[ A number of veteran organizers and labor journalists are
publishing books this year that will be of interest to Labor Notes
readers. Many of them participated in a "Meet the Author" session at
the recent Labor Notes Conference.]
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PORTSIDE CULTURE

RECENT BOOKS OF NOTE FOR LABOR ACTIVISTS  
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Labor Notes staff
August 1, 2022
Labor Notes
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_ A number of veteran organizers and labor journalists are publishing
books this year that will be of interest to Labor Notes readers. Many
of them participated in a "Meet the Author" session at the recent
Labor Notes Conference. _

A number of veteran organizers and labor journalists are publishing
books this year. Here are a few books to check out or pre-order.,
Labor Notes

 

_Here are a few books to check out or pre-order:_

“We are getting our asses kicked... To revive the labor movement, we
need to revive class struggle unionism.” So argues Joe Burns in his
latest book, _Class Struggle Unionism
[[link removed]]_ (Haymarket,
2022). Burns, whose previous books include _Reviving the
Strike_ and _Strike Back: Rediscovering Militant Tactics to Fight
the Attacks on Public Employee Unions_, believes that a rebirth of the
labor movement will require militancy inside the workplace,
rank-and-file democracy, a willingness to challenge the union
bureaucracy, and opposition to the capitalist economic system based on
the ruthless pursuit of profits above all else. He says union
activists need to develop a strategy to defeat injunctions and to
convince national unions to organize the unorganized.

How can unions in different countries collaborate on campaigns against
a common employer? The short new e-book, _International Solidarity in
Action: The Relationship Between the United Electrical Workers and the
Frente Auténtico del Trabajo
[[link removed]]_, is a handbook for
anyone thinking about this question. It details the UE’s 30-year
partnership with the FAT, an independent Mexican union, including how
the unions have supported each other’s organizing campaigns and
fights for labor law reform, as well as the impact of worker-to-worker
exchanges on transforming the unions’ cultures toward international
solidarity.

Union organizer Daisy Pitkin’s _On the Line: A Story of Class,
Solidarity, and Two Women’s Epic Fight to Build a Union
[[link removed]]_ (Algonquin,
2022) tells how a scrappy band of UNITE organizers and immigrant
workers organized at industrial laundries in Phoenix. Pitkin describes
the workers’ transformation—and her own—over the course of the
campaign: “I’ve come to think of solidarity, this mixture of hope
and care, as a physical force or maybe a force field.” Read a Labor
Notes review here
[[link removed]].

_Fighting Times: Organizing on the Front Lines of the Class War
[[link removed]]_ (PM Press,
2022) is a memoir by former student activist turned auto worker Jon
Melrod about his 50 years of organizing, including a fight against
concessions at American Motor Co. in the ‘70s and ‘80s. Read more
and order at jonathanmelrod.com
[[link removed]].

Max Alvarez’s _The Work of Living: Working People Talk About Their
Lives and the Year the World Broke
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2022) features interviews about workers’ experiences during the
pandemic, including a silver miner, a sheet metal worker, a bartender,
and new Labor Notes staffer Courtney Smith. Alvarez is editor-in-chief
of _The Real News Network_ and hosts the _Working People_ podcast.

_Fight Like Hell: The Untold History of American Labor
[[link removed]]_ (Simon
and Schuster, 2022), by Kim Kelly, relates lesser-known struggles
featuring women and people of color. Kelly is the labor columnist
for _Teen Vogue_.

_Pay No Attention to That Man Behind the Curtain: Getting Information
About “Persuader” Consultants and the Employers Who Hire Them
[[link removed]]_ is a toolbox for labor activists
looking to expose the union-busters contracted by management to
campaign against union organizing efforts. The author is John Lund,
former director of the U.S. Office of Labor and Management Standards.
Get the e-book ($8.99) at laborsbookstore.com.

What industries and workplaces should we target for organizing, given
their potential power? And which workers in those industries hold the
most power, such that their withdrawal of labor would quickly grind
things to a halt? _Labor Power and Strategy
[[link removed]]_ by historian
John Womack, Jr. (PM Press, 2022) urges organizers to identify and act
upon these chokepoints.

_DO YOU HAVE SUGGESTIONS OF OTHER RECENT BOOKS OF INTEREST TO LABOR
ACTIVISTS? WRITE TO [email protected]._

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