Forced Choices: Class, Community, and Worker Ownership (SUNY series in the Sociology of Work and Organizations) - Tapa dura

"...an ambitious and important study ... Forced Choices is a vivid reminder of the way that corporate managements often attempt to contain employee ownership and involvement and to manipulate ownership and involvement plans to increase profits rather than empower workers." -- American Journal of Sociology

"This book is clearly going to be a sourcebook for those interested in the conditions that affect employer-worker relations, employee ownership, and the current trends in American industry. It captures the flavor of the struggles of workers and is likely to be a classic in the same sense that Alvin Gouldner's Wildcat Strike has been for well over forty years." -- A. Gary Dworkin, University of Houston

"Forced Choices is a great read; a clearly written, engaging story! For those interested in worker ownership, local economic development, the history of company towns, the steel industry, unions or industrial democracy, this is fascinating material." -- Robert N. Stern, Industrial and Labor Relations-Cornell University

"This book makes a very important contribution to understanding the dynamics behind the rhetoric of employee ownership." -- Teresa Ankney, Hood College

Examines the case of Weirton, West Virginia, where, in the 1980s, steelworkers and area residents fought to save a steelmill, their community, and their way of life. In 1982, they chose to buy the mill and make steel as a worker-owned company, becoming the largest worker-owned industrial firm in the country. By the mid-1980s, company policies and unforeseen events sparked controversy on local values on control and the relationship of the mill to the community. This study examines that period in the town's history, and speaks to the struggle of American liberalism to navigate a global economy. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)