America Needs a Raise: Fighting for Economic Security and Social Justice [Hardcover]

John Sweeney (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 2, 1996

John J. Sweeney and the new leadership of the AFL-CIO are committing millions of dollars and thousands of organizers to the mobilization of working people all over the country. America Needs a Raise is Sweeney's manifesto. It is a blunt yet compassionate account of the dilemmas facing American workers of all kinds: high tech and low, immigrant and native born, blue collar and white. Sweeney targets the growing disparity between rich and poor, the decline in the standard of living of middle- and working-class Americans, the overwork and unemployment, the racial polarization and ethnic animosity, and the gnawing sense of powerlessness and uncertainty that afflicts us all. He indicts corporate America too for its " lean and mean " abdication of social responsibility. He offers a way of dealing with the realities of the global economy that is more effective and humane than the downsizing of America and the sacrifice of working people on the altar of international competitiveness. Most of a

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

John J. Sweeney, president of the A.F.L.-C.I.O., makes a rallying cry for Americans to stop the thievery of corporations by joining unions. Wages, he argues, are shrinking due to inflation and as more and more corporations downsize, their profits, stock prices and salaries for principals shoot through the roof. Drawing on his experiences as a young boy attending labor union meetings with his bus driving father, Sweeney believes that a return to unions will give workers the support they need to negotiate higher wages, restore an economic balance, and revive a sense of community and cooperation that America has been sorely lacking.

From Publishers Weekly

In a ringing manifesto, Sweeney, the new president of the AFL-CIO, argues that a rebuilt, revitalized U.S. labor movement could serve as the core of a larger progressive effort to redirect politics toward the basic issues facing us all: jobs, wages, pensions, health care, education and retraining. Americans, he contends, are working longer hours yet plunging deeper into debt because they no longer share in the gains of their growing productivity?a 24% jump since 1979. He also blames corporate "downsizing," massive firings that have replaced millions of secure, well-paying, often union jobs with lower-paid or temporary labor. Sweeney sets forth a broad strategy: organize workers and win wage increases in entire industries. His clearly written, pithy book would have benefited from additional, specific proposals for both union and nonunion workers.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 167 pages
• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin; First Printing edition (September 2, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0395823005
• ISBN-13: 978-0395823002
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.8 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,379,110 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Why America's largest class should be the wealthist., July 14, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: America Needs a Raise: Fighting for Economic Security and Social Justice (Hardcover)

John Sweeney through David Kusnet have given us a new motivation to believe that Labor unions can make a difference in the quality of life for America's working class. The greed of corporations and individuls must be controled. As long as this greed is the driving force of our economy America will never be as great as it could be. America Needs a Raise is not just a title. It is the solution to most of the problems in our working class neighborhoods. John Sweeney's book, America Needs a Raise is full of facts and figurers, but is easy to read and understand. By understanding the value of workers acting collectively to acheive a goal through collective barginning, labor unions are shown to be the solution to the need for a more equal distribution of the wealth of our nation.