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Unions in America
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Unions in America

First Edition


February 2006 | 208 pages | SAGE Publications, Inc
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.

 
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

"Chapters in this excellent primer for understanding the background and current challenges facing the US labor movement focus on the historical background, the structure and growth . .  and the labor movement's future in a dramatically transformed economy. Especially useful in this brief book are the discussions of unions' political activities and their prospects for revitalization."                   

K. Fones-Wolf
West Virginia University

For instructors

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ISBN: 9780761930341
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