;)
Poor Workers' Unions | Reviews
Book Review by Jason Guard (from Richmond IMC)
In July 2005, the AFL-CIO suffered a dramatic split at its 50th anniversary annual convention in Chicago. The most significant event of this change occurred when the organization of service workers, SEIU, unveiled its grassroots-oriented "Change to Win" coalition and severed their ties (and dues) from the historic national labor federation, declaring a departure from the AFL-CIO's emphasis on lobbying in Washington DC. However, below the surface, there has long been a division between organizing workers to demand change and maneuvering lobbyists for clout in the labor movement. The ongoing struggle of workers who have been neglected and often discriminated against by "mainstream" labor movement organizations like the AFL-CIO is the subject of a new book by Vanessa Tait, titled Poor Workers Unions: Rebuilding Labor from Below. She pieces together an inspiring and sometimes revolutionary history of organizing trends among disenfranchised workers in the US. Her research ties together diverse elements from the Civil Rights Movement, women's movements, New Left, community organizations, living wage campaigns, immigrant and migrant workers' efforts, and SEIU's social justice style organizing, optimistically concluding that we are seeing an organizing renaissance from beneath, and yes, within the contemporary labor movement.
The stories that make up our history of workers' rights struggles are quickly forgotten details in the United States of Amnesia. The eight-hour work day, weekends off, and child labor laws are just a few of the gains that citizens have fought and died for in pitched battles with American industry profiteers. However, these major developments in history, when they are recalled, tend to obscure the complex and nuanced tradition of grassroots organizing for justice on the job. In fact, unionism among skilled workers is just one of many important efforts that shapes the relationship between workers and corporations.
To read the full text of the review, please visit http://richmond.indymedia.org/newswire/display/11159/index.php
Return to Poor Workers' Unions