Newly Updated 11 August 1997

News Flash! Amazon.com announces even lower prices! Click on the titles that interest you to see the current prices, which will usually be lower than the prices here.

Socialism

Michael Harrington was the most important American socialist of his time -- and was arguably the most important American socialist ever. Visitors to Labour's Online Bookstore from the USA need no introduction to Harrington and his works, but maybe others do. No labour library is complete without this important work -- which we're selling for the ridiculously cheap price of $4.79 (a 20% discount). Click on the title above to order.

Office Politics

The desktop computer has transformed office work. Business and social forecasters claimed that the use of video display terminals (VDTs) in the "Office of the Future" would free workers from routine tasks, giving them more time for creative work and chances for career advancement. Office Politics argues that for many VDT workers -- most of whom are nonunionized women in low-paying, dead-end jobs -- exactly the opposite has been true. VDTs have been used to routinize office tasks; to export work via satellite to low-wage, nonunion offshore offices; to de-skill workers and monitor their productivity. And the nature of the work has led to widespread health and safety problems, including vision, musculoskeletal (repetitive motion), and stress-related illnesses. Many have also charged that the electromagnetic fields (EMFs) emitted by computer terminals are responsible for miscarriages, for birth defects, and for promoting cancer.

As office workers sought to protect themselves against these new occupational safety and health problems, they found little help from organized labor, business, or the government. Office Politics is the first book to explain why. It shows how corporate interests successfully redefined the VDT health and safety crisis as a "comfort" problem, how the government refused to collect data on the true scope of VDT-related illnesses or to regulate Information Age industries, and how labor unions ignored women workers.

Office Politics is key reading for everyone who works at a computer. It will be of special interest to students, academics, and professionals in political science, sociology, occupational and environmental health, business, labor and management issues, women's studies, computing and public policy.

Rutgers University Press, 1996
Paperback; $17.95.

Fighting for Jobs

This book examines the struggle of unions and communities to save jobs in plant-closing situations in the 1980s. The unusual depth of the research allows the reader to grasp the key factors affecting such battles in an era of industrial restructuring. It contains new insights into "early warning" signs, their recognition and importance; the role of labor-management relations in both shutdown decisions and efforts to save the plant the importance of corporate structure and strategy; the part played by economic market factors; and role of local government, both potential and actual. The book concludes with an analysis of the current trends affecting labor-community activism of this type.

State University of New York Press, 1995
Paperback; $16.95.

Rocking the Boat

Rocking the Boat recognizes the strong, committed women who helped to build the American labor movement. Through the stories of eleven women from a wide range of backgrounds, we experience the turmoil, hardships and accomplishments of thousands of other union women activists through the period spanning the Great Depression, the New Deal, World War II, the McCarthy era, the civil rights movement, and the womens' movement. These women tell powerful stories that highlight and detail their many roles as workers, trade unionists, and family members. They all faced difficulties in their personal lives, overcame challenges in their unions, and individually and collectively helped improve women's everyday working lives.

Rutgers University Press, 1996
Paperback; [click on title for current price].

America Needs a Raise : Fighting for Economic Security and Social Justice; David Kusnet, John J. Sweeney; Hardcover; $15.16. In 1995, John Sweeney led an insurgent slate to victory and took control of the national labour center in the United States, the AFL-CIO. Labour's Online Bookstore is proud to offer this title at a 20% discount off the cover price.

Rise and Repression of Radical Labor, U.S.A. 1887-1918; Daniel R. Fusfeld; Paperback; $7.35. (Special Order). Fusfeld, a noted economist, argues that one of the reasons why the United States never had a mass socialist party, unlike most other industrialized countries, was because of the vigorous and often violent repression of militant trade unionism in that country. I was convinced by some of the argumentation, though I'm not sure this is the explanation for the famous "American exceptionalism."

The New Left and Labor in the 1960s (The Working Class in American History); Peter B. Levy; Paperback; $16.95. There are some things I didn't like about Levy's book, but found his main argument intriguing: that the traditional view of labour's growing estrangement from the American new left in the 1960s only tells half the story. Levy's history of the period points to a reconciliation between the two that emerged in the early 1970s.

Pluto Press titles:

Negotiation Skills in the Workplace: A Practical Handbook by Larry Cairns; Paperback; $12.95. This book provides specific, helpful advice on how to handle different situations in the negotiating process, and places particular emphasis on planning and preparing negotiations. The author also looks at power in negotiations: how to get it if you don't have it, and how to use it to produce the required result. Throughout, he uses helpful case studies to guide negotiators through the process.

Power and Counterpower: The Union Response to Global Capital - ICEM Paperback; $8.05. 1995 was a turning point for the world's workers and trade unions, heralding a labour come-back. One important sign of this change was the founding of the 20 million strong ICEM. Declaring itself the 'forerunner of the new global institutions of labour' the ICEM presents a detailed and original analysis of the modern world. Above all, it insists that unions must provide what governments and others have not achieved -- a real counterweight to the vast power of the multinational corporations. Explaining their wider significance, the book expresses unions' concerns with the world's economy, analysing the relationship between globalisation and corporatisation and the international labour movement.

Coping With the Miracle: Japan's Unions Explore New International Relations Hugh Williamson; Paperback; $19.95. 'This book sheds considerable light on the structure and development of unions in Japan.' - Bill Morris, General Secretary, Transport and General Workers Union

Economic Fundamentalism: A World Model for Structural Adjustment Jane Kelsey; Hardcover; $70.00. What happens when a developed Western economy makes a systematic attempt at 'structural adjustment' concentrating on low inflation, tight monetary controls, labour market deregulation and a limited state role? In this controversial book, Jane Kelsey uses the experiment in the New Zealand economy as an example to show both the social and economic consequences of such a move. The OECD, the World Bank and others have hailed this laboratory experiment as an exemplary prototype but Jane Kelsey looks at whether or not it really worked, and reveals the extent of the social problems it can cause.

Recommended by readers:

The End of Work : The Decline of the Global Labor Force and the Dawn of the Post-Market Era; Jeremy Rifkin; Paperback; $14.35. Esteemed economist, philosopher, and activist Jeremy Rifkin addresses what could be the most important issue facing our global economy--the wholesale loss of jobs to new technologies. With a foreword by Robert L. Heilbroner, The End of Work provides a provocative analysis of the worldwide unemployment crisis, fresh alternatives to formal work, and the possibility for great social transformation.

The Culture of Contentment; John Kenneth Galbraith; Paperback; $9.85. A tireless observer of the particular oddities and larger movements of our time, Galbraith presents his arguments with the intelligence and acerbic wit his readers have come to expect. "In the decades since World War II, no American writer has done more to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable than John Kenneth Galbraith."--USA Today.

A People's History of the United States; Howard Zinn; Paperback; $14.40. An American history lesson like you never received in school, but don't you wish you had! -- Chris Cummins

Labor's Untold Story; Richard O. Boyer and Herbert M. Morais; Paperback; $8.80. A truly comprehensive history of the struggle of labor from a refreshingly new point of view. -- Chris Cummins. Highly recommended. -- Jack Petith

Japan Works: Power and Paradox in Postwar Industrial Relations; John Price; Paperback; $17.95. An analytical and historical account of the rise of the Japanese model of labour relations . . . must read. -- Sid Shniad

Work Abuse: How to Recognize and Survive It; Judith Wyatt and Chauncey Hare; $19.95. The only book available that tells a person how to prevent or recover from scapegoating and other workplace abuses by managers (or disturbed co-workers). -- C.H.

Grand Designs : The Impact of Corporate Strategies on Workers, Unions, and Communities; Charles Craypo and Bruce Nissen; Paperback; $17.95.

Theories of the Labor Movement; Simeon Larson and Bruce Nissen; Paperback; $19.95.

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