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Labor's fighting story told in one tight volume
Labor’s untold story is a rich and provocative history, as workers fought (and continue to fight) to establish their rights. Because the story is so complex and the exciting episodes are numerous, reducing labor history to one volume is no small task. Phillip Dray does this effectively with his new book, There is Power in a Union. Women in trades share stories in "Sisters" A woman fire fighter, carpenter or police officer might raise an eyebrow, but a woman trades worker is no longer a novelty.
In the early 1970s, when many women made their first forays into the construction trades, fire house or truck cab, women were not only a novelty, but often perceived as a threat. A dark & stormy night on the railroad
There are borders to our lives—borders of routine, social expectation, gender, race and class. Some never stray near those boundaries, some dance on the edge and a few dare to cross. Railroad Noir: The American West at the End of the Twentieth Century (University of Indiana Press), by Linda Grant Niemann, is the story of a border crosser. Niemann, a college-educated woman, began working on the railroad in 1979. Hobo world lives in new book
“Hobo” conjures a mythic American figure, strolling along the railroad tracks in tattered clothing, a bristly chin, dirty face and a stogie clamped in the mouth, enjoying the open road but obviously poor, all his belongings tied in a bundle and hanging from a stick over his shoulder. The real hoboes, however, were the harvesters, railroad builders, miners, forest fire fighters and timber workers that powered the American economy from the Civil War through World War I. |
Rail Labor led the way for 1930s reforms
In the telling of labor’s story, the 1930s is the seminal, triumphant decade. With a sympathetic President, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and an upstart CIO movement, labor rallies, allies with the Democratic Party, wins dramatic strikes, and sees millions join, organizing industrial America. This story’s prelude is the 1920s, when business formulated its anti-union “American Plan” and union membership shrunk. But railroad labor was not quiet in the 1920s. And through shrewd political action... Is U.S. Labor fighting a civil war?
Union membership continues to shrink in the U.S. Blame it on a bad economy, but labor needs a renewal to survive. One union that held bright promise to lead that effort was the Service Employees International Union (SEIU). But for the last five years, SEIU has been bogged down in internal battles that have cost millions. Old Rail Shops photo inspires sculpture
A photograph published in the Grand Prairie Union News calendar in 2004 has inspired a new sculpture by a local artist. Rick Harney of Normal, who designed the Abraham Lincoln on the park bench... Activist lawyer fought for civil & labor rightsLawyers are often scorned as “ambulance chasers” and looked down upon as societal parasites. Yet when we need a lawyer, we want the best. Almost nightly, our TVs feature courtroom dramas, as basic issues of morality and fairness are weighed in the American justice system. An outspoken lawyer, defending human rights, is an uncomfortable hero, forcing us to tolerate those challenging our society’s beliefs.
Detroit’s Ernie Goodman (1906-1997) was one of those unpopular human rights lawyers, with a career that spanned from 1930s union organizing through the civil rights movement and finally, late 20th century union-busting. |