Jon R. Huibregtse
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780813034652
- eISBN:
- 9780813038544
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University Press of Florida
- DOI:
- 10.5744/florida/9780813034652.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, American History: 20th Century
American historians tend to believe that labor activism was moribund in the years between the First World War and the New Deal. The book challenges this perspective in this examination of the ...
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American historians tend to believe that labor activism was moribund in the years between the First World War and the New Deal. The book challenges this perspective in this examination of the railroad unions of the time, arguing that not only were they active, but that they made a big difference in American Labor practices by helping to set legal precedents. The book explains how efforts by the Plumb Plan League and the Railroad Labor Executive Association created the Railroad Labor Act, its amendments, and the Railroad Retirement Act. These laws became models for the National Labor Relations Act and the Social Security Act. Unfortunately, the significant contributions of the railroad laws are, more often than not, overlooked when the NLRA or Social Security are discussed. Offering a new perspective on labor unions in the 1920s, the book describes how the railroad unions created a model for union activism that workers' organizations followed for the next two decades.Less
American historians tend to believe that labor activism was moribund in the years between the First World War and the New Deal. The book challenges this perspective in this examination of the railroad unions of the time, arguing that not only were they active, but that they made a big difference in American Labor practices by helping to set legal precedents. The book explains how efforts by the Plumb Plan League and the Railroad Labor Executive Association created the Railroad Labor Act, its amendments, and the Railroad Retirement Act. These laws became models for the National Labor Relations Act and the Social Security Act. Unfortunately, the significant contributions of the railroad laws are, more often than not, overlooked when the NLRA or Social Security are discussed. Offering a new perspective on labor unions in the 1920s, the book describes how the railroad unions created a model for union activism that workers' organizations followed for the next two decades.
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- June 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780804775373
- eISBN:
- 9780804781749
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Stanford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.11126/stanford/9780804775373.003.0002
- Subject:
- Political Science, Comparative Politics
This chapter compares the structural features of the economies and the organizational profiles of labor unions in Korea and Taiwan. It examines the effects of authoritarian legacies and partisan ...
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This chapter compares the structural features of the economies and the organizational profiles of labor unions in Korea and Taiwan. It examines the effects of authoritarian legacies and partisan coalitions that have critically molded the interests, capacities, and strategies of labor unions under democratic governments and highlights the importance of democratic institutions and the extent of democratic representation of labor interests in the making of national variations of union activism. This chapter explains that labor unions alienated from political institutions and partisan allies are more likely to pursue radical mobilization strategies.Less
This chapter compares the structural features of the economies and the organizational profiles of labor unions in Korea and Taiwan. It examines the effects of authoritarian legacies and partisan coalitions that have critically molded the interests, capacities, and strategies of labor unions under democratic governments and highlights the importance of democratic institutions and the extent of democratic representation of labor interests in the making of national variations of union activism. This chapter explains that labor unions alienated from political institutions and partisan allies are more likely to pursue radical mobilization strategies.
Frederic C. Deyo
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- August 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780801450518
- eISBN:
- 9780801463945
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Cornell University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7591/cornell/9780801450518.003.0009
- Subject:
- Economics and Finance, South and East Asia
This chapter examines the political tensions and instabilities associated with economic reform in China, South Korea, Thailand, and the Philippines. It discusses the labor politics of reform by ...
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This chapter examines the political tensions and instabilities associated with economic reform in China, South Korea, Thailand, and the Philippines. It discusses the labor politics of reform by focusing on regulatory contestation by groups of workers who variably share the circumstances of particular labor systems, and who seek collectively, and sometimes in concert with other groups, to influence policies affecting the adequacy and security of their economic livelihood. Before assessing the nature and role of labor politics in regulatory change, the chapter considers the foundational, structurally determined conflicts that drive labor opposition. It then explores six strategies employed by workers to influence labor regimes and social policy: trade union activism; social-movement unionism; labor-oriented nongovernmental organizations; broad popular-sector social movements; engagement with labor-friendly political parties; and the generalized threat of social disorder. It also challenges a union-centric view of Asian labor politics that too often marginalizes the role of labor through its failure to embrace a broad range of modalities of labor influence.Less
This chapter examines the political tensions and instabilities associated with economic reform in China, South Korea, Thailand, and the Philippines. It discusses the labor politics of reform by focusing on regulatory contestation by groups of workers who variably share the circumstances of particular labor systems, and who seek collectively, and sometimes in concert with other groups, to influence policies affecting the adequacy and security of their economic livelihood. Before assessing the nature and role of labor politics in regulatory change, the chapter considers the foundational, structurally determined conflicts that drive labor opposition. It then explores six strategies employed by workers to influence labor regimes and social policy: trade union activism; social-movement unionism; labor-oriented nongovernmental organizations; broad popular-sector social movements; engagement with labor-friendly political parties; and the generalized threat of social disorder. It also challenges a union-centric view of Asian labor politics that too often marginalizes the role of labor through its failure to embrace a broad range of modalities of labor influence.
Elyssa Faison
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520252967
- eISBN:
- 9780520934184
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520252967.003.0004
- Subject:
- History, Asian History
This chapter focuses on the Shuyodan (Cultivation Association), a semi-governmental “cultivation group” that solicited the membership of women factory workers with the encouragement of their ...
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This chapter focuses on the Shuyodan (Cultivation Association), a semi-governmental “cultivation group” that solicited the membership of women factory workers with the encouragement of their employers. The Shuyodan was one of several such cultivation groups that inculcated docility and obedience to family and state in young women, and that was opposed by labor unions and by many workers for its coercive nature. Among the methods used to effect the kinds of bodily management promoted by textile companies in the 1920s and 1930s, these kinds of cultivation groups became central to the intensification of bodily discipline and the social and civic discipline it accompanied. By 1929, managers of the female worker-dominated textile industry were making membership mandatory for their employees. This was part of an orchestrated effort by industrial managers to mitigate union activism, while simultaneously disciplining productive workers, inculcating a gendered imperial subjecthood.Less
This chapter focuses on the Shuyodan (Cultivation Association), a semi-governmental “cultivation group” that solicited the membership of women factory workers with the encouragement of their employers. The Shuyodan was one of several such cultivation groups that inculcated docility and obedience to family and state in young women, and that was opposed by labor unions and by many workers for its coercive nature. Among the methods used to effect the kinds of bodily management promoted by textile companies in the 1920s and 1930s, these kinds of cultivation groups became central to the intensification of bodily discipline and the social and civic discipline it accompanied. By 1929, managers of the female worker-dominated textile industry were making membership mandatory for their employees. This was part of an orchestrated effort by industrial managers to mitigate union activism, while simultaneously disciplining productive workers, inculcating a gendered imperial subjecthood.
