The Next Upsurge: Labor and the New Social Movements (Ilr Press Book) - Tapa dura

"The main strength of the book is in its stories. Clawson has gathered together a range of accounts of inspiring activist struggles that go beyond the 'normal' frame of union-management battles, strikes, and so on, moments that have mobilized grassroots energy from diverse sources, uniting unions with community groups, upsetting expectations, disrupting business as usual, and (in a few cases) winning some signal victories. A number of these accounts are enriched by personal interviews." --Charles Heckscher, Rutgers University "Relations Industrielles/Industrial Relations " "Clawson is right in contending that the labor movement's survival, let alone revival, depends on unions transforming themselves into rank-and-file controlled, militant social as well as economic organizations that undertake community and workplace struggles.... One of the best features of Clawson's analysis is that he pays serious attention to globalization and resistance as a potential source of change. Perhaps the growing global justice movement, which includes some industrial unions such as the steelworkers, as well as students, feminists, and environmentalists, will help spur a new upsurge from the outside." --Stanley Aronowitz "Los Angeles Times Book Review " "Whenever those of us in the UK labour movement feel despondent, we need only look across the Atlantic to know it could be worse.... Clawson unravels the issue of globalization to reveal that the true enemy of the workers is not cheaper foreign labour, but national and imperialistic (through the global finance institutions) neoliberal policies of privatization, outsourcing, and deregulation. Labour needs to understand these components to devise a political strategy to oppose its true detractors.... Clawson's book shows that an integration of labour, students, and activists from social movements can bring results." --Andrew Fisher "Labour Left Briefing " "Clawson argues that explosive expansions occur only when the labor movement fuses with social struggles against racism and for broader economic justice, as it did in the 1930s.... The Next Upsurge also argues that in order to succeed, organizing drives must empower rank-and-file workers.... The Next Upsurge is a must-read for all activists--in unions or otherwise--who want to see the labor movement turn around." --Peter Lamphere "Socialist Worker " "Clawson's book is an invaluable guide to right and wrong turns. It contains many important insights into the dynamics of labor-based movement-building--past, present, and future. It is readable, accessible, and should be studied closely by activists still seeking a favorable resolution of 'the tension/contradiction between the radical democratic potential' of organized labor and the less-inspiring reality of our existing unions." --Steve Early "The Guild Reporter " "Clawson reports with perceptive detail about many of the recent and ongoing campaigns... that he believes might give impetus to an upsurge. He believes labor alliances with other movements will expand the meaning and ambition of the labor movement." --David Moberg "In These Times "

The U.S. labor movement may be on the verge of massive growth, according to Dan Clawson. He argues that unions don't grow slowly and incrementally, but rather in bursts. Even if the AFL-CIO could organize twice as many members per year as it now does, it would take thirty years to return to the levels of union membership that existed when Ronald Reagan was elected president. In contrast, labor membership more than quadrupled in the years from 1934 to 1945. For there to be a new upsurge, Clawson asserts, labor must fuse with social movements concerned with race, gender, and global justice.The new forms may create a labor movement that breaks down the boundaries between "union" and "community" or between work and family issues. Clawson finds that this is already happening in some parts of the labor movement: labor has endorsed global justice and opposed war in Iraq, student activists combat sweatshops, unions struggle for immigrant rights. Innovative campaigns of this sort, Clawson shows, create new strategies--determined by workers rather than union organizers--that redefine the very meaning of the labor movement. The Next Upsurge presents a range of examples from attempts to replace "macho" unions with more feminist models to campaigns linking labor and community issues and attempts to establish cross-border solidarity and a living wage.