An inspiring book about grassroots labor organizing

books:

	• Poor Workers' Unions: Rebuilding Labor from Below Vanessa Tait South End Press, 2005 - 300 pages average customer review:based on 3 reviews view larger image
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An inspiring book about grassroots labor organizing

A wonderful tour through movements for economic justice since the 1960s, covering decades of good organizing work by civil rights, feminist, immigrant and anti-poverty groups. Many of these worked outside the boundaries of the "official" labor movement, creating inventive local and sometimes national unions to fight for improved wages and working conditions along with issues like affordable housing, decent health care, and social and economic equality for women, immigrants and people of color. The author pays careful attention to the dynamics of race, ethnicity and gender within labor and community groups, and shows how diversity can be a great asset in building stronger movements. This important book should be read by anyone trying to understand labor's historical development and future direction. An enjoyable read!

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One of the most important books of the year

As the american people see their standard of living decline, as fewer and fewer of us have health care, as pensions crumble into dusts and the social safety net becomes a fond memory, we wonder: Why is this happening? Fifty six million people would join a Labor union tommorrow if it wouldn't cost them their job. The most serious problem facing the country is the decline of Labor unions, and Dr. Tait knows why. Unions became bureaucratized and inflexible and could not withstand the onslaught of government and institutional persecution. Out of this wreckage, Dr. Tait explains why and how some unions and organizations were able to succeed in a time of failure. She has an encyclopedic knowledge of recent economic and social history, she has a shrewd insight into politics and group dynamics and she writes clearly and lucidly. This book ought to be required reading for every working person in the country. With American workers under attack on virtually every front, the time to stand up is now and this book shows how and where.

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One of the most important books of the year

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"Finally, the book we've all been waiting for! With gripping tales of grassroots experiments in social justice unionism from the 1960s to the present, Vanessa Tait cracks wide open our concept of what a labor movement looks like, and shows how it can be part and parcel of movements for racial and gender justice. In the process, she does a stunning job of helping us imagine workers' movements that are creative, democratic, and, above all, build power from below-pointing the way to a vibrant future for labor."-Dana Frank, UC-Santa Cruz; author of Buy American: The Untold Story of Economic Nationalism

"A critical contribution to broadening our understanding of who and what is the labor movement in the USA. . . . Tait captures the dynamism of alternative forms of working class organization that have long been ignored. In formulating a new direction for organized labor in the USA, the history Tait addresses must become a recognized part of our foundation."-Bill Fletcher, Jr., President, TransAfrica Forum and former assistant to AFL-CIO President John Sweeney

"While the AFL-CIO and its affiliated unions desperately try to figure out how to rebuild and energize the labor movement, this exceptional book reveals that poor workers have been showing the way for the past forty years. Utilizing original documents, Tait examines . . . a wide range of movements organized by poor workers to improve their circumstances and build a more just society, including the Revolutionary Union Movement, the National Welfare Rights Organization, ACORN's Unite Labor Unions, workfare unions, and independent workers' centers. She demonstrates that these movements were founded and developed upon principles of rank-and-file control, democracy, community involvement, and solidarity and aimed to improve all aspects of workers' lives. . . . Both labor activists and labor historians will learn much from this book."-Michael Yates, author of Why Unions Matter

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