Unions and Communities under Siege: American Communities and the Crisis of Organized Labor (Cambridge Human Geography)
Cambridge University Press, 7/13/1989
EAN 9780521365161, ISBN10: 0521365163
Hardcover, 328 pages, 22.9 x 15.2 x 2.2 cm
Language: English
The essential argument of this book is that the current crisis of US unions ought to be considered in terms of the local context of labor-management relations; that is, the communities in which men and women live and work. Whether by design or necessity, the structure of New Deal national labor legislation has sustained, and maintained, distinctive local labor-management practices. As the economies of American communities (and the world) have become highly interdependent, reflecting the evolution of corporate structure and trade between economies, unions movement can be traced to unions' dependence upon inter-community solidarity, a fragile democratic ideal which is often overwhelmed by economic imperatives operating at higher scales in other places. An important objective of Professor Clark in this work is to demonstrate the significance of the intersection between communities, unions, and institutions, in understanding the prospects for American unionism.
List of tables
Preface
Acknowledgments
Part I. Economy and Community
1. Crisis of organized labor
2. Understanding union growth and decline
Part II. Drama of Economic Restructuring
3. Communities and corporate location strategies
4. Rationing jobs within the union, between communities
Part III. Union Performance in Representation Elections
5. Democracy in the guise of representation elections
6. Organizing strategies in the heartland and the South
7. At the margin of the rules of the game
Part IV. Regulating Local Labor-Management Relations
8. Integrity of the National Labor Relations Board
9. Options for restructuring the US economy
Part V. Prospects For Organized Labor
10. Republicans, democrats, and the southern veto
11. Employment contracts without unions
12. Unions and communities unarmed
Appendices
Notes
Bibliography
Indexes.