods: the early unregulated period where unions took hold in only a handful of industries; the mid-century regulated period where strikes, elections, and union density grew across industries; and the later dis-regulated period where union trajectories diverged, with some industries seeing drastic decline and others holding steady. The book concludes by turning toward what might come next for workers and unions in America and provides access to on-line data for readers who want to take a closer look
Zusatztext
An ambitious venture through relatively well-trodden ground: the rise and fall of the American labor movement...Recommended. General readers.
