Taking Back the Workers' Law: How to Fight the Assault on Labor Rights - Softcover

Dannin, Ellen

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0801474469 ISBN 13: 9780801474460

Publisher: ILR Press, 2008

Synopsis

Prolabor critics often question the effectiveness of the National Labor Relations Board. Some go so far as to call the Board labor's enemy number one. In a daring book that is sure to be controversial, Ellen Dannin argues that the blame actually lies with judicial decisions that have radically "rewritten" the National Labor Relations Act. But rather than simply bemoan this problem, Dannin offers concrete solutions for change.

Dannin calls for labor to borrow from the strategy mapped out by the NAACP Legal Defense Fund in the early 1930s to eradicate legalized racial discrimination. This book lays out a long-term litigation strategy designed to overturn the cases that have undermined the NLRA and frustrated its policies. As with the NAACP, this strategy must take place in a context of activism to promote the NLRA policies of social and industrial democracy, solidarity, justice, and worker empowerment. Dannin contends that only by promoting these core purposes of the NLRA can unions survive―and even thrive.

Read what Dennis P. Walsh, former member of the National Labor Relations Board, has to say about Taking Back the Workers' Law by clicking here.

To watch a lecture by Ellen Dannin about how established labor law―particularly the NLRA―can be used to strengthen workers' rights and revive the union movement in America, click here.

Read an interview with Dannin about Taking Back the Workers' Law conducted by Michael D. Yates for the Monthly Review's web site by clicking here.

About this title

From the Back Cover:

"This is a book that puts forth an important perspective on how to breathe new life into our labor law. Ellen Dannin advances a wealth of fresh ideas to educate, convince and revitalize a law that has lost much of the legitimacy and respect it once enjoyed. In original and provocative ways, Dannin maintains that too many have lost sight of what our labor law could be and argues forcefully that it can be restored to realize its fundamental purpose. The book is written with passion and conviction, is a pleasure to read, and doesn't require in-depth expertise to follow. It weaves great knowledge and insight that anyone can appreciate into a story about reclaiming a law."--Fred Feinstein, University of Maryland School of Public Policy, Former General Counsel, NLRB

"Ellen Dannin's Taking Back the Workers' Law is a rich store of information and analysis for students, teachers, practitioners, policymakers, judges, journalists, and all those who care about labor law and workers' rights. Dannin explains U.S. labor law in its real-life application and its failure to live up to the Wagner Act's promise of workers' organizing and bargaining rights. But instead of an easy exercise in denunciation, Dannin sets out a savvy and winnable strategy for fulfilling the law's purpose through creative litigation by the practitioner community."--Lance Compa, author of Unfair Advantage: Workers' Freedom of Association in the United States under International Human Rights Standards.

"I cannot think of another book on labor law or industrial relations I have found more stimulating over the past decade. Ellen Dannin does an excellent job of explaining why labor unions and workers must use the NLRA and NLRB more effectively if they hope to reverse the decline of unions. In this informative and provocative book, Dannin points out what labor and worker advocates can do to more effectively obtain the assistance of the Labor Board despite its shortcomings."--Charles B. Craver, Freda H. Alverson Professor of Law, George Washington University

"So much labor scholarship of the past twenty-five years critiques the NLRA by gloomily describing the law's role, and the role of the judges who interpret and apply it, in hindering the progress of the labor movement. But Ellen Dannin proposes something unique and, ironically, much more likely to have practical effect: an articulate, passionate, even romantic defense of the nation's basic labor law. Taking Back the Workers' Law invites labor leaders, lawyers, and academics to develop innovative litigation strategies for restoring the original intent of the law."--Christopher David Ruiz Cameron, Southwestern University School of Law

About the Author:

Ellen Dannin is Professor of Law at the Dickinson School of Law, Penn State University. She is the author of Working Free: The Origins and Impact of New Zealand's Employment Contracts Act and Taking Back the Workers’ Law: How to Fight the Assault on Labor Rights, from Cornell.

Former congressman David E. Bonior is currently Chair of American Rights at Work.

About this edition

• Publisher: ILR Press
• Publication date: 2008
• ISBN 10: 0801474469
• ISBN 13: 9780801474460
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 208