Customer Reviews

Rank-And-File Rebellion: Teamsters for a Democratic Union (The Haymarket Series on North American Politics and Culture)

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excellent labor history from a participant in one of the US' best rank and file labor groups.

As a Teamster, I recommend this book to every member within our Union. Rank and File Rebellion gives the reader a historical perspective of our Union that has set up a need for a reform movement within the ranks of all aspects of Teamster business and politics. I am inspired by Professor La Botz's book and am ready now to help. The best part is that this book allows me to know that the problems at my Local are nationwide. Workers from many Teamster organized companies are dealing with the same issues of fighting their Teamster representatives while also dealing with the companies they work for. If you have any interest in Teamster history, this is the book to start with!

The Teamsters is one of the most notorious unions in the U.S. It is also unusual in that it is one of the few unions where a nationally-organized rank and file movement has fought for and won many progressive changes, in the effort to increase accountability and honest unionism in the union's leadership. This book is about Teamsters for a Democratic Union, the national reform caucus in the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. The book covers the background of the group's formation in the early '70s to the eve of the historic first-ever one-person, one-vote election of top union officials in 1991. TDU represents the best in the labor movement, where unionism represents a social movement of working people, unlike many in the labor movement who utilize union power as a vehicle for personal enrichment. Many union officials fear the collective power of the rank and file and those who support that kind of labor movement might not like this book. But TDU has served as the inspiration for unionists in many other organizations and TDU has played a unique role in the American labor movement.

This book must have been written by a company man! Don't waste yout time with this one as it's full of lies..