Real World Labor
In this time of rapid economic change, the power of organized labor seems to be in decline. But new organizing strategies are emerging to challenge corporate power and the globalization of capital. The 3rd edition of Real World Labor examines the most pressing issues facing workers and unions today.
Edition:3rd
Date of publication:June 2016
Pages:250
ISBN:978-1-939402-25-7
Price:$34.95
The third edition of Real World Labor provides up-to-date, accessible, and penetrating analysis of the most significant issues confronting workers and unions today, both nationally and globally.
With contributions from leading writers and scholars of the labor movement, this essential anthology introduces students to the fundamentals of the capital-labor relation, labor law and policy, changes in conditions of labor, the role of unions, labor market segmentation and discrimination, labor and the environment, the effects of globalization, labor and immigration, and new forms of worker resistance and alternative organization.
Contributors include: David Bacon, Dean Baker, Jeremy Brecher, Nancy Folbre, Immanuel Ness, Frances Fox Piven, Katherine Sciacchitano, Juliet Schor, Jeannette Wicks-Lim, and many more.
Praise for the first edition of Real World Labor:
“For any labor studies course, Real World Labor is the most comprehensive and accessible book available today. Written by authoritative scholars of the labor movement in the United States and worldwide, no book compares to this work in its breadth of coverage and scope of analysis. This is the only collection that provides an in–depth overview of labor issues in an accessible manner to anyone interested in understanding the most significant issues facing workers and the contemporary labor movement. I highly recommend this book to all!”
—THOMAS J. KRIGER, Provost, National Labor College
“Real World Labor, like decades of Dollars & Sense books, is bound to be a great guide to labor issues with a wide range of perspectives for both union members and students.”
—LARRY COHEN, President, Communications Workers of America
“Real World Labor is an antidote to the misinformation, false arguments, and faulty analysis so common in the mainstream media and among orthodox economists. An excellent classroom resource.”
—MICHAEL YATES, author of Why Unions Matter and Associate Editor, Monthly Review
“Real World Labor is an ideal text both for newcomers to labor studies and to old hands. In one volume, it provides students with invaluable historical background, up-to-the-minute analysis of current labor politics, and many compelling stories about both workers being exploited and workers fighting back. Equally important, it provides an analytical framework for understanding the assault on labor over the past generation and how this has impacted the American economy as a whole.”
—THAD WILLIAMSON, Jepson School of Leadership Studies, University of Richmond
- Chapter 1: Introduction: Labor and Capital
- 1.1 The Economic Dependency Trap of CapitalismCynthia Kaufman
- 1.2 What is Labor?Alejandro Reuss
- 1.3 The 99%, the 1%, and the Class StruggleAlejandro Reuss
- 1.4 Manicures, Pedicures, and Commodity FetishismZoe Sherman
- 1.5 Household Labor, Caring Labor, Unpaid LaborNancy Folbre
- Chapter 2: Labor Law, Policy, and Regulation
- 2.1 U.S. Labor Law—Stacked Against WorkersAndrew Strom
- 2.2 What a Difference Labor Law Can Make: Comparing the U.S. and CanadaAlejandro Reuss
- 2.3 Unregulated WorkSiobhan McGrath and Nina Martin
- Spotlight: The Minimum Wage
- 2.4 Is a $15 Minimum Wage Economically Feasible?Jeannette Wicks-Lim
- 2.5 Assessing Those CBO Numbers on the Minimum WageDean Baker
- 2.6The Minimum Wage and InflationArthur MacEwan
- Chapter 3: The Labor Market, Wages, and Working Conditions
- 3.1 What Happened to Wages?Gerald Friedman
- 3.2 What's Good for Wal-Mart...John Miller
- 3.3 From Kings of the Road to Serfs of the CompanyDan La Botz
- 3.4 Detroit and DeindustrializationBarry Bluestone
- Spotlight: Labor Organization and Inequality
- 3.5 Creating Decent Jobs: The Role of UnionsJeannette Wicks-Lim
- 3.6 Unions and Income InequalityArthur MacEwan
- 3.7 The Purloined TrillionsJames M. Cypher
- Chapter 4: Ownership and Control
- 4.1 Pursuing Profits—Or Power?James K. Boyce
- 4.2 What Are Corporations?Alejandro Reuss
- 4.3 Taming the Corporate BeastMarianne Hill
- 4.4 Private Equity Moguls and the Common GoodJohn Miller
- 4.5 The Meaning of Market BasketAlejandro Reuss
- 4.6 Scripted TalkAdria Scharf
- Chapter 5: Unions and Organizing Strategies
- 5.1 What's Behind Union Decline in the United States?Alejandro Reuss
- 5.2 We're Not Lovin' ItNicole Aschoff
- 5.3 Florida Tomato Pickers Demand "Fair Food"Dan Schneider
- 5.4 Battling Business-as-Usual UnionismBrian Walsh
- Spotlight: Public Sector Workers
- 5.5 State Workers Face a Compensation PenaltyEthan Pollack
- 5.6 Teachers, Secretaries and Social Workers: The New Welfare Moms?Randy Albelda
- Chapter 6: Employment and Unemployment
- 6.1 The "Natural Rate" of UnemploymentRobert Pollin
- 6.2 The Real Unemployment RateJohn Miller
- 6.3 Unemployment: A Jobs Deficit or a Skills Deficit?John Millerand Jeannette Wicks-Lim
- 6.4 Our Triple Jobs CrisisAlejandro Reuss
- 6.5 The Job-Killing Robot MythDean Baker
- 6.6. The Human Toll of Greek AusterityEvita Nolka
- Spotlight: Insecure Labor
- 6.7 The Gig EconomyGerald Friedman
- 6.8 "Just Cause" and Job InsecurityRand Wilson
- Chapter 7: Labor Market Segmentation and Discrimination
- 7.1 It Pays to Be WhiteJeannette Wicks-Lim
- 7.2 Black-White Income Differences: What's Happened?Arthur MacEwan
- 7.3 Why We All Need Affirmative ActionJeannette Wicks-Lim
- 7.4 The Wages of GenderGerald Friedman
- 7.5 Comparable WorthAmy Gluckman
- Chapter 8: The Welfare State
- 8.1 Welfare Reform and the Campaign to Regulate American WorkersFrances Fox Piven
- 8.2 The Big Lie About the "Entitlement State"Alejandro Reuss
- 8.3 Skew YouJohn Miller
- 8.4 Bernie Sanders' Health-Care RevolutionGerald Friedman
- 8.5 Putting the Screws to Generation ScrewedJohn Miller
- Spotlight: Retirement
- 8.6 Hard Work at an Advanced AgeAmy Gluckman
- 8.7 The Pension-Busters' PlaybookKatherine Sciacchitano
- 8.8 What's Behind the Big Pension Shift?Arthur MacEwan
- Chapter 9: Labor and the Environment
- 9.1 Jobs vs. the Environment?Arthur MacEwan
- 9.2 We Need a (Green) Jobs ProgramJeannette Wicks-Lim
- 9.3 A Superfund for WorkersJeremy Brecher
- 9.4 Sustainability SquaredPolly Cleveland
- Chapter 10: Labor and the Global Economy
- 10.1 The Globalization ClockThomas Palley
- 10.2 Why the Loss of Manufacturing Jobs?Arthur MacEwan
- 10.3 Outsized Offshore OutsourcingJohn Miller
- 10.4 International Labor StandardsArthur MacEwan
- 10.5 The Agony of Mexican Labor TodayDan La Botz
- 10.6 German Wage SuppressionJohn Miller
- 10.7 Missing Women WorkersSirisha C. Naidu
- Chapter 11: Immigration
- 11.1 Walled Off From RealityJohn Miller
- 11.2 These Things Can ChangeDavid Bacon and Rosario Ventura
- 11.3 The Right to Stay HomeDavid Bacon
- 11.4 The Rise of Migrant Worker MilitancyImmanuel Ness
- 11.5 Equal Treatment for ImmigrantsAlejandro Reuss
- Chapter 12: New Directions
- 12.1 The Future of Work, Leisure, and ConsumptionJuliet Schor
- 12.2 Where are Today's Mass Movements?Trudy Goldberg
- 12.3 Campus Struggles Against Sweatshops ContinueSarah Blaskey and Phil Gasper
- 12.4 After Horror, Change?John Miller
- 12.5 Chinese Workers Stand UpJohn Miller
- 12.6 What Would Full Employment Cost?Arthur MacEwan
- 12.7 The Sharing Economy Needs a Public OptionDean Baker
- 12.8 Labor's CapitalAdria Scharf
- 12.9 Co-op EconomicsNancy Folbre
- Contributors