Solidarity Divided: The Crisis in Organized Labor and a New Path toward Social Justice (Hardcover)

~ (Author), Fernando Gapasin (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Review

"You must read Solidarity Divided."--Black Commentator

"The book is necessary reading for all students of US labor history and the Left."--Socialism And Democracy

Product Description

The U.S. trade union movement finds itself today on a global battlefield filled with landmines and littered with the bodies of various social movements and struggles. Candid, incisive, and accessible, Solidarity Divided is a critical examination of labor's current crisis and a plan for a bold new way forward into the twenty-first century. Bill Fletcher and Fernando Gapasin, two longtime union insiders whose experiences as activists of color grant them a unique vantage on the problems now facing U.S. labor, offer a remarkable mix of vivid history and probing analysis. They chart changes in U.S. manufacturing, examine the onslaught of globalization, consider the influence of the environment on labor, and provide the first broad analysis of the fallout from the 2000 and 2004 elections on the U.S. labor movement. Ultimately calling for a wide-ranging reexamination of the ideological and structural underpinnings of today's labor movement, this is essential reading for understanding how the battle for social justice can be fought and won.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 324 pages
• Publisher: University of California Press; 1 edition (June 23, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0520255259
• ISBN-13: 978-0520255258
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.2 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #356,874 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Welcome Return to Class Politics, July 30, 2009

By	Susan Rosenthal - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

What is the purpose of a union? How should unions respond to the oppression of Blacks, women, immigrants and gays? How should unions relate to the rest of the working class, the employer, and the State? Should existing unions be reformed, or is more fundamental change required?

Solidarity Divided insists that we need new answers to these questions if we hope to reverse "the crisis facing organized labor - indeed the crisis facing the entire US working class." This crisis is marked by declining unionization, inter-union conflict, falling living standards, rising unemployment, growing poverty and deepening oppression.

Solidarity Divided calls for a return to the class-struggle politics that originally built the unions. This call could not be more timely, as today's unions lack the political clarity required to advance their own limited demands, let alone to champion the rights of workers and the oppressed. The questions raised by the authors deserve serious consideration, widespread discussion and further development.

This book is essential reading.

To read my detailed response to this book, see [...]

4 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars History for Today's Force Majeur Economic Situation, December 12, 2008

By	Matt Verdu "[e-mail]" (Gainesville, VA United States) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

Excellent history of general and specifically of-color dynamics in the labor movement.

Documents that organized socialist political groups were most effective, often the only effective, and sometimes the only non-traitors in the realm of labor unions, as far as building from the grassroots level with greater efficiency and in greater numbers, and having better policies for ALL members on issues such as inclusiveness to people of color and less-skilled and immigrants.

Issues and methods to build power for real people today. Global vision.

According to the book, labor has something to fear from a new government "czar" as mediator, nominally, or "czar", literally, between unions and the auto industry in context of bailout money and the political restructuring(see Naomi Klein re "jolt", electroshock, neolib, neocon, Milton Friedman, Chicago School, disaster capitalism, tabla rasa via shock). Read this book to see how labor leaders can get out of touch with rank and file, become yes-men for government when government(NLRB or new nlr-bailout-"czar" is yes-men for industry.

Also has a lot to teach about the current situation, with respect to new frontiers for labor organization, such as cab drivers and maid services, and whether illegal aliens have historically been enfranchised and are they now and whether it is good or bad for US citizen labor to exclude or include so-called illegal aliens.

Great read at any time. Check blackcommentator.com, democracynow.org for interviews with labor leaders and commentary

2 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars No Longer Divided, May 2, 2009

By	Aaron Yahoo "Aa" (Massachusetts) - See all my reviews

This is an excellent reading!

Those who are into any type of Labor Studies should definitely pick up this book!.

The front cover art-work is perfect and goes along very well in the point that the author is trying to make in the book.

start being social today, by buying this book and sharing it with your friends.