Rebuilding Labor: Organizing and Organizers in the New Union Movement [Paperback]

Ruth Milkman (Editor), Kim Voss (Editor)

Book Description

Series: Ilr Press Book | Publication Date: August 2004

"In order to recruit new members on a scale that would be required to significantly rebuild union power, unions must fundamentally alter their internal organizational practices. This means creating more organizer positions on the staff; developing programs to teach current members how to handle the tasks involved in resolving shop-floor grievances; and building programs that train members to participate fully in the work of external organizing. Such a reorientation entails redefining the very meaning of union membership from a relatively passive stance toward one of continuous active engagement."—from the Introduction

In Rebuilding Labor Ruth Milkman and Kim Voss bring together established researchers and a new generation of labor scholars to assess the current state of labor organizing and its relationship to union revitalization. Throughout this collection, the focus is on the formidable challenges unions face today and on how they may be overcome. Rebuilding Labor begins with a comprehensive overview of recent union organizing in the United States; goes on to present a series of richly detailed case studies of such topics as union leadership, organizer recruitment and retention, union democracy, and the dynamics of anti-unionism among rank-and-file workers; and concludes with a quantitative chapter on the relationship between union victories and establishment survival. This interdisciplinary collection of original scholarship on New Labor offers a window into an otherwise invisible emergent social movement.

--This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Ruth Milkman is Professor of Sociology and Director of the Institute of Industrial Relations at UCLA. She is the editor of Organizing Immigrants (also from Cornell) and the author of Gender at Work and Farewell to the Factory. Kim Voss is Associate Professor of Sociology and Associate Director of the Institute of Industrial Relations at the University of California, Berkeley. She is the author of The Making of American Exceptionalism (also from Cornell) and coauthor of Inequality by Design and Hard Work. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 309 pages
• Publisher: ILR Press (August 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0801489024
• ISBN-13: 978-0801489020
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #155,560 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent book for Union Organizers!, May 6, 2007

By 

Bruno Capone - See all my reviews

This review is from: Rebuilding Labor: Organizing and Organizers in the New Union Movement (Paperback)

This book is a good reference tool for the novice Union Organizer. I recommend it highly. It goes over alot of stuff you already know, but it is good to be reminded of such!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Solid and Informative, November 6, 2011

By 

College Kid (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Rebuilding Labor: Organizing and Organizers in the New Union Movement (Paperback)

I'm happy to see that Amazon will allow you to view the table of contents. This book is a series of academic 'papers' so read the table of contents to see the different topics covered re: organizing labor. This book deals mainly with External Organizing ('organizing the unorganized'). It's informative for the novice organizer but seems to have been written for the established union dealing with organizing rather than for the new organizer herself. The introduction and first four papers (the strategy of organizing rather than maintaining and servicing the contract, the dynamics of union staff vs. member participation, and the two chapters about why and how people resist organization) are helpful to both the new or working organizer and the higher level union staff deciding how to use organizers. The last five papers (how to retain organizing staff, how to best utilize interns, trends in upper level union management, and developing political strategies) seem aimed only at the upper levels of union staff. The different papers have different authors, so some articles are very mathematical and chart-heavy, while others are not. The SEIU and California labor campaigns in particular receive a lot of attention in terms of the 'case studies' and illustrative examples, but the authors move out to broader points applicable to any union. Considering this is a textbook, it flows along pretty well. It is not overly difficult to read, and not overly dry. The individual articles are clearly focused on a single topic each and written in a simple, straightforward manner.

5.0 out of 5 stars Solidarity, January 21, 2012

By 

Jason Mann - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Rebuilding Labor: Organizing and Organizers in the New Union Movement (Paperback)

This book examines how the structure of the labour movement and the behavior of organizers and workers impacts union election outcomes.

While comprised mainly of academic papers - the material is accessible and immediately actionable by union organizers and leaders.

I've purchased many copies of this book because every union organizer I have loaned it to likes it so much that they never give it back to me.

Jason Mann, Author: Promoting Your Union: Six strategies to get more organizing leads and union members