Labor Day [Hardcover]

Floyd Kemske (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 2000

In this wry, nightmarish novel about life at work, a young, unconventional union organizer, Gregg Harsh, decides to unionize the staff of a large national union. In order to stop the unionizing effort, the president of the union, Harvey Lathrop, asks that his greatest adversary, Stillman Colby, be brought out of retirement by his union-busting consulting firm. Colby's wife, Frannie, is fiercely opposed to his donning his business suit again and going out to battle. And then their marriage is even more imperiled by the assistant Colby is given to support his work at the union, a young union executive named Kathleen. Each of the characters bases his life on a set of ideals, but it is hard to tell the difference between ideals and desires as the characters manipulate and undermine each other. Beneath the conflict, humor, and lust, the novel is sad in its depiction of what people will do to defend and to spread their psychological turf. Once again, the author's entertaining, disconcerting, and deftly structured fantasy gets deep into the realities of the lives we lead at work.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Kemske's previous three novels took on the follies of business managementAand his fourth "corporate nightmare" dives into the perennial war between management and labor. The twist this time is that management is a labor unionAthe Federation of Office Workers in Philadelphia. Since, under federal law, a union can't represent its own staff, FOW's people are not represented, which is how union president Harvey Lathrop wants it to remain. To ensure the status quo, Lathrop hires his old enemy, Stillman Colby, a professional union buster whom Lathrop and FOW forced into retirement in a previous showdown. Colby now lives peacefully in upstate New York with his pro-union wife, Frannie, who objects when he accepts Lathrop's offer. Gregg Harsh is the undercover organizer whom Colby has to stop, a union representative who has taken a job at FOW as a security guard to enlistFOW employees into the International Brotherhood of Labor. Lathrop assigns funky, irreverent Kathleen, FOW's vice-president of Operations, to assist Colby, and here romantic comedy interrupts the satire. Kathleen is somewhat eccentric and sexually uninhibited, first seducing Colby, then rejecting his corporate philosophy and ending up with Harsh, who was forced to lie extravagantly about his identity to keep his cover. In fact, all the characters lie to each other (and to themselves), while at the same time professing their ideals and scruples. Then Frannie shows up, stunning her husband with her knowledge of his affair and the fact that she is IBOL's unofficial adviser. The romantic crisis collides awkwardly with the struggle between union, labor and management, and Colby loses gracefully. Kemske has humorously and humanely welded together farce and postindustrial angst, with charming results. (Sept.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

This is the fourth of Kemske's "corporate nightmare" novels, a series of humorous, darkly satirical stories about greed, stupidity, and mismanagement in the modern corporate environment. This new book focuses on a union conflict and pits Gregg Harsh, a mysterious, lone-shark union organizer, against Stillman Colby, a renowned and yet hopelessly overmatched union-buster. The union ultimately prevails but only after weeks of unscrupulous gamesmanship on both sides. In keeping with Kemske's deft use of comic exaggeration, the novel ends cataclysmicallyDwith tear gas, Pinkerton security personnel, and all manner of humiliation and betrayal. The novel is fast-paced and entertaining enough that most readers will no doubt be willing to make allowances for some lack of subtlety in characterization and plotting. Kemske has a lot to say about the often-dysfunctional ways managers and employees interactDand much of it is quite insightful and funny. Recommended for all public libraries.DPatrick Sullivan, Manchester Community Coll., CT
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: Catbird Press; 1st edition (September 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0945774486
• ISBN-13: 978-0945774488
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,494,413 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars "Labor Day" Reading, September 3, 2001

By 

Chad Spivak (North Miami Beach, Florida) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Labor Day (Hardcover)

Sitting at my local bookstore on Labor Day, I was looking for anything to read. Sure enough, this book grabbed my attention, maily because of the title.

If there is one thing that I can say about LABOR DAY, it reads extremely fast, as I finished it in one sitting. Having never heard of Floyd Kemske, I was surprised to find out that this is actually the fourth novel in a series.

LABOR DAY is about a union president who has to oppose an organized stand by his very own office staff. There are many plot twists, and a few tangled love interests to keep your interest throughout the quick read.

The writing is fairly crisp, and well-planned. Kemske's use of irony is seditious to say the least, but it helps the storyline move along reasonably well. Overall, LABOR DAY was good, light reading.