Books about Unionization from Amazon.com

Women have been the mainstay of the grueling, seasonal canning industry for over a century This book is their collective biography—a history of their family and work lives, and of their union. Out of the labor militancy of the 1930s emerged the United Cannery, Agricultural, Packing, and Allied Workers of America (UCAPAWA). Quickly it became the seventh largest CIO affiliate and a rare success story of women in unions.

Thousands of Mexican and Mexican-American women working in canneries in southern California established effective, democratic trade union locals run by local members. These rank-and-file activists skillfully managed union affairs, including negotiating such benefits as maternity leave, company-provided day care, and paid vacations—in some cases better benefits than they enjoy today. But by 1951, UCAPAWA lay in ruins—a victim of red baiting in the McCarthy era and of brutal takeover tactics by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters..
Price: $17.94 [Notify me when price goes down.]

In this book, Hopkins sketches the process of airline pilot unionization from the 1920s to the 1960s and how this process has changed the public view of the pilot as "rugged individual" to advocate of union solidarity. Hopkins chronicles reasons for this public opinion change from the Great Depression to the displacement of labor due to the technological efficiencies of the superjet..
Price: $11.29 [Notify me when price goes down.]

The advance of trade unionism in the first part of the 20th century to a dominant place in the American economy brought with it a major change in the life of the nation. This phenomenal growth has not hitherto been adequately studied. This is the first book to deal with the actual process of unionization. Mr. Brody presents here a detailed study of one industry—meat packing and retailing—with implications that apply to unionization in general. Working almost entirely from primary sources, he has had access to the files of both the AFL and CIO unions in the industry.

In this new approach to American labor history, Mr. Brody describes how and when the butcher workmen were organized, how their unions attained internal stability, and how genuine collective bargaining was finally achieved. In attempting to explain why the process developed as it did, he examines union tactics and employer opposition, industry characteristics and the effects of change in the industry. He also pays close attention to the alteration of the power balance brought about by the influence and legislation of the New Deal.

Mr. Brody's story has two main strands. The more dramatic one concerns the meat–packing branch of the industry. Here the AFL union twice captured the great packing centers and twice lost them in climatic strikes in 1904 and 1921. It was not until World War II, after the advent of the CIO and the New Deal, that organization was finally secure. On the retail side unionization proceeded more quietly with comparatively little progress until the 1930s. The entry of the huge grocery chains such as A & P and Safeway, into the meat field then made this part of the industry accessible to organization.

The study of this particular industry illuminates the larger process of unionization. The meat trade as a whole had the characteristics not only of mass–production industry but also those of small scale, local, skilled labor operations that attracted AFL unions of the old line. Also, the unions of the old line. Also, the unions actually involved provide excellent examples of the rival approaches if the AFL and the CIO to the challenge of unionization. What emerges from the book is the complexity of the phenomenon of unionization. The process covered much more than the recruitment of members, and the causes sprang from a variety of elements, changing in importance at different times and places.

.
Price: $36.65 [Notify me when price goes down.]

Daniel Clark demonstrates the dramatic impact unionization made on the lives of textile workers in Henderson, North Carolina, in the decade after World War II. Focusing on the Harriet and Henderson Cotton Mills, he shows that workers valued the Textile Workers Union of America for more than the higher wages and improved benefits it secured for them. Specifically, Clark points to the importance members placed on union-instituted grievance and arbitration procedures, which most labor historians have seen as impediments rather than improvements.

From the signing of contracts in 1943 until a devastating strike fifteen years later, the union gave local workers the tools they needed to secure at least some measure of workplace autonomy and respect from their employer. Union-instituted grievance procedures were not without flaws, says Clark, but they were the linchpin of these efforts. When arbitration and grievance agreements collapsed in 1958, the result was the strike that ultimately broke the union. Based on complete access to company archives and transcripts of grievance hearings, this case study recasts our understanding of labor-management relations in the postwar South..
Price: $23.95 [Notify me when price goes down.]

This digital document is an article from Public Personnel Management, published by International Personnel Management Association on June 22, 1995. The length of the article is 3166 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

From the author: There have been no specific causes as to why declines in unionization have occurred over the past 20 or 30 years. The Bureau of Labor Statistics' Surveys indicate that between 1961 and 1984, a significant number of employees in unions declined to 51% from 73%. This decline was among production employees within metropolitan areas, and dipped to 12% from 17% for non-supervisory clerical workers. It has been found that declines in union membership can be attributed to employment shifts, and that job change has different affects depending on if the shift entails an employee change. Unions have been fighting to maintain both membership and public approval. Although union approval declined until 1981, people's attitudes toward organized labor never became negative. This study has found that the percentage of the general public that approves of unions has increased recently in many important areas. The key to success of unions in the 21st Century seems to lie in the creation of a cooperative atmosphere between organized labor and management. In order to do so, unions must realize and address issues of importance to the changing work force and give voice to the skill demands of workers, more women in the work force, and the current health care crisis. The 21st Century holds in store for unions an image of reduced health care costs, greater participation by previously unorganized segments of the work force, and better understanding and an adaption to technological changes. All of these things will help corporations keep their costs lower and retain more employees, leading to greater job security, improved relations between labor and management, and more satisfied workers.

Citation Details
Title: Unions in the 21st century.
Author: Joseph B. Mosca
Publication:Public Personnel Management (Refereed)
Date: June 22, 1995
Publisher: International Personnel Management Association
Volume: v24 Issue: n2 Page: p159(8)

Distributed by Thomson Gale.
Price: $5.95 [Notify me when price goes down.]

Unionization in the Academy presents an authoritative, balanced, and comprehensive treatment of academic unions--their history, purpose, and the conflicts they cause..
Price: $4.25 [Notify me when price goes down.]