This gripping insider's look at the contemporary American trade union movement shows that reports of organized labor's death are premature. In this eloquent and erudite narrative, Steven Henry Lopez demonstrates how, despite a hostile legal environment and the punitive anti-unionism of U.S. employers, a few unions have organized hundreds of thousands of low-wage service workers in the past few years. The Service Employees International Union (SEIU) has been at the forefront of this effort, in the process pioneering innovative strategies of grassroots mobilization and protest. In a powerful ethnography that captures the voices of those involved in SEIU nursing-home organizing in western Pennsylvania, Lopez illustrates how post-industrial, low-wage workers are providing the backbone for a reinvigorated labor movement across the country. Reorganizing the Rust Belt argues that the key to the success of social movement unionism lies in its ability to confront a series of dilemmas rooted in the history of American labor relations. Lopez shows how the union's ability to devise creative solutions-rather than the adoption of specific tactics-makes the difference between success and failure.
Author(s): Steven Henry Lopez
Edition: 1
Year: 2004
Language: English
Pages: 314
Preface. Postindustrial Pittsburgh: Low-Wage Work and the Challenge for American Labor......Page 12
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS......Page 22
1. Introduction: From Business Unionism to Social Movement Unionism......Page 24
Part I: Confronting Working-Class Antiunionism......Page 50
Introduction to Part I......Page 52
2. “See You Next Year”: The Failure of Traditional Organizing Tactics......Page 60
3. “It’s a Union”: Why Face-to-Face Organizing and Collective Action Tactics Succeed......Page 86
Ep i l o g u e t o Part I......Page 116
Part II: Dealing with Organizational Legacies......Page 122
Introduction to Part I I......Page 124
4. “Save Our Kanes”: Bypassing Organizational Structures......Page 131
5. “We Want a Contract”: Confronting Business Union Organization......Page 150
Ep i l o g u e t o Part I I......Page 169
Part III: Social Movement Unionism: Challenging the Power of Capital......Page 174
Introduction to Part I I I......Page 176
6. “We Will Not Be Silenced”: Escalating Mobilization......Page 187
7. “Whatever It Takes, as Long as It Takes”: Exploiting Antiunionism......Page 212
Ep i l o g u e t o Part I I I......Page 234
Conclusion: Social Movement Unionism and Social Movement Theory......Page 238
APPENDIX......Page 246
NOTES......Page 260
BIBLIOGRAPHY......Page 288
INDEX......Page 306
