Labor History

Does your job make a meaningful contribution to the world? In the spring of 2013, David Graeber asked this question in a playful, provocative essay titled “On the Phenomenon of Bullshit Jobs”. It went viral. After a million online views in 17 different languages, people all over the world are still debating the answer.

Cobalt Red is the searing first-ever exposé of the immense toll taken on the people and environment of the Democratic Republic of the Congo by cobalt mining, as told through the testimonies of the Congolese people themselves. Activist and researcher Siddharth Kara has traveled deep into cobalt territory to document the testimonies of the people living, working, and dying for cobalt.

How do politics shape our world, our lives, and our perceptions? How much of “common sense” is actually driven by the ruling class’ needs and interests? And how are we to challenge the capitalist structures that now threaten all life on the planet? Consequences of Capitalism exposes the deep, often unseen, connections between neoliberal “common sense” and structural power. In making these linkages, we see how the current hegemony keeps social justice movements divided and marginalized. And, most importantly, we see how we can fight to overcome these divisions.

This nostalgic page-turner is full of humor and heart! Aloha, Oregon, Summer 1994… Rick Reese, a sports obsessed family man and factory worker who was once a top baseball prospect, re-ignites a bitter grudge match with his estranged childhood friend Alex Winfield. Alex, however, is no longer just a hometown rival. He’s a beloved major leaguer and outspoken proponent of the ongoing MLB player strike. From the small-town soapbox of his weekly pickup game involving a ragtag squad of ball-hounded stooges known as the Sunday Hoppers, Rick challenges Alex's legacy to distract from not ...

Best known as a monumental achievement of the civil rights movement, the 1964 Civil Rights Act also revolutionized the lives of America's working women. Title VII of the law made it illegal to discriminate "because of sex". But that simple phrase didn't mean much until ordinary women began using the law to get justice on the job - and some took their fights all the way to the Supreme Court.

Travel to the 1950’s with Tom Barker as he takes you on his Rollfast Bicycle for a ride back in time when the minimum wage was $1 an hour, a stamp cost 3 cents and a newspaper was a nickel. Tom takes you on a visit to the lost world of delivery of the mighty newspaper by an army of teens. Learn how hundreds of newspaper carriers got the latest news, fashion, sports, and advertising out to the masses. Understand the importance of the newspaper boy institution and the famous people it has influenced and were once among its ranks. Tom will tell you how he got his paper route, overcame ...

The golden key to understanding the last 75 years of American political development, the eminent labor-relations scholar Michael Goldfield argues, lies in the contests between labor and capital in the American South during the 1930s and 1940s. Labor agitation and unionization efforts in the South in the New Deal era were extensive and bitterly fought and ranged across all of the major industries of the region. Goldfield shows how the broad-based failure to organize the South during this period made it what it is today.

Deep Trouble relates the shocking story of a once prosperous boomtown and the shameful skeletons yet buried in a nearby pasture. The novel is based on actual events in Coal Hill, Arkansas, in the late 1800s when coal was king and convict labor helped keep it that way. The brutal truth that unfolded here stunned not only a state, but a nation.

The year was 1917. As a war raged across the world, young American women flocked to work, painting watches, clocks, and military dials with a special luminous substance made from radium. It was a fun job, lucrative and glamorous - the girls themselves shone brightly in the dark, covered head to toe in the dust from the paint. They were the radium girls. As the years passed, the women began to suffer from mysterious and crippling illnesses.

This book deals with personnel management in the area of Research and Development of Japanese large corporations, especially in the electronics industry. In the first two chapters it introduces its historical dimension, first through the history of personnel management and labour relations in general and then through the history of the engineering profession and personnel management of engineers in large companies. In the third chapter it analizes the outcome of case studies carried out by the author in 11 large and giant corporations of the electronics industry through two rounds of ...

When trains were introduced as a popular means of transportation, some of the first tracks laid terminated in New York, and the expansion of railroads led to the birth of train stations across the country. In general, these were small buildings where passengers could buy tickets and wait for their trains to arrive. Trains were run by steam as far south as 14th Street and pulled from there by horses.

In May 1970, four days after Kent State, construction workers chased students through downtown Manhattan, beating scores of protesters bloody. As hardhats clashed with hippies, it soon became clear that something larger was underway - Democrats were at war with themselves. In The Hardhat Riot, David Paul Kuhn tells the fateful story of when the white working class first turned against liberalism, when Richard Nixon seized the breach, and America was forever changed.

Labor's War at Home examines a critical period in American politics and labor history, beginning with the outbreak of war in Europe in 1939 through the wave of major industrial strikes that followed the war and accompanied the reconversion to a peacetime economy. Nelson Lichtenstein is concerned both with the internal organizations and social dynamics of the labor movement - especially the Congress of Industrial Organizations - and with the relationship between the CIO, as well as other bodies of organized labor, and the Roosevelt administration.

From one of the most prominent voices on the American left, a galvanizing argument for why we need socialism in the US today. Bhaskar Sunkara explores socialism's history since the mid-1800s and presents a realistic vision for its future. Sunkara shows that socialism, though often seen primarily as an economic system, in fact offers the means to fight all forms of oppression, including racism and sexism. The ultimate goal is not Soviet-style planning, but to win rights to health care, education, and housing and to create new democratic institutions in workplaces and communities.

The completion of the Erie Canal in 1825 was a monumental achievement. Linking the Great Lakes to the Atlantic Ocean, it transformed New York City into a hub of international trade, drove the rise of industrial cities in once sparsely populated areas, and accelerated the westward expansion of the United States. Yet few of the laborers who toiled along the canal shared in the prosperity it brought.

Discover the magic of May Day with your child in this heartwarming educational adventure! Join curious Imani, enthusiastic Tommy, and knowledgeable Maya as they embark on a delightful journey to learn about the dual celebrations of May 1st. When Maya arrives with news of a community celebration, the three friends discover the colorful traditions of May Day and the important history of International Workers' Day. 🌸 Perfect for children ages 6-9, this engaging story teaches young readers about: The ancient spring tradition of maypole dancing The historical significance of International ...

St. Louis' Bloody Labor Dispute On Saturday, May 5, 1900 at 11:30 p.m., the bombing of the Suburban Line at the Wabash and Sarah Street railroad crossing marked the beginning of the St. Louis Street Car Strike of 1900. Before the strike was over, the streets of St. Louis were a battle ground between rich and poor. Read the graphic details about this explosive time.

You may have learned about Cesar Chavez’s leadership in organizing the well-known Delano Grape Strike and Boycott of the 1960s. But did you know it began as a strike led by Larry Itliong? He was a Filipino labor organizer who had also been working with grape pickers in California at the time.

On the banks of the River Mersey is a city with a radical character, shaped by its geography and the achievements of its community - in music, culture and politics. Liverpool is now defined mostly by its appetite for football and the continental successes of its most renowned club. What then does it mean to be a local 'Red' - sculpted by the city's social history - in an age of global expansion? Former players, dedicated fans and civic leaders explain the relationship between the club they support and the city of their birth, exploring the events and moments in time that moulded their ...

Ten office workers in Boston started out sitting in a circle and sharing the problems they encountered on the job. In a few short years, they had built a nationwide movement that united people of diverse races, classes, and ages. They took on the corporate titans. They leafleted and filed lawsuits and started a woman-led union. They won millions of dollars in back pay and helped make sexual harassment and pregnancy discrimination illegal. The women office workers who rose up to win rights and respect on the job transformed workplaces throughout America.