Howard Kimeldorf

Bringing unions back in (or why we need a new old labor history)

(1991). Bringing unions back in (or why we need a new old labor history) Labor History: Vol. 32, No. 1, pp. 91-103.

Worker Replacement Costs and Unionization Origins of the U.S. Labor Movement

The embattled state of U.S. labor has generated a voluminous body of research on the processes of deunionization contributing to its decline. Revisiting the less researched topic of unionization, this study explores the social conditions facilitating union growth during the labor movement’s formative years. Focusing on the first decade of the twentieth century—in many respects for labor, a period not unlike the present—I seek to explain the pattern of organizing success and failure across industries and occupations. I find that the most organized settings occurred where workers had greater disruptive capacities due to the high cost of being replaced during work stoppages. The highest replacement costs were associated with three conditions: scarcity of skilled labor, geographically isolated worksites that raised the cost of importing strikebreakers, and time-sensitive tasks that rendered replacement workers economically impractical. Workplaces that had at least one of these conditions formed the backbone of the early U.S. labor movement. The conclusion considers the impact of declining replacement costs on current challenges facing U.S. labor.

The Historical Context of Shareholder Value Capitalism

Dobbin and Zorn offer a rich and insightful explanation for recent shifts in corporate strategies and incentives that, they argue, left American firms open to the wave of scandals that have filled the nightly news over the past few years. Where once far-sighted corporate leaders trained their eyes on stability and long-term growth, todays CEOs have trouble looking beyond the quarterly profit predictions that constitute the new bottom line in corporate America. Focused as they are on “meeting the quarterlies,” institutional investors, takeover artists, and financial analysts have emerged as the new corporate elite, displacing the largest private owners of capital and bureaucratic managers alike.

“Excluded” By Choice: Dynamics of Interracial Unionism on the Philadelphia Waterfront 1910–1930

“Everyone knows,” observed W.E.B. DuBois, writing at the turn of the century, “that in a city like Philadelphia a Negro does not have the same chance to exercise his ability or secure work according to his talents as a white man.” Focusing on what he described as “the practical exclusion of the Negroes from the trades and industries,” DuBois highlighted the role of organized labor in maintaining Philadelphias segregated economy whereby “each union steadfastly refuses to admit Negroes, and relies on color prejudice to keep up the barrier.”

The Power Elite and the State: How Policy is Made in America.

This volume presents a network of social power, indicating that theories inspired by C.Wright Mills are far more accurate views about power in America than those of Millss opponents. Dr. Domhoff shows how and why coalitions within the power elite have involved themselves in such policy issues as the Social Security Act (1935) and the Employment Act (1946), and how the National Labor Relations Act (1935) could pass against the opposition of every major corporation. The book descri bes how experts worked closely with the power elite in shaping the plansfor a post-World War II world economic order, in good part realized during the past 30 years. Arguments are advanced that the fat cats who support the Democrats cannot be understood in terms of narrow self-interest, and that moderate conservatives dominated policy-making under Reagan.

Book Reviews : Gary Gertsle, Working-Class Americanism: The Politics of Labor in a Textile City, 1914- 1960. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1989, pp. 356,

As a text, the work provides a timely case study for courses on the legal system of the U.S. The strong point of the book is thoroughness. While examining the legal issues in depth, Fletcher pays considerable attention to the reason why the Goetz case captured the American imagination. And his insight into the trial process, including errors of law by Justice Crane and opportunities lost by the prosecutor Gregory Waples, presents a fascinating view of legal maneuvering and the emotional factors that served to persuade the jurors on all but one count. Fletcher’s discussion of the capable defense led by Barry Slotnick is particularly enlightening, and his explanation of the power of juries to effectively disregard many of the arguments so carefully constructed by the attorneys in reaching verdicts may strike a nerve in those students cynical enough to believe that the law, so carefully guarded by the legal profession, is beyond the reach of the average citizen.

39.50 (cloth)

larger percentage of women in the Soviet Union. This book is well written and will be understood both by the layman as well as by students of the economic history of Eastern Europe. The volume can serve as an introduction to the social and economic history of Jewish life in Eastern Europe as well as Tsarist Russia. It could also serve as a supplement to a textbook on economic and social life of Eastern Europe and Russia in general.