Why Labor Organizing Should be a Civil Right

Why Labor Organizing Should be a Civil Right PDF Author: Richard D. Kahlenberg
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780870785238
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
American society has grown dramatically more unequal over the past quarter century. The economic gains of American workers after World War II have slowly been eroded--in part because organized labor has gone from encompassing one-third of the private sector workers to less than one-tenth. One reason for the labor movement's collapse is the existence of weak labor laws that, for example, impose only minimal penalties on employers who illegally fire workers for trying to organize a union. Attempts to reform labor law have fallen short because labor is caught in a political box: To achieve reform, labor needs the political power that comes from expanding union membership; to grow, however, unions need labor law reform. "Labor Organizing as a Civil Right" lays out the case for a new approach, one that takes the issue beyond the confines of labor law by amending the Civil Rights Act so that it prohibits discrimination against workers trying to organize a union. The authors argue that this strategy would have two significant benefits. First, enhanced penalties under the Civil Rights Act would provide a greater deterrent against the illegal firing of employees who try to organize. Second, as a political matter, identifying the ability to form a union as a civil right frames the issue in a way that Americans can readily understand. The book explains the American labor movement's historical importance to social change, it provides data on the failure of current law to deter employer abuses, and it compares U.S. labor protections to those of most other developed nations. It also contains a detailed discussion of what amending the Civil Rights Act to protect labor organizing would mean as well as an outline of the connection between civil rights and labor movements and analysis of the politics of civil rights and labor law reform.

Why Labor Organizing Should be a Civil Right

Why Labor Organizing Should be a Civil Right PDF Author: Richard D. Kahlenberg
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780870785238
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Get Book Here

Book Description
American society has grown dramatically more unequal over the past quarter century. The economic gains of American workers after World War II have slowly been eroded--in part because organized labor has gone from encompassing one-third of the private sector workers to less than one-tenth. One reason for the labor movement's collapse is the existence of weak labor laws that, for example, impose only minimal penalties on employers who illegally fire workers for trying to organize a union. Attempts to reform labor law have fallen short because labor is caught in a political box: To achieve reform, labor needs the political power that comes from expanding union membership; to grow, however, unions need labor law reform. "Labor Organizing as a Civil Right" lays out the case for a new approach, one that takes the issue beyond the confines of labor law by amending the Civil Rights Act so that it prohibits discrimination against workers trying to organize a union. The authors argue that this strategy would have two significant benefits. First, enhanced penalties under the Civil Rights Act would provide a greater deterrent against the illegal firing of employees who try to organize. Second, as a political matter, identifying the ability to form a union as a civil right frames the issue in a way that Americans can readily understand. The book explains the American labor movement's historical importance to social change, it provides data on the failure of current law to deter employer abuses, and it compares U.S. labor protections to those of most other developed nations. It also contains a detailed discussion of what amending the Civil Rights Act to protect labor organizing would mean as well as an outline of the connection between civil rights and labor movements and analysis of the politics of civil rights and labor law reform.

Southern Labor and Black Civil Rights

Southern Labor and Black Civil Rights PDF Author: Michael K. Honey
Publisher: University of Illinois Press
ISBN: 0252054326
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 404

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Book Description
Widely praised upon publication and now considered a classic study, Southern Labor and Black Civil Rights chronicles the southern industrial union movement from the Great Depression to the Cold War, a history that created the context for the sanitation workers' strike that brought Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. to Memphis in April 1968. Michael K. Honey documents the dramatic labor battles and sometimes heroic activities of workers and organizers that helped to set the stage for segregation's demise. Winner of the Charles S. Sydnor Award, given by the Southern Historical Association, 1994. Winner of the James A. Rawley Prize given by the Organization of American Historians, 1994. Winner of the Herbert G. Gutman Award for an outstanding book in American social history.

Labor Rights Are Civil Rights

Labor Rights Are Civil Rights PDF Author: Zaragosa Vargas
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 0691134022
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 396

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Book Description
In 1937, Mexican workers were among the strikers and supporters beaten, arrested, and murdered by Chicago policemen in the now infamous Republic Steel Mill Strike. Using this event as a springboard, Zaragosa Vargas embarks on the first full-scale history of the Mexican-American labor movement in twentieth-century America. Absorbing and meticulously researched, Labor Rights Are Civil Rightspaints a multifaceted portrait of the complexities and contours of the Mexican American struggle for equality from the 1930s to the postwar era. Drawing on extensive archival research, Vargas focuses on the large Mexican American communities in Texas, Colorado, and California. As he explains, the Great Depression heightened the struggles of Spanish speaking blue-collar workers, and employers began to define citizenship to exclude Mexicans from political rights and erect barriers to resistance. Mexican Americans faced hostility and repatriation. The mounting strife resulted in strikes by Mexican fruit and vegetable farmers. This collective action, combined with involvement in the Communist party, led Mexican workers to unionize. Vargas carefully illustrates how union mobilization in agriculture, tobacco, garment, and other industries became an important vehicle for achieving Mexican American labor and civil rights. He details how interracial unionism proved successful in cross-border alliances, in fighting discriminatory hiring practices, in building local unions, in mobilizing against fascism and in fighting brutal racism. No longer willing to accept their inferior status, a rising Mexican American grassroots movement would utilize direct action to achieve equality.

Basic Guide to the National Labor Relations Act

Basic Guide to the National Labor Relations Act PDF Author: United States. National Labor Relations Board. Office of the General Counsel
Publisher: U.S. Government Printing Office
ISBN:
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 68

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Book Description


The Cambridge Handbook of U.S. Labor Law for the Twenty-First Century

The Cambridge Handbook of U.S. Labor Law for the Twenty-First Century PDF Author: Richard Bales
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1108428835
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 435

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Book Description
Over the last fifty years in the United States, unions have been in deep decline, while income and wealth inequality have grown. In this timely work, editors Richard Bales and Charlotte Garden - with a roster of thirty-five leading labor scholars - analyze these trends and show how they are linked. Designed to appeal to those being introduced to the field as well as experts seeking new insights, this book demonstrates how federal labor law is failing today's workers and disempowering unions; how union jobs pay better than nonunion jobs and help to increase the wages of even nonunion workers; and how, when union jobs vanish, the wage premium also vanishes. At the same time, the book offers a range of solutions, from the radical, such as a complete overhaul of federal labor law, to the incremental, including reforms that could be undertaken by federal agencies on their own.

Child of the Civil Rights Movement

Child of the Civil Rights Movement PDF Author: Paula Young Shelton
Publisher: Dragonfly Books
ISBN: 0385376065
Category : Juvenile Nonfiction
Languages : en
Pages : 49

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Book Description
In this Bank Street College of Education Best Children's Book of the Year, Paula Young Shelton, daughter of Civil Rights activist Andrew Young, brings a child’s unique perspective to an important chapter in America’s history. Paula grew up in the deep south, in a world where whites had and blacks did not. With an activist father and a community of leaders surrounding her, including Uncle Martin (Martin Luther King), Paula watched and listened to the struggles, eventually joining with her family—and thousands of others—in the historic march from Selma to Montgomery. Poignant, moving, and hopeful, this is an intimate look at the birth of the Civil Rights Movement.

Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act of 1959, as Amended

Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act of 1959, as Amended PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Labor laws and legislation
Languages : en
Pages : 32

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Book Description


The Civil Wars in U.S. Labor

The Civil Wars in U.S. Labor PDF Author: Steve Early
Publisher: Haymarket Books
ISBN: 1608460991
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 442

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Book Description
Trade union leader and journalist Steve Early discusses how to reverse American labour's current decline.

Organized Labor and the Black Worker, 1619-1981

Organized Labor and the Black Worker, 1619-1981 PDF Author: Philip S. Foner
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781608467877
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 492

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Book Description
In this classic account, historian Philip Foner traces the radical history of Black workers' contribution to the American labor movement.

Worker Centers

Worker Centers PDF Author: Janice Ruth Fine
Publisher: Cornell University Press
ISBN: 9780801472572
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 336

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Book Description
As national policy is debated, a locally based grassroots movement is taking the initiative to assist millions of immigrants in the American workforce facing poor pay, bad working conditions, and few prospects to advance to better jobs. Fine takes a comprehensive look at the rising phenomenon of worker centers, fast-growing institutions that improve the lives of immigrant workers through service advocacy and organizing.—from publisher information.