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Author Windham, Lane, author.

Title Knocking on labor's door : union organizing in the 1970s and the roots of a new economic divide / Lane Windham.

Publication Info. Chapel Hill : The University of North Carolina Press, [2017]
©2017

Copies

Location Call No. Status
 Farmington, Main Library - Adult Department  331.89 WIN    Check Shelf
Description 295 pages : illustrations, portraits ; 25 cm.
Series Justice, power, and politics
Justice, power, and politics.
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references (pages 255-282) and index.
Contents The dilemma of the narrow door -- Millions go knocking -- Employers close the door -- Signing up in the shipyard -- Out of the Southern frying pan, into the global fire -- Resistance in retail: organizing Woodward & Lothrop -- 9 to 5: framing a new doorway.
Summary The power of unions in workers' lives and in the American political system has declined dramatically since the 1970s. In recent years, many have argued that the crisis took root when unions stopped reaching out to workers and workers turned away from unions. But here Lane Windham tells a different story. Highlighting the integral, often-overlooked contributions of women, people of color, young workers, and southerners, Windham reveals how in the 1970s workers combined old working-class tools--like unions and labor law--with legislative gains from the civil and women's rights movements to help shore up their prospects. Through close-up studies of workers' campaigns in shipbuilding, textiles, retail, and service, Windham overturns widely held myths about labor's decline, showing instead how employers united to manipulate weak labor law and quash a new wave of worker organizing. Recounting how employees attempted to unionize against overwhelming odds, Knocking on Labor's Door dramatically refashions the narrative of working-class struggle during a crucial decade and shakes up current debates about labor's future. Windham's story inspires both hope and indignation, and will become a must-read in labor, civil rights, and women's history. -- Provided by publisher.
Subject Labor unions -- United States -- History -- 20th century.
Industrial organization -- United States -- History -- 20th century.
Labor movement -- United States -- History -- 20th century.
Labor laws and legislation -- United States -- History -- 20th century.
Labor -- United States -- History.
Industrial organization. (OCoLC)fst00971405
Labor. (OCoLC)fst00989798
Labor laws and legislation. (OCoLC)fst00989967
Labor movement. (OCoLC)fst00990079
Labor unions. (OCoLC)fst00990260
United States. (OCoLC)fst01204155
Chronological Term 1900-1999
Genre/Form History. (OCoLC)fst01411628
ISBN 9781469632070 (hardcover alkaline paper)
1469632071 (hardcover alkaline paper)
9781469654775 (pbk. alk. paper)
1469654776 (pbk. alk. paper)
9781469632087 (electronic book)
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