From Publishers Weekly
In this compelling book, Gordon combines the harrowing stories of individuals with a broad perspective on suburban economics to create a vivid analysis of immigrant labor in America. An associate professor at Fordham's law school, Gordon begins by pointing out the recent shift of immigrant labor from the cities to the 'bedroom communities' of the nation. "Low-wage immigrant work in the suburbs is no kinder than immigrant work in cities," she writes. "In its long hours, illegally low wages, and staggering rates of injury, it is sweatshop labor all the same." Most of the book's examples come from Gordon's work with the Workplace Project in Long Island, New York, an organization that she formed in 1992 to help immigrants assert their rights on the job and organize collective action. She uses an account of the Project's history as a way into her broader examination of the pros and cons of unions, the problems of organizing workers and the legal aspects of immigrant rights. The technique works quite successfully, giving readers a vivid sense of these workers' conditions in restaurants, construction sites and residential homes while imparting useful lessons on activism. Gordon is understandably proud of the Project's accomplishments-such as getting a bill passed that increased, by 800%, the penalty for employers who did not pay workers in full-but she does not shirk away from the group's problems, like the difficulty of enforcing long-term workplace changes. Her unflinching study raises questions about the future of immigrant rights and the causes behind the "disturbing renaissance of sweatshop work."
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Review
Publishers Weekly : In this compelling book, Gordon combines the harrowing stories of individuals with a broad perspective on suburban economics to create a vivid analysis of immigrant labor in America...Her unflinching study raises questions about the future of immigrant rights and the causes behind the 'disturbing renaissance of sweatshop work.'
Legal Affairs : [An] important new book...
Suburban Sweatshops is a self-reflective insider's account of Gordon's efforts--and of how difficult marrying law and organizing proved to be.
--Scott Cummings and Ingrid Eagly
International Socialist Review : [Gordon's] book is a sobering, informative, and inspiring look at the achievements of the Workplace Project, a Long Island workers' center that is one of the many organizations devoted to organizing poor workers around the United States.
--Virginia Harabin
Choice : Gordon presents an enlightening, uplifting book that can also serve as a manual for immigrant rights activists. In an inspired use of "sweatshop" as metaphor for suburban employers of undocumented immigrant workers who, like their manufacturing counterparts, flagrantly violate minimum wage, health, and safety standards, Gordon calls attention to the plight of the millions of undocumented workers.
--E. Hu-DeHart
Ethnic and Racial Studies : The author tells a detailed story of her involvement in the Workplace Project and the struggle to get the Republican-controlled New York state legislature and Republican Governor to pass the Unpaid Wages Prohibition Act in 1997...This is an important book in many ways. It provides a highly personal perspective on the issue of exploitation of foreign-born low-wage service workers in the United States. At the same time, because the author is not a foreign-born low-wage service worker, she is able to maintain an appropriate detachment to produce an insightful and rich discourse.
--Sharon M. Lee
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