Embedded with Organized Labor: Journalistic Reflections on the Class War at Home

by Steve Early

Overview

Collected for the first time, the essays that comprise Embedded With Organized Labor present a unique and informed perspective on the class war at home from a longtime organizer and “participatory labor journalist.” Steve Early tackles the most pressing issues facing unions today and describes how workers have organized successfully, on the job and in the community, in the face of employer opposition now and in the past.
This wide–ranging collection deals with the dilemmas of union radicalism, the obstacles to institutional change within organized labor, and strategies for securing workers’ rights in the new global economy. It also addresses questions hotly debated among union activists and friends of labor, including workers’ rights as human rights, new forms of worker organization such as worker centers, union democracy, cross–border solidarity, race, gender, and ethnic divisions in the working class, and the lessons of labor history.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781583671887
Publisher:	Monthly Review Press
Publication date:	07/01/2009
Pages:	288
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 8.20(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Steve Early has been an organizer, strike strategist,labor educator, and lawyer. He recently retired from his job as national staff member of the Communications Workers of America. Early’s articles, reviews, and op-ed pieces have appeared in The Nation, New Politics, CounterPunch, The Progressive, American Prospect, Working USA, New Labor Forum, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, Boston Globe, and many other publications. He is currently completing a book on the role of 1960s activists in American unions.

Table of Contents

Introduction: Confessions of a Participatory Labor Journalist 9

I Labor and the Left, Old and New 19

From Rebel Pens to Pencil Hands 20

From Crimson to Coal Seam 28

Radical Unionism 33

On Culturing a Union 39

Revolution in the Air? 46

Labor's Worst Nightmare 54

Working-Class Intellectuals 59

The Man Who Hated Work 64

II Race, Class, and Gender 69

A Long Tradition of Bias 70

The Most Dangerous Woman in America 73

Left Out: Black Freedom Fighters in Steel 77

Fight in the Fields-and Beyond 81

America's Best-Kept Secret 85

Prole Like Me 87

On the Waterfront 92

III Voices of Dissent and Reform 97

Not Your Father's Union Movement 98

From the Ashes of the Old 104

The New Rank and File 107

Labor's Heartland Losses 113

Solidarity Sometimes 120

The Next Upsurge 126

Afterthoughts on Sweeney 131

IV Workers' Rights and Wrongs 141

Which Side Are You On? 142

With Friends Like These 144

Unfair Advantage 148

Our Collective Bargain 153

Is the Strike Dead? 160

Back to the Future with EFCA? 166

V Organizing in the Global Village 177

Taking Care of Business 177

Slicing the Globaloney 180

Slaves to Fashion 183

The Children of NAFTA 188

Can Worker Centers Fill the Void? 193

Teamsters and Taxi Drivers 198

VI Changing to Win? 207

Reutherism Redux 209

From Monsignor Sweeney to Reverend Andy 231

Reform from Above or Renewal from Below? 240

Epilogue: A Purple Uprising in Oakland 251

Afterword: Reading, Writing, and Union Building 257

Notes 267

Index 278

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"Early says things other people in the labor movement would like to say but don't, because of protocol, fear of firing, or, if truth be told, fear of afflicting the comfortable. This collection shows the consistency, over the years, of Early's insistence on a worker's-eye view of the big picture, as he uses his acid pen to call out our ersatz reformers and self-appointed spokesmen."
-—Jane Slaughter,Labor Notes

"This is an exciting collection not only for the ideas presented, but for its potential contribution to developing a working class readership base that could dramatically widen the discussions and debates so desperately needed."
-—Sam Gindin,York University and Former Research Director, Canadian Auto Workers

"Steve Early has long been a voice of distinctive clarity, honesty and intellectual seriousness in and about the labor movement. This collection performs a valuable service in bringing together a broad sample of his writing on class, politics, the trade union movement, its status and prospects. As always with Early's work, these essays are grounded in concrete history and problems. To that extent, they also provide a unique window onto the last several decades of evolving American political history. At a time like this it is all the more important to have the benefit of a voice like his."
-—Adolph Reed Jr.,Professor of Political Science, University of Pennsylvania

"For three decades, Steve Early has been in the forefront of the fight for worker power and union democracy. His experience as an organizer gives him rare insight into the problems that unions face."
-—Sal Rosselli,ex-President, SEIU/UnitedHealth Care Workers-West

Editorial Reviews

"Steve Early has long been a voice of distinctive clarity, honesty and intellectual seriousness in and about the labor movement. This collection performs a valuable service in bringing together a broad sample of his writing on class, politics, the trade union movement, its status and prospects. As always with Early’s work, these essays are grounded in concrete history and problems. To that extent, they also provide a unique window onto the last several decades of evolving American political history. At a time like this it is all the more important to have the benefit of a voice like his."

Adolph Reed Jr.

"This is an exciting collection not only for the ideas presented, but for its potential contribution to developing a working class readership base that could dramatically widen the discussions and debates so desperately needed."

Sam Gindin

"Early says things other people in the labor movement would like to say but don’t, because of protocol, fear of firing, or, if truth be told, fear of afflicting the comfortable. This collection shows the consistency, over the years, of Early’s insistence on a worker’s-eye view of the big picture, as he uses his acid pen to call out our ersatz reformers and self-appointed spokesmen."

Labor Notes - Jane Slaughter

"For three decades, Steve Early has been in the forefront of the fight for worker power and union democracy. His experience as an organizer gives him rare insight into the problems that unions face."

Sal Rosselli

"This is an exciting collection not only for the ideas presented, but for its potential contribution to developing a working class readership base that could dramatically widen the discussions and debates so desperately needed."
-—Sam Gindin,York University and Former Research Director, Canadian Auto Workers

"Early says things other people in the labor movement would like to say but don’t, because of protocol, fear of firing, or, if truth be told, fear of afflicting the comfortable. This collection shows the consistency, over the years, of Early’s insistence on a worker’s-eye view of the big picture, as he uses his acid pen to call out our ersatz reformers and self-appointed spokesmen."
-—Jane Slaughter,Labor Notes

"For three decades, Steve Early has been in the forefront of the fight for worker power and union democracy. His experience as an organizer gives him rare insight into the problems that unions face."
-—Sal Rosselli,ex-President, SEIU/UnitedHealth Care Workers-West

"Steve Early has long been a voice of distinctive clarity, honesty and intellectual seriousness in and about the labor movement. This collection performs a valuable service in bringing together a broad sample of his writing on class, politics, the trade union movement, its status and prospects. As always with Early’s work, these essays are grounded in concrete history and problems. To that extent, they also provide a unique window onto the last several decades of evolving American political history. At a time like this it is all the more important to have the benefit of a voice like his."
-—Adolph Reed Jr.,Professor of Political Science, University of Pennsylvania

From the Publisher