Action in the Aftermath: An AFL-CIO Disaster Preparedness and Response Manual For more than a half-century, when working families and their homes have been devastated by storms, floods, fires, industrial accidents or terrorist attacks, their union sisters and brothers have pitched in to help those in need and to rebuild communities. AFL-CIO union members around the country responded generously after the Gulf Coast hurricanes last year. Along the way, they learned some valuable lessons about what works and where we need to prepare more-effective responses. This free nuts-and-bolts manual gives a solid overview of disaster response plans at all levels of union organization, including national unions, state federations, central labor councils and local unions.
Women Organizing Women: How Do We Rock the Boat without Getting Thrown Overboard? The union movement's most important job is helping workers form unions—and women are much more likely to join unions than men, especially if the lead organizer is a woman. So why are there so few female organizers? The Berger-Marks Foundation asked 19 outstanding women organizers to discuss the challenges they face as organizers. The subjects candidly shared the difficulties of being a woman organizer, including the huge demands in time and travel, and suggested common-sense improvements—from giving organizers more control over their schedules and allowing more work from home to addressing women organizers’ child care and family responsibilities. Available online from the Berger-Marks Foundation.
WEBSIGHTING
Anti-Union Network Fighting distortions about unions just got a lot easier. American Rights at Work has launched a new Web-based resource tool, the Anti-Union Network (http://www.antiunionnetwork.org) that counters the lies and twisted information spewed out by Richard Berman, the National Association of Manufacturers and others. The site includes profiles of anti-union organizations with details on their lobbying, litigation and media outreach, as well as their connections to each other. A great resource tool with background on union-busting and union-buster techniques, the site has launched with a featured profile of Berman’s egregiously misnamed Center for Union Facts and includes a diagram of Berman’s extensive money trail.
BOOKS
Screwed: The Undeclared War Against the Middle Class Air America host Thom Hartmann reminds us that the Founding Fathers’ vision of our nation included a strong middle class, with the U.S. government supporting that vision through policies such as fair labor laws, antitrust regulations and the minimum wage. But in the past 25 years, we have seen what Hartmann calls an “undeclared war on the middle class” in which extremists dismantle programs set up to protect the middle class while pursuing policies favoring Big Business and the very wealthy. Screwed includes a proposal to get the nation back on track, with ideas for ensuring all Americans have access to education, health care, a living wage, and more. Available at The Union Shop Online™.
Death in the Haymarket: A Story of Chicago, the First Labor Movement, and the Bombing that Divided Gilded Age America In 1886, a bomb went off at a rally in Chicago for the eight-hour day killing several policemen and civilians and wounding dozens more. Ultimately, eight men were put on trial for murder, and four were executed—because in the weeks leading up to the demonstration they had called for worker to take up arms to defend their rights if necessary. Labor historian James Green’s examination of the class tension of Gilded Age America depicts the struggle between unions and immigrant workers on one side and wealthy employers and the government that backed them. Available at The Union Shop Online™.
Taking Back the Workers' Law: How to Fight the Assault on Labor Rights Looking at the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) today, you could hardly guess it was created to protect workers’ freedom to choose unions. These days, many people consider the board one of the worst enemies of workers' rights and freedoms. But Wayne State University law professor Ellen Dannin suggests the heaviest blame for squelching these rights should fall not on the NLRB, but on judicial decisions that have radically altered the National Labor Relations Act. But she doesn't just complain about the problem: She sets out concrete solutions for change. Hardcover, $35. Available at The Union Shop Online™.
