Berkeleyan

Publications
Hard Work: Remaking the American Labor Movement
By Rick Fantasia and Kim Voss

19 August 2004

In this book Kim Voss, associate professor of sociology at UC Berkeley, and Rick Fantasia, a sociology professor at Smith College, take a critical look at the American labor movement. According to the authors, American workers have been far less effective than their counterparts in other industrialized nations at developing strong unions, and U.S. employment and labor practices have led to a decrease in wages, weakened labor rights, and diminished work conditions beyond our borders. The authors explore these observations in detail. They also examine the successful efforts of European unions and speculate on whether recent labor successes in Las Vegas and Los Angeles will have a salutary effect on the future of unions in America.

University of California Press, 2004; 244 pages