Labor in the New Urban Battlegrounds: Local Solidarity in a Global Economy (Frank W. Pierce Memorial Lectureship and Conference Series) - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0801473608 ISBN 13: 9780801473609

Publisher: ILR Press, 2007

Synopsis

Labor in the New Urban Battlegrounds examines a diverse array of innovative strategies for revitalizing the labor movement by forming alliances outside the workplace with a variety of community groups, social movements, and faith-based organizations, particularly those that address civil rights, immigrant rights, and consumer concerns. This book presents case studies of issues―such as living wages, community development corporations, and local politics―around which urban coalitions are built in "union towns" (New York City, Boston, Buffalo, and Seattle), "frontier cities" (Los Angeles, Miami, San Jose, and Nashville), and European cities (London, Frankfurt, and Hamburg).

Introducing the role of urban social context in the field of labor revitalization, the editors have chosen cases with different outcomes―cities in which strong coalitions have enabled new union influence are contrasted with those in which such coalition building has been thwarted. As they survey the successes and failures of the new urban labor movement, the editors and contributors conclude that actor choice, strategic innovation, coalition building, and the urban context of labor organizing are key elements in the revitalization of the labor movement and the renewal of democracy. This book will allow the labor leaders of the future to learn from the recent experiences of their peers throughout the United States and Europe.

About this title

From the Back Cover

"As multinational corporations dominate more aspects of our daily lives, it is critical that we develop global strategies for solving local problems. This important new book does just that. By comparing local union organizing campaigns from around the world, this talented group of labor researchers makes a unique contribution to our understanding of the global labor movement."- Bruce Raynor, General President, UNITE HERE

About the Author

Lowell Turner is Professor of International and Comparative Labor, School of Industrial and Labor Relations, Cornell University. He is the author of Democracy at Work and Fighting for Partnership and coeditor of Rekindling the Movement: Labor's Search for Relevance in the 21st Century, all from Cornell. Daniel B. Cornfield is Professor of Sociology at Vanderbilt University and editor of Work and Occupations. He is the author of Becoming a Mighty Voice: Conflict and Change in the United Furniture Workers of America and editor or coeditor of several books, including Labor Revitalization: Global Perspectives and New Initiatives. Peter Evans is Professor of Sociology at the University of California, Berkeley. He is the author of Embedded Autonomy, editor of Livable Cities?, and coeditor of Bringing the State Back In.

Edition details

• Publisher: ILR Press
• Publication date: 2007
• ISBN 10: 0801473608
• ISBN 13: 9780801473609
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 296
• Editor: Turner Lowell, Cornfield Daniel B.