Embedded With Organized Labor

by Early, Steve

• ISBN13: 9781583671887
• ISBN10: 1583671889
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2009-07-01
• Publisher: Monthly Review Pr

Summary

Embedded With Organized Labor describes how union members have organized successfully, on the job and in the community, in the face of employer opposition now and in the past. The author has produced a provocative series of essays-an unusual exercise in "participatory labor journalsim" useful to any reader concerned about social and economic justice. As workers struggle to survive and the labor movement tries to revive during the current economic crisis, this book provides ideas and inspiration for union activists and friends of labor alike. Book jacket.

Author Biography

Steve Early has been an organizer for the Communications Workers of America a strike strategist, labor educator, and lawyer. His articles, reviews, and opened pieces have appeared in The Nation, New Politics, Counter Punch, The Progressive, American Prospect, Working USA, New Labor Forum, the New Your Times, Wall Street Journal Los Angeles Times, Boston Globe, and many other publications.

Table of Contents

Introduction: Confessions of a Participatory Labor Journalist	p. 9
Labor and the Left, Old and New	p. 19
From Rebel Pens to Pencil Hands	p. 20
From Crimson to Coal Seam	p. 28
Radical Unionism	p. 33
On Culturing a Union	p. 39
Revolution in the Air?	p. 46
Labor's Worst Nightmare	p. 54
Working-Class Intellectuals	p. 59
The Man Who Hated Work	p. 64
Race, Class, and Gender	p. 69
A Long Tradition of Bias	p. 70
The Most Dangerous Woman in America	p. 73
Left Out: Black Freedom Fighters in Steel	p. 77
Fight in the Fields-and Beyond	p. 81
America's Best-Kept Secret	p. 85
Prole Like Me	p. 87
On the Waterfront	p. 92
Voices of Dissent and Reform	p. 97
Not Your Father's Union Movement	p. 98
From the Ashes of the Old	p. 104
The New Rank and File	p. 107
Labor's Heartland Losses	p. 113
Solidarity Sometimes	p. 120
The Next Upsurge	p. 126
Afterthoughts on Sweeney	p. 131
Workers' Rights and Wrongs	p. 141
Which Side Are You On?	p. 142
With Friends Like These	p. 144
Unfair Advantage	p. 148
Our Collective Bargain	p. 153
Is the Strike Dead?	p. 160
Back to the Future with EFCA?	p. 166
Organizing in the Global Village	p. 177
Taking Care of Business	p. 177
Slicing the Globaloney	p. 180
Slaves to Fashion	p. 183
The Children of NAFTA	p. 188
Can Worker Centers Fill the Void?	p. 193
Teamsters and Taxi Drivers	p. 198
Changing to Win?	p. 207
Reutherism Redux	p. 209
From Monsignor Sweeney to Reverend Andy	p. 231
Reform from Above or Renewal from Below?	p. 240
Epilogue: A Purple Uprising in Oakland	p. 251
Afterword: Reading, Writing, and Union Building	p. 257
Notes	p. 267
Index	p. 278
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