Catherwood Library

Stefano Bellucci and Andreas Eckert (editors)

Co-published with the International Labour Organization on the centenary of its founding in 1919, the General Labour History of Africa is a landmark in the study of labour history. It brings, for the first time, an African perspective within a global context to the study of labour and labour relations. The volume analyses key developments in the 20th century, such as the emergence of free wage labour; the transformation in labour relations; the role of capital and employers; labour agency and movements; the growing diversity of formal and informal or precarious labour; the meaning of work; and the impact of gender and age on the workplace. The contributors - eminent historians, anthropologists and social scientists from Africa, Europe and the United States - examine African labour in the context of labour and social issues worldwide: mobility and colonial and postcolonial migration, forced labour, security, the growth of entrepreneurial labour, the informal sector and self-employment, and the impact of trade unionism, welfare and state relations. The book discusses key sectors such as mining, agriculture, industry, transport, domestic work, and sport, tourism and entertainment, as well as the international dimension and the history and impact of the International Labour Organization itself. This authoritative and comprehensive work will be an invaluable resource for historians of labour, social relations and African history.

Jasmine Kerrissey, Eve Weinbaum, Clare Hammonds, Tom Juravich, and Dan Clawson (editors)

Labor in the Time of Trump critically analyzes the right-wing attack on workers and unions and offers strategies to build a working–class movement. While President Trump's election in 2016 may have been a wakeup call for labor and the Left, the underlying processes behind this shift to the right have been building for at least forty years. The contributors show that only by analyzing the vulnerabilities in the right-wing strategy can the labor movement develop an effective response. Essays in the volume examine the conservative upsurge, explore key challenges the labor movement faces today, and draw lessons from recent activist successes. [from publisher web site]

Dalia Etzion

Based on a twenty-year research study, Work, Vacation and Well-being delves into the ubiquitous yet often-underestimated issues surrounding vacation and respite. Providing an original outlook on how breaks from work can be beneficial for the well-being of employees, this book also addresses the potential negative impacts of vacation. Taking into account factors concerning the nature of the break and the person taking it, Etzion delves into the benefits and drawbacks of workplace breaks, from annual leave to maternity leave and sabbaticals. Work, Vacation and Well-being looks at breaks from work through various social and cultural lenses, to present a balanced and well-researched perspective on all angles of taking a break. [from publisher web site]

Susanne M. Bruyère (Ed.)

Nearly three decades after the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), people with disabilities continue to be significantly underrepresented in the American Labor force. This loss of talent to U.S. organizations and restriction of opportunities for millions of workers have broader implications for civil society. People denied access to the workforce are limited in their ability to contribute to the economy and to their communities, heightening their reliance on public support systems and reducing the number of people participating in community life. This LERA volume focuses on the employment of individuals with disabilities. Its purpose is to review the current employment situation for Americans with disabilities, place it in the context of the U.S. regulatory system, describe current issues, identify ways that employers are approaching possible remediation of these issues, and identify emerging concerns and opportunities. A multi-disciplinary team of researchers and practitioners provide a broad-based overview of related issues, approaches, and opportunities. This volume will be useful to a wide array of professionals, including labor and employment relations attorneys and specialists; human resource, diversity and inclusion, and equal employment opportunity professionals; as well as organizational leaders, managers, and supervisors who are seeking to improve employment opportunities for individuals with disabilities both here and abroad. [from publisher web site]

Carrie Gracie

Gracie joined a group of high-profile BBC women who challenged the national broadcaster over equal pay after enforced disclosures revealed huge gaps between top men and women. Gracie had insisted on equal pay at the time of her China posting, and after trying with other BBC women to put things right through negotiation, she eventually resigned her post complaining publicly of a ‘secretive and illegal’ pay culture. Her protest triggered a parliamentary inquiry into BBC pay, and after a protracted internal complaints process, she won an apology from the BBC and a settlement, which she donated to the Fawcett Society. In Equal Gracie will tell her own story, explore why it is often so hard for women to assert their value in the workplace and give practical guidance on what women, men and employers can do to achieve equality for this and future generations of women. [from publisher web site]

Steven Greenhouse

In an era when corporate profits have soared while wages have flatlined, millions of Americans are searching for ways to improve their lives, and they’re often turning to labor unions and worker action, whether #RedforEd teachers’ strikes or the Fight for $15. Wage stagnation, low-wage work, and blighted blue-collar communities have become an all-too-common part of modern-day America, and behind these trends is a little-discussed problem: the decades-long decline in worker power.Steven Greenhouse sees this decline reflected in some of the most pressing problems facing our nation today, including income inequality, declining social mobility, the gender pay gap, and the concentration of political power in the hands of the wealthy. He rebuts the often-stated view that labor unions are outmoded–or even harmful–by recounting some of labor’s victories, and the efforts of several of today’s most innovative and successful worker groups. He shows us the modern labor landscape through the stories of dozens of American workers, from G.M. workers to Uber drivers, and we see how unions historically have empowered–and lifted–the most marginalized, including young women garment workers in New York in 1909, black sanitation workers in Memphis in 1968, and hotel housekeepers today. Greenhouse proposes concrete, feasible ways in which workers’ collective power can be–and is being–rekindled and reimagined in the twenty-first century.  [from publisher web site]

Richard N. Landers (editor)

Experts from across all industrial-organizational (IO) psychology describe how increasingly rapid technological change has affected the field. In each chapter, authors describe how this has altered the meaning of IO research within a particular subdomain and what steps must be taken to avoid IO research from becoming obsolete. This Handbook presents a forward-looking review of IO psychology's understanding of both workplace technology and how technology is used in IO research methods. Using interdisciplinary perspectives to further this understanding and serving as a focal text from which this research will grow, it tackles three main questions facing the field. First, how has technology affected IO psychological theory and practice to date? Second, given the current trends in both research and practice, could IO psychological theories be rendered obsolete? Third, what are the highest priorities for both research and practice to ensure IO psychology remains appropriately engaged with technology moving forward?  [from publisher web site]

Xóchitl Bada, Shannon Gleeson (Editors)

Collecting the diverse perspectives of scholars, labor organizers, and human-rights advocates, Accountability across Borders is the first edited collection that connects studies of immigrant integration in host countries to accounts of transnational migrant advocacy efforts, including case studies from the United States, Canada, and Mexico.Covering the role of federal, state, and local governments in both countries of origin and destinations, as well as nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), these essays range from reflections on labor solidarity among members of the United Food and Commercial Workers in Toronto to explorations of indigenous students from the Maya diaspora living in San Francisco. Case studies in Mexico also discuss the enforcement of the citizenship rights of Mexican American children and the struggle to affirm the human rights of Central American migrants in transit. As policies regarding immigration, citizenship, and enforcement are reaching a flashpoint in North America, this volume provides key insights into the new dynamics of migrant civil society as well as the scope and limitations of directives from governmental agencies. [from publisher web site]

Kate Kenny

Despite their substantial contribution to society, whistleblowers are considered martyrs more than heroes. When people expose serious wrongdoing in their organizations, they are often punished or ignored. Many end up isolated by colleagues, their professional careers destroyed. The financial industry, rife with scandals, is the focus of Kate Kenny’s penetrating global study. Introducing whistleblowers from the United States, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, and Ireland working at companies like Wachovia, Halifax Bank of Scotland, and Countrywide–Bank of America, Whistleblowing suggests practices that would make it less perilous to hold the powerful to account and would leave us all better off.Kenny interviewed the men and women who reported unethical and illegal conduct at major corporations in the run up to the 2008 financial crisis. Many were compliance officers working in influential organizations that claimed to follow the rules. Using the concept of affective recognition to explain how the norms at work powerfully influence our understandings of right and wrong, she reframes whistleblowing as a collective phenomenon, not just a personal choice but a vital public service. [from publisher web site]

Robert B. McKersie

A Field in Flux chronicles the extraordinary journey of industrial and labor relations expert Robert McKersie. One of the most important industrial relations scholars and leaders of our time, McKersie pioneered the study of labor negotiations, helping to formulate the concepts of distributive and integrative bargaining that have served as analytical tools for understanding the bargaining process more generally.The book provides a window into McKersie's life and work and its impact on the evolution of labor and industrial relations. Spanning six decades, the reader learns about the intersection of labor and the Civil Rights movement, the watershed moment of the Air Traffic Controller's Strike, his relationship with George Schultz, the shift from labor relations to human resource management, and McKersie's role in the seminal cases (Motorola, GM, Toyota) of the labor movement. A Field in Flux serves two important functions: it demonstrates how people have influenced past employment policies and practices when called to action in critical situations, and it seeks to instill confidence in those who will be called on to address the big challenges facing the future of work today and in the years to come. During a time when the basic values of industrial relations are being challenged and violated, McKersie argues that the profession must adapt to the changing world of work and not forget about the value placed on efficiency, equity, and inclusive employment policies and practices. [from publisher web site]