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The State Of The Unions 2023: A Profile Of Organized Labor In New York City, New York State, And The United States, Ruth Milkman, Joseph Van Der Naald

Publications and Research

This report released by the CUNY School of Labor and Urban Studies, State of the Unions 2023: A Profile of Organized Labor in New York City, New York State, and the United States, is a part of an annual publication series, documents recent trends in unionization patterns. The overall level of unionization in both the City and State has been roughly double the national rate over the past two decades. But recently, union density has fallen more in New York City and New York State than in the United States as a whole. In the mid-2010s, both the City and …

The Language Of Legal Violence: The State’S Role In Silencing Capitalist Dissent, 1877-1915, Jaclene Paolucci

Theses and Dissertations

From the 1870s to the eve of World War I, the United States government enacted a violent and repressive campaign against labor activists and political radicals to protect capitalist interests. The growing alliance between employers and the government threatened American democratic traditions and turned those who challenged the capitalist system into potential enemies of the state.

Unions - Bowling Green, Kentucky (Sc 3673), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid and scan (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 3673. By-Laws and Trade Rules of Union Local No. 2156, Bowling Green, Kentucky, of the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America.

Ums_Hr_Covid-19 Memorandum Of Understandings, University Of Maine System

Office of Human Resources

Copies of individual Memorandum of Understandings between the University of Maine System and the Associated C.O.L.T. Staff of the University of Maine (ACSUM) regarding COVID, Associated Faculties of the Universities of Maine (AFUM), Police, Maine Part-Time Faculty Association (PATFA), Teamsters Union Local #340, Service & Maintenance Unit (Teamsters), and Universities of Maine Professional Staff Association (UMPSA).

“Did Emmett Till Die In Vain? Organized Labor Says No!”: The United Packinghouse Workers And Civil Rights Unionism In The Mid-1950s, Matthew Nichter

Faculty Publications

Emmett Till’s mangled face is seared into our collective memory, a tragic epitome of the brutal violence that upheld white supremacy in the Jim Crow South. But Till's murder was more than just a tragedy: it also inspired an outpouring of determined protest, in which labor unions played a prominent role. The United Packinghouse Workers of America (UPWA) campaigned energetically on behalf of Emmett Till, from the stockyards of Chicago to the sugar refineries of Louisiana. Packinghouse workers petitioned, marched, and rallied to demand justice; the UPWA organized the first mass meeting addressed by Till’s mother, Mamie Bradley; and an …

Campbell Collection (Mss 683), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Collection 683. Correspondence and papers primarily relating to the service of Elvis R. Campbell, Bowling Green, Kentucky, in the public works department of city government and at Detrex Corporation. Also includes account books/farm journals and business papers of his parents, John R. Campbell and Maggie (Brown) Campbell.

Jackson, Carlton Luther, 1933-2014 (Mss 581), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Collection 581. Research and manuscripts for books written by Western Kentucky University history professor Carlton Jackson. Includes some personal and professional correspondence, unpublished writing, and a partial memoir. Click on "Additional Files" below to see a listing of correspondents who provided information about the influenza pandemic of 1918. This correspondence is found in Boxes 13 and 14.

We Will Not Strike: The Black Revolt In The Chicago Teachers Union, Charles Grand

History Theses

In the 1960s, black teachers in Chicago were systematically discriminated against by the school system’s Board of Education. The Board used a subjective oral exam to deny the vast majority of African-American educators certification. Although many uncertified black teachers taught full time at Chicago Public Schools, they were paid significantly less and were vulnerable to arbitrary transfer and termination. The Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) claimed to represent uncertified teachers, but severely limited their ability to vote on contracts and in union elections. Union leaders also relegated the demands of uncertified black teachers, prioritizing the concerns of certified white teachers and …

Chapman, John (Fa 816), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Folklife Archives Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Folklife Archives Project 816. This collection “Mining and The Company Store,” describes essential phases of mining coal and the companies miners worked for in the Pennyroyal Region of Kentucky. The narrative is in an interview format and illustrated with photos; a small portion of the narrative features information about company stores. This information was collected by Western KentuckyUniversity student John Chapman, for credit in a folklore class.

“...When We Fight Back”: Attempting Social Reconstructions Of The Great Industrial Class War In The United States From 1870-1930, Daniel Park

History - Master of Arts in Teaching

I. Synthesis Essay………………………………2

II. Bibliography…………………………………..29

III. Textbook Critique…………………………….30

IV. Primary Documents and Headnotes……….37

Strategic Diversity In Union Political Action: Implications For The 1992 House Elections, Richard W. Hurd, Jeffrey E. Sohl

Richard W Hurd

[Excerpt] The purpose of this paper is to explore labor's strategic options in the 1992 elections. We will focus on House races because the diversity in political strategies among unions is most apparent there. However, our conclusions will have broader implications for union activity in elections at all levels of government. In evaluating the situation we will consider the impact of redistricting on labor's alternatives. We should note that recent developments have made many union political operatives more optimistic. The upset victory by populist Democrat Harris Wofford in the special Senate election in Pennsylvania, the eventual compromises on civil rights …

Steelworkers' Victory At Ravenswood: Picket Line Around The World, Tom Juravich, Kate Bronfenbrenner

Kate Bronfenbrenner

The second in a two-part series details the sophisticated international campaign and grass-roots activism that gave labor one of its biggest wins in the '90s.

Locked Out But Holding Together In Ravenswood, Tom Juravich, Kate Bronfenbrenner

Kate Bronfenbrenner

The first in a two-part series that details the Steelworkers' victory at Ravenswood Aluminum - one of labor's biggest wins in the '90s.

The East In Open Conflict: The Great Strike Of 1993, Lowell Turner

Lowell Turner

[Excerpt] Because it is impossible in one book to examine all German institutions of negotiation, this book focuses on one important set of relations at the heart of social market regulation: the "social partnership" between labor and management. "Social partnership," a term widely used throughout the European Union but little known in the United States, refers to the nexus—and central political and economic importance—of bargaining relationships between strongly organized employers (in employer associations) and employees (in unions and works councils) that range from comprehensive collective bargaining and plant-level codetermination to vocational training and federal, state, and local economic policy discussions. …

Teamster Democracy: A Moment Of Possibility, Nick Salvatore

Nick Salvatore

[Excerpt] The association between the union and the underworld, a relationship that young Walter Lippmann simply could not envision, did not stem from an insidious criminal power that somehow proved impervious to FBI surveillance. Rather, criminal involvement in the trucking industry may actually be the most lasting contribution to modern America made by those who, in the name of fundamentalism, prohibition and creationism, fought that modernity so insistently. During prohibition, organized crime's interest in the trucking industry grew exponentially as urban criminal groups developed enormous fleets of trucks to transport illegal liquor. Following repeal in 1933, the industry remained attractive …

Foreword To The Killing Of Karen Silkwood, Kate Bronfenbrenner

Kate Bronfenbrenner

[Excerpt] The Killing of Karen Silkwood, therefore, is both a cautionary and inspirational tale. It reminds us of what we are up against and what it takes to win. But most of all it reminds us why each of us must stand with the whistle-blowers and the ordinary heroes that are among us, in the workplace, in government, and in our communities, and, if given the opportunity, become ordinary heroes ourselves. The risks are great, but the costs of not standing up and not speaking out are even greater.

Reversing The Tide Of Organizing Decline: Lessons From The Us Experience, Kate Bronfenbrenner

Kate Bronfenbrenner

As increasing numbers of employers and governments in industrialized nations hasten to "Americanize" their economic policies, labor laws, and union-avoidance strategies, it has become critical for unions in other countries to learn what they can from the organizing experience of the US labor movement. Most research on factors contributing to US organizing decline has focused on the role played by factors external to the labor movement such as global competition, de-industrialization, changes in workforce demographics, new work systems, deregulation, aggressive employer opposition, and weak and poorly enforced labor laws. US unions, however, have greatly contributed to their own decline by …

Dalton, Callie Lou (Fa 62), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Folklife Archives Finding Aids

Finding aid and full-text scan of paper (Click on “Additional Files” below) for Folklife Archives Project 62. “Survival is the Name of the Game or Is It?: The Role of the United Auto Workers in Bowling Green, KY,” an interpretive paper and interviews executed for an urban history class at Western Kentucky University in 1989. Includes a copy of the general agreement between General Motors and the U.A.W., and training materials.

Baird, Nancy Disher, B. 1935 - Collector (Sc 2443), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid and typescript (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 2443. Letter, 17 October 1863, to Ellen Fort from two Confederate soldiers imprisoned at Camp Douglas, Illinois; correspondence of Nell Bate Baird regarding her membership in the American Federation of Musicians, 1930; and 1936 federal income tax return of H. H. Baird and Nell Baird, Bowling Green, Kentucky.

A Misguided Quest For Legitimacy: The Community Relations Department Of The Southern Organizing Committee Of The Cio During Operation Dixie, 1946-1953, Michael Andrew Sloan

History Theses

This thesis is a study of the Community Relations Department of the Southern Organizing Committee of the Congress of Industrial Organizations during the CIO’s Southern Organizing Drive, often referred to as “Operation Dixie.” The Community Relations Department was primarily interested in improving relations between organized labor and organized religion, in the hopes that improved church-labor relations would produce a situation more conducive to labor organizing, and reduce attacks on the CIO from religious leaders. This thesis examines the methods utilized by the CRD to achieve this end, and presents an analysis both of their efficacy and of their implementation. Specific …

Keeping Communism Down On The Farm: The Brazilian Rural Labor Movement During The Cold War, Cliff Welch

Peer Reviewed Articles

Drawing on primary and secondary sources, this article discusses the durability of communist ideology in rural Brazil during the second half of the twentieth century. It analyzes the theme in two major periods: the Populist Republic (1945–1964) and the Military Regime (1964–1985). Concluding with a discussion of the first years of the New Republic, it argues that the political mobilization of Brazilian peasants defied the geopolitical logic of the era, which dictated the elimination of communist thought by the conclusion of the cold war.

Local 21'S Quest For A Moral Economy: Peabody, Massachusetts And Its Leather Workers, 1933-1973, Lynne Nelson Manion

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The industrial working class began the middle decades of the twentieth century with unlimited hope and possibility but ended them fraught with disillusionment and dismay. This marked a disjointed experience as optimism for the future gave way to disenchantment. With the ratification of the National Industrial Recovery Act in 1933 and the National Labor Relations Act in 1935, hundreds of thousands of workers across the United States became union members. The euphoria that this initial burst of unionization created, however, could not be sustained throughout the post-World War II years. The Cold War, McCarthyism and later the onset of de-industrialization …

Class Culture And Generational Change: Immigrant Families In Two Connecticut Industrial Cities During The 1930s, Ivan Greenberg

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Recent social history stresses the autonomy of workers, especially the ways that immigrant families made "lives of their own." However, little attention is focused on the particular experiences of the second generation and the ways they forged their own group identity. This study, by locating the emergence of this generation, highlights an important demographic change within the working class.

Familiar developments of the 1930s take on new meaning. For example, the pivotal role of the second generation in the rise of the CIO helps to recast the early history of industrial unionism. The resurgence of the labor movement parallels the …

Maine Statewide News Letter No. 80 (September 1986), Institute For Nonviolence, Education, Research, And Training Staff

Maine Women's Publications - All

No abstract provided.

Maine Statewide News Letter No. 79 (August 1986), Institute For Nonviolence, Education, Research, And Training Staff

Maine Women's Publications - All

No abstract provided.

Maine Statewide News Letter No. 78 (July 1986), Institute For Nonviolence, Education, Research, And Training Staff

Maine Women's Publications - All

No abstract provided.

Maine Statewide News Letter No. 77 (June 1986), Institute For Nonviolence, Education, Research, And Training Staff

Maine Women's Publications - All

No abstract provided.

Maine Statewide News Letter No. 76 (May 1986), Institute For Nonviolence, Education, Research, And Training Staff

Maine Women's Publications - All

No abstract provided.

Maine Statewide News Letter No. 75 (April 1986), Institute For Nonviolence, Education, Research, And Training Staff

Maine Women's Publications - All

No abstract provided.

Maine Statewide News Letter No. 74 (March 1986), Institute For Nonviolence, Education, Research, And Training Staff

Maine Women's Publications - All

No abstract provided.