America needs a raise: fighting for economic security and social justice

Sweeney, John J; With David Kusnet

ISBN 10: 0395823005 / ISBN 13: 9780395823002

Published by Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, 1996

About this Item

167p., very good condition in like dust jacket.

Seller Inventory # 47949

Bibliographic Details

• Title: America needs a raise: fighting for economic security and social justice
• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston
• Publication Date: 1996
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0395823005
• ISBN 13: 9780395823002
• Binding: Hardcover
• Dust Jacket Condition: Dust Jacket Included
• Seller catalogs:
  • Labor - American
  • 1990S
  • AFL-CIO

About this title

Synopsis

The recently elected president of the AFL-CIO presents a manifesto outlining the problems facing workers of all kinds and offering a program for dealing with international economic competition that does not rely on corporate downsizing. 50,000 first printing. Tour.

Reviews

In a ringing manifesto, Sweeney, the new president of the AFL-CIO, argues that a rebuilt, revitalized U.S. labor movement could serve as the core of a larger progressive effort to redirect politics toward the basic issues facing us all: jobs, wages, pensions, health care, education and retraining. Americans, he contends, are working longer hours yet plunging deeper into debt because they no longer share in the gains of their growing productivity?a 24% jump since 1979. He also blames corporate "downsizing," massive firings that have replaced millions of secure, well-paying, often union jobs with lower-paid or temporary labor. Sweeney sets forth a broad strategy: organize workers and win wage increases in entire industries. His clearly written, pithy book would have benefited from additional, specific proposals for both union and nonunion workers.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Sweeney was elected president of the AFL-CIO in October 1995 in the first ever contested election for that office. His decision to run was based on his feeling that unions had become weak and that it was time to restore respect for working Americans. His book is part of that plan. In examining events, Sweeney considers not only the labor movement but also globalization, downsizing, technology, big govenment, new skills, and other issues that have affected American workers. Although critical of corporate actions, he also faults the union movement for its declining role. He does not outline a strategy for revitalizing the unions but does offer some examples in a first-person narrative that is informal and full of anecdotes about economic and social issues. An optional choice for libraries.
-?Joshua Cohen, Mid-Hudson Lib. System, Poughkeepsie, N.Y.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.