The author celebrates the history of baseball, focusing on the dramatic changes that he witnessed and participated in as the first executive director of the Major League Baseball Players Association union

From an award-winning historian, a stirring (and timely) narrative history of American labor from the dawn of the industrial age to the present day.

The topics covered in this book can be divided into four broad groups: studies of labour conditions up to the middle of the nineteenth century; studies in the 'new trade unionism' of 1889 to 1914; studies in the late nineteenth-century revival of Socialism in Britain; and more general topics covering a wider chronological span. The common factor in this wide-ranging work is that, unlike much other work of labour history, it concentrates on the working classes as such, and on the economic and technical conditions which allowed labour movements to be effective or which prevented their effectiveness. This work is notable not only for its clarity and incisiveness, but also for the richness and variety of the material, which ranges from Marx to Methodism and from labour traditions to the machine breakers.

“Simply put, the leftist labor unions have the Democrats in their pockets. And we’re all paying the price.” Linda Chavez, President George W. Bush’s original choice for Secretary of Labor and a former union official, is one of the foremost authorities on America’s labor unions. Now, in the explosive new book Betrayal, she and fellow union expert Daniel Gray expose the corrupt bargain between the labor movement and the Democratic Party. Committed to a far-left political agenda—and to enhancing their own power—union bosses funnel at least half a billion dollars into Democratic coffers every year. And they do it, illegally, by using dues money that workers are forced to pay as a condition of their employment—dues money that each year brings the unions $17 billion, all of it tax-free. What do labor bosses get in return? The power to call the shots in Democratic campaigns and on party policy, extraordinary influence at all levels of government, billions of dollars in taxpayer-funded federal grants, and special legal privileges that leave them free to act as they please, no matter the consequences for the American people. The cycle of corruption is seemingly endless. Chavez and Gray name names, exposing the many politicians who are in Big Labor’s pocket—including the leading lights of the Democratic Party. Betrayal also reveals: • Big Labor’s all-out efforts in the 2004 election, including how just one local union has launched a $35-million campaign to unseat President Bush • How corrupt union officials use members’ hard-earned money to fund lavish lifestyles—and how their Democratic supporters let them get away with it • How unions flout the law by failing to report any of their political spending to the IRS • How a government report uncovered the Democrats’ sellout to Big Labor—but how the unions and the Democrats sued to keep the report from going public • How the U.S. government lets unions practice legalized terrorism against American citizens • How public-employee unions extort concessions from the government and put Americans at risk by refusing to provide vital services like policing and firefighting • How Americans now live under a system of legal apartheid—one set of rules for labor bosses, another for the rest of us All of us foot the bill for this corrupt system. Now it’s up to us to do something about it.

"From Consent to Coercion examines the increasing assault against trade union rights and freedoms in Canada by federal and provincial governments. Centring the struggles of Canadian unionized workers, this book explores the diminution of the welfare state and the impacts that this erosion has had on broader working-class rights and standards of living. The fourth edition witnesses the passing of an era of free collective bargaining in Canada--an era in which the state and capital relied on obtaining the consent of workers and unions to act as subordinates in Canada's capitalist democracy. It looks at how the last twenty years have marked a return to a more open reliance of the state and capital on coercion--on force and on fear--to secure that subordination. From Consent to Coercion considers this conjuncture in the Canadian political economy amid growing precarity, poverty, and polarization in an otherwise indeterminate period of austerity. This important edition calls attention to the urgent task of rebuilding and renewing socialist politics--of thinking ambitiously and meeting new challenges with unique solutions to the left of social democracy."--

"From Consent to Coercion examines the increasing assault against trade union rights and freedoms in Canada by federal and provincial governments. Centring the struggles of Canadian unionized workers, this book explores the diminution of the welfare state and the impacts that this erosion has had on broader working-class rights and standards of living. The fourth edition witnesses the passing of an era of free collective bargaining in Canada--an era in which the state and capital relied on obtaining the consent of workers and unions to act as subordinates in Canada's capitalist democracy. It looks at how the last twenty years have marked a return to a more open reliance of the state and capital on coercion--on force and on fear--to secure that subordination. From Consent to Coercion considers this conjuncture in the Canadian political economy amid growing precarity, poverty, and polarization in an otherwise indeterminate period of austerity. This important edition calls attention to the urgent task of rebuilding and renewing socialist politics--of thinking ambitiously and meeting new challenges with unique solutions to the left of social democracy."--

Exploring globalization from a labor history perspective, Aviva Chomsky provides historically grounded analyses of migration, labor-management collaboration, and the mobility of capital. She illuminates the dynamics of these movements through case studies set mostly in New England and Colombia. Taken together, the case studies offer an intricate portrait of two regions, their industries and workers, and the myriad links between them over the long twentieth century, as well as a new way to conceptualize globalization as a long-term process. Chomsky examines labor and management at two early-twentieth-century Massachusetts factories: one that transformed the global textile industry by exporting looms around the world, and another that was the site of a model program of labor-management collaboration in the 1920s. She follows the path of the textile industry from New England, first to the U.S. South, and then to Puerto Rico, Japan, Mexico, Central America, the Caribbean, and Colombia. She considers how towns in Rhode Island and Massachusetts began to import Colombian workers as they struggled to keep their remaining textile factories going. Most of the workers eventually landed in service jobs: cleaning houses, caring for elders, washing dishes. Focusing on Colombia between the 1960s and the present, Chomsky looks at the Urabá banana export region, where violence against organized labor has been particularly acute, and, through a discussion of the AFL-CIO’s activities in Colombia, she explores the thorny question of U.S. union involvement in foreign policy. In the 1980s, two U.S. coal mining companies began to shift their operations to Colombia, where they opened two of the largest open-pit coal mines in the world. Chomsky assesses how different groups, especially labor unions in both countries, were affected. Linked Labor Histories suggests that economic integration among regions often exacerbates regional inequalities rather than ameliorating them.

The '80s Socialist movement and Labor; the Knights of Labor; Haymarket and May Day; Labor political action; The rise of the AFL; The Homestead strike; Coal creek and Cour d'Alene; American Railway Union; Pullman strike; Labor populism; Labor and the Spanish-American War; Labor and imperialism, more.

The period from 1910 to 1939 was one of the most explosive in British working class history. Them and Us looks at how the class struggle--embracing the struggles of women workers, immigrant workers, the unemployed and the fight against fascism--was fought in these years. The Labour Party and trade union leaderships were key players in the conflict, but their actions were often intended to undermine working class struggle. The ruling class had much to thank them for. Today when the working class is under a sustained and unprecedented attack from the Tories, Them and Us is an essential reminder of how past struggles were fought, of the unscrupulous nature of our enemy and of the need for militancy and solidarity to defeat them. John Newsinger draws on the words and actions of working class activists--and of their enemies--to bring to life key episodes in the struggle. Defeating the attempt to solve the current crisis at the expense of the working class requires a level of struggle that has not been seen in this country for many years. This is what we have to work towards and build for. Them and Us is a vital contribution to this fight. John Newsinger (1948- ) is a British Marxist and professor of history at Bath Spa University. Publisher's note.

"A biography of Samuel Gompers, leader of the American Federation of Labor."--

Book by Parmet, Robert D., Parment, Robert

The Labor History Reader celebrates the first quarter century of the premier journal in its field and provides the richest available source of contemporary thought on American labor history. The result is not only a revealing look at the history of American labor but also a better understanding of our changing attitudes toward that history.''The list of authors in The Labor History Reader reads like an honor roll of the most distinguished labor historians in the United States. The volume itself is excellent in chronological scope, wide-ranging in subjects treated, and representative of the main currents of thought which stimulate the writing of American working class history today.'' -- Maurice F. Neufeld, professor of labor and industrial relations, Cornell University

"This is a biography of labor and political activist Frank Lumpkin featuring his leadership of the struggle to recoup the pensions of the former work force at Republic Steel"--

This work provides a history of the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union. Topics covered include: the union's influence on political legislation and global economy; the story of the East European immigrants at the turn of the 20th century; and the union's spirit of social reform.

Samuel Gompers (1850–1924) devoted his life to improving the conditions of American workers through better wages, shorter workdays, and safer workplaces, achieved through common effort, democratic organization, and practical action. His objective was betterment, or, as he often said, "more." His moral vision was grounded in a commitment to social justice and a passion for service. A cigar maker by trade, he became the American Federation of Labor's first president in 1886 and, except for one year, remained its president until his death, guiding it through prosperity and recession, war and peacetime. By the time Gompers died, the AFL was a major force on the national scene and had claimed over four million members. Gompers was a tireless writer and impassioned speaker, and he left behind an immense archive of articles and editorials, addresses and testimony before a variety of audiences, and extensive correspondence with allies and adversaries alike. His correspondents included trade unionists and political leaders, reformers and radicals, captains of industry defending their positions, and workers asking for help or advice. The twelve volumes of The Samuel Gompers Papers, edited by Stuart B. Kaufman, Peter J. Albert, and Grace Palladino, for the first time make Gompers' wide-ranging and complex documentary legacy accessible to scholars, students, historians, and serious readers in the labor movement and among the public at large. This invaluable comprehensive index provides a key to the Gompers volumes. It not only allows quick reference to individual documents but permits scholars to see at a glance the contours and emphases in subject matter and locate the substantive annotations of key individuals and unions, strikes and lockouts, conferences and meetings, and legislation and key concepts in the history of the Gompers era.

A controversial new investigation in the 1984 Miners strike and how it changed Modern Britain. The Miners' strike was a dividing line in Modern British history. Before 1984, Britain was an industrial nation, reborn from the ashes of the Second World War by Clement Atlee's vision of a welfare state. Most of the great industries were nationalised and the trade unions was one of the major forces in the land. After the strike, which ended with humiliating defeat in March 1985, Thatcher's Britain was born. In March 1984, the leader of the Miners' Union, Arthur Scargill, led his members out of the pits without a ballot to protest at planned pit closures; they would spend the next 13 months facing the utmost deprivations as they fought to keep their jobs. On picket lines the miners faced harassment and the police, which culminated in the violent Battle of Orgreave. Meanwhile Thatcher's government feared that Britain was on the verge of a civil war. It was a struggle of attrition that neither side could dare lose. Twenty five years after the strike, the debate is still controversial. Marching to the Faultline tells the full story of the strike from confidential cabinet meetings at Downing Street to backroom negotiations, and life on the picket line. The book draws on previously unseen sources from interviews with the major figures, private archives and documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act to set the record straight.