Unions in America provides a concise and current introduction to what America′s labor unions do and why they do it. In this engaging text, author Gary Chaison portrays America′s unions as complex, self-governing organizations that are struggling to regain their lost membership, bargaining power, and political influence. This accessible textbook offers an impartial overview of American unions that ranges from the struggle for recognition from employers in their earliest years to their present-day difficulties.
Key Features:
- Provides a clear and unbiased view of unions, to present readers with an impartial perspective
- Offers readers a current assessment of unions with recent examples and descriptions of emerging or continuing trends in organizing, collective bargaining, and political action
- Provides a concise overview of unions that introduces readers to fundamental union activities without overwhelming them with too many details about alternative process, outcomes, and legal issues
- Covers a wide-range of important topics such as the evolution of unions; union structure and growth; union government and administration; the union as bargaining agent; union political activities; proposals for union revival, and insight on the future of unions
Unions in America is an excellent text for undergraduate and graduate students studying unions and labor relations in a variety of fields including Industrial Relations, Human Resource Management, Economics, and Sociology. It will also be a valuable resource for workers, managers, or anyone else looking for a foundation for understanding the state of unions in America.
Daftar Isi
Introduction
Chapter 1 – The Evolution of Labor Unions
The Early Years
The Knights of Labor
The American Federation of Labor
Confrontations with Employers
The Industrial Workers of the World and Revolutionary Unionism
Union Decline and Resurgence During the Years Between the Wars
Union Solidarity and Power
The Erosion of the Labor Accord
The Rise of Public Sector Unionism
The Search for Union Revival
Chapter 2 – Union Structure and Growth
National and Unions
Union Locals and Intermediate Bodies
The Labor Federation
Union Jurisdiction
Union Mergers
Union Membership and Decline
The Causes of Union Growth and Decline
How Unions Organize
Chapter 3 – Union Government and Administration
The Union Constitution
Union Conventions
Union officers and Governing Bodies
Local Union Government
Union Democracy
Corruption in Unions
Unions and Information Technology
Union Effectiveness
Chapter 4 – The Union as Bargaining Agent
The Fundamentals of Bargaining
Collective Bargaining Structure
Collective Bargaining Agreements
The Return of Concessionary Bargaining
The Decline of the Strike
Chapter 5 – Unions in Politics
Union Political Action
Union Political Campaigns
Living Wages
Labor Law Reform
Two Campaigns in California
Shopping Wal-Mart
Chapter 6 – Union Revival
Organizing
Collective Bargaining
Political Action
Changing the Unions′ Mission and Sturcture
Chapter 7 — The Unions of the Future
Retreat
Rebound
Appendix: Selective Bibliography and Industrial Relations Websites
Tentang Penulis
Gary Chaison is Professor of Industrial Relations at the Graduate School of Management at Clark University.