[Marxism] (Fwd) New book on US labor mvt

[Patrick Bond]

SOLIDARITY DIVIDED
The Crisis in Organized Labor and a New Path toward Social Justice

BILL FLETCHER, JR. AND FERNANDO GAPASIN
University of California Press, June 2008

A NEW DIRECTION FOR LABOR BY TWO OF ITS LEADING ACTIVIST INTELLECTUALS

“An extraordinarily important and provocative reflection on the
limitations of self-reform and reinvention within the American labor
movement. The authors provide readers with a unique fi rst-hand view
of internal debates, personalities, and decision-making processes
but also use their intimate knowledge of union culture and carefully
narrated case studies to transcend mere stone-throwing. This book is
unlikely to be matched by any other journalistic account or memoir....
A landmark in all debates about ‘what next’ for labor.”
—Mike Davis, author of Prisoners of the American Dream

“An accessible and balanced exploration of recent efforts at community
unionism, international solidarity, coalition with nonunion workers
and empowerment of immigrants. Above all this is far and away
the best argument for the importance of central labor unions that I
have read.” —David R. Roediger, author of Working Toward Whiteness

Candid, incisive, and accessible, Solidarity Divided is a critical
examination of labor’s current crisis and a plan for a bold new way
forward into the twenty-fi rst century. Bill Fletcher and Fernando
Gapasin offer a remarkable mix of vivid history and probing analysis.
They chart changes in U.S. manufacturing, examine the onslaught
of globalization, consider the infl uence of the environment on labor,
and provide the fi rst broad analysis of the fallout from the 2000 and
2004 elections on the U.S. labor movement. This is essential reading
for understanding how the battle for social justice can
be fought and won.

Bill Fletcher, Jr., cofounder of the Center for Labor Renewal, is a
columnist and long-time activist. He served as President of TransAfrica
Forum and was formerly the Education Director and later Assistant to
the President of the AFLCIO. He is the author of The Indispensable Ally:
Black Workers and the Formation of the Congress of Industrial Relations,
1934-1941.

Fernando Gapasin is a Central Labor Council President, Labor
Educator, author, and former professor of Industrial Relations and
Chicana/o Studies at Pennsylvania State University and the University
of California, Los Angeles.

JUNE 2008
292 pages, 6 x 9”,
$24.95 cloth 978-0-520-25525-8

To order online: www.ucpress.edu
To read more go to: http://go.ucpress.edu/solidarity