Negotiating The Future: A Labor Perspective On American Business

It is no secret that corporate America is in trouble—as are labor unions—and a principal reason is our archaic system of labor-management relations, which excludes labor from participating in, and sharing responsibility for, the growth and profitability of the enterprises for which it works. In a book sure to arouse controversy in both management and labor circles, Barry and Irving Bluestone propose a new Enterprise Compact under which labor becomes co-responsible with management for all strategic business decisions—pricing, investment, plant location, and more.

Barry Bluestone is Frank L. Boyden Professor of Political Economy at the University of Massachusetts at Boston and Senior Fellow at the John W. McCormack Institute of Public Affairs. He is the co-author (with Bennett Harrison) of The Deindustrialization of America and The Great U-Turn.

Irving Bluestone is University Professor of Labor Studies at Wayne State University. He retired in 1980 as vice president of the United Auto Workers' Union (UAW) and as director of its General Motors Department.