American Workers, American Unions

by Robert H. Zieger

Covers the period 1920-1985.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Politics, Labor

256 pages, Paperback

First published February 1, 1986

About the author

Robert H. "Bob" Zieger was a renowned labor historian whose research focused on the labor history of the United States.

Reviews

[Mason Wyss · Rating 4 out of 5]

“American Workers, American Unions” is a good overview of the post-WWI labor movement in the US, and a good companion piece to David Montgomery’s “The Fall of the House of Labor”. However, it can get lost in the politics of the labor movement and ignore the actual working conditions of the workers, something “The Fall of the House of Labor” does quite well. It spends a lot of time focusing on the internal politics of the AFL and CIO as well as their electoral efforts, but not much attention is paid to the rank-and-file. Mentions are made of activists like Cesar Chavez and Black activists in the Detroit UAW during the civil rights movement, but they aren’t given the attention they deserve, in my opinion. And despite time being devoted to labor’s relationship to the civil rights and anti-war movements of the sixties, there is no mention of the relationship to the second wave feminist movement. Overall, it’s an informative book and I would recommend it to others, but its focus on Big Man history in describing a movement hampers the book from being great.

[Tom · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fairly comprehensive introduction to the history of unions in the United states up to around 2014, detailing the various ups and (mostly) downs of union activity from around the turn of the 19th century to present. Some good insights into why unions have such a hard time establishing themselves in the USA along with various profiles on union leaders and organisations. May be a bit too dry for the casual reader but a worthy read.

[Bruce · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a decent short work on labor history. It starts in the down years for labor after World War I. It covers the good times and the bad times. Unfortunately labor often fought with itself making it difficult at times to organize. A lot of egos were/are involved. The Wagner Act of the early thirties benefited labor but the Taft-Hartley Act of the late 40s was anti-union pro-capitalist, a Republican/Southern Democrat re-action to the common worker getting anything decent in the way of wages and benefits. This edition also covered the 1980s when former Screen Actors Guild President Ronald Reagan led the Republicans in a devastating attack on the ability of the average worker to organize and obtain any portion of the excessive profits corporations obtained through workers' labor.

[Stan Lanier · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good overview. Helped by reading more interpretive works like Nelson Lichtenstein's STATE OF THE UNION.