Refinery Town: Big Oil, Big Money, and the Remaking of An American City
Cloth ISBN: 978-080709426-6
Price: $27.95
Order at: http://www.beacon.org/Refinery-Town-P1229.aspx
Will Ship: January 2017
Praise for Refinery Town:
“Refinery Town provides deep insight into problems that our local progressive movement faced in its continuing struggle against corporate domination. Early captures the spirit as well as the facts of our Richmond campaigns and puts them in the context of community struggles throughout the country. This book is essential reading for anyone who wants to challenge corporate power at the local level.”
—Mike Parker, Richmond Progressive Alliance organizer and co-author of Democracy is Power
“For those of us wondering how to carry on the spirit and the activism of the Bernie Sanders campaign after 2016, this book contains a cornucopia of lessons to be applied in other cities and towns. The electoral success of the Richmond Progressive Alliance shows that maintaining a clear and radical anti-corporate politics is the way to win.”
—Jane Slaughter, former editor, Labor Notes
Save Our Unions: Dispatches
From A Movement in Distress
Paperback ISBN: 978-1-58367-427-7
Cloth ISBN:
978-1-58367-428-4
Price: $19.95
Order at: http://monthlyreview.org/press/books/pb4277/
Praise for Save Our Unions:
“Unions once had high hopes that the Obama administration
would help them resist health care cost shifting. Instead,
the Affordable Care Act (ACA) is actually increasing bargaining
table pressure for more medical benefit givebacks. As Steve
Early documents, labor needs real health care reform—and
greater independence from the Democrats—now more than ever
before.”
- Dr. Jill Stein, 2012 Green Party presidential
candidate
“As a past president of my local union and then leader
of our state and local labor councils, I know what a challenge
it is to sustain grassroots movement-building. Readers of
Save Our Unions can draw inspiration and ideas from
the many labor struggles described by the author. Steve Early
draws on a wealth of national and local union examples, highlighting
the role played by rank-and-file organizers in strikes, contract
campaigns, cross-border solidarity, and new forms of political
action.”
-
David Newby, president emeritus, Wisconsin State
AFL-CIO
“It’s no secret that organized labor is on the ropes.
Steve Early has a keen eye for where and how labor can revitalize
itself by exerting its strength in strategic ways. Save Our
Unions is both analytical and a battle cry. A must read for
activists.”
-
Clancy Sigal, author, Weekend in Dinlock, Going
Away and Hemingway Lives!
“Save Our Unions is a much-needed
discussion of problems arising from the corporate-type structure
of many U.S. unions. It is hard to fight this war on workers
when unions behave like businesses and act like it’s all
about the money. This book shows why we need a labor movement
that represents all working people, not just a few.”
-
Nichele
Fulmore, Teamsters Local 391 and member, Labor Notes Policy
Committee
“No observer of the current labor scene writes
with the cutting edge lucidity of Steve Early. His many years
of experience as a national union representative makes his
work essential reading for anyone trying to build a new type
of labor movement.”
-
Robert M. Schwartz, labor attorney and
author, The Legal Rights of Union Stewards
“Steve Early has
served as an inspiration to many in the younger generation
of reporters now covering the labor beat for alternative
media and, where it’s still possible, in the mainstream press.
Early’s writing is not only insightful, but often witty as
well, which makes for fun and informative reading.”
-
Mike
Elk, In These Times
“Steve Early is one of organized labor’s
most astute and constructive critics, who knows which side
of the class struggle he’s on. Anyone wishing to better understand
the troubles, often self-inflicted, of the U.S. union movement
would be foolish not to read him.”
-
Sasha Lilley, editor, Capital and Its Discontents and host, Against
the Grain,
KPFA Radio |
The Civil Wars in
U.S. Labor:
Birth of a New Workers’ Movement of Death Throes
of the Old?
ISBN:
9781608460991
Price: $17.00
Order at: http://www.haymarketbooks.org/pb/the-civil-wars-in-us-labor
Between 2008 and 2010, the progressive wing
of the U.S. labor movement tore itself apart in a series
of internecine struggles. More than $140 million was expended,
by all sides, on organizing conflicts that tarnished union
reputations and undermined the campaign for real health care
and labor law reform. Campus and community allies, along
with many rank-and-file union members, were left angered
and dismayed.
In this incisive new book, labor journalist
Steve Early draws on scores of interviews and on his own
union organizing experience to explain why and how these
labor civil wars occurred. He examines the bitter disputes
about union structure, membership rights, organizing strategy,
and contract standards that enveloped SEIU, UNITE HERE, the
California Nurses Association, and independent organizations
like the Federación de Maestros de Puerto Rico and the new
National Union of Healthcare Workers in California. Along
the way, we meet rank-and-file activists, local union officers,
national leaders, and concerned friends of labor who were
drawn into the fray.
Praise for Civil Wars:
“Steve Early’s book describes the kind of
anti-union campaigning by management that makes passage of
the Employee Free Choice Act so necessary. Early’s account
of how and why labor law reform has been stalled for the
third time in the last 32 years should be required reading
for all workers’ rights advocates. As the author notes, collective
bargaining faces private sector extinction. To protect the
right to organize, we still need changes in the Wagner Act
itself—not just better appointments to the NLRB.”
- U.S.
Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.)
“Civil Wars in U.S. Labor is based
on thorough reportage, a lifetime of labor activism, and
a deep commitment to union democracy and militancy. It is
both partisan and thoroughly researched, which makes Early’s
book and excellent guide to contemporary labor history, even
if you don’t agree with all his conclusions.’”
-
Nelson Lichtenstein,
professor of history, UC Santa Barbara and author, State
of The Union
“Civil Wars in U.S. Labor critiques
a union culture that privileges control over the practice
of democracy. With an honest eye, the author adds an essential
chapter to the long history of rank-and-file efforts to keep
unionism vibrant and engaged... compelling reading.”
-
Vanessa Tait,
author, Poor Workers’ Unions
“Steve Early takes us inside one of the
most important struggles for union democracy in recent years.
His book is a reflective, self-critical look at how radical
reformers have shaped today’s union movement and how some
have contributed to the problems we set out to correct.”
-
Fernando Gapasin, Labor educator, activist, and co-author
of Solidarity Divided
"Civil Wars is as lively as it is detailed...
[providing] insights into just what the labor movement can
become when democracy takes hold and members get active.
It will infuriate some, but inspire many more to build and
transform their unions."
-
Kim Moody, author, U.S. Labor
in Trouble and Transition
“Although some union leaders may take issue
with Steve Early’s blunt and forthright criticism of organized
labor, no one can deny the clear and convincing case he makes
for labor unity. As Early’s reporting on the fate of Employee
Free Choice demonstrates, a union movement that can’t stay
united behind basic principles and rights for its members
eventually may find itself bereft of any principles, rights
… or members.”
-
Linda K. Foley, former president, The Newspaper
Guild/CWA, and former member of AFL-CIO Executive Council
“Early's journalism is powerful because
he has been in the trenches himself fighting to organize
workers and make unions more democratic. This book is a
must read, particularly for young organizers trying to
make sense of contemporary American trade unionism."
- Peter
Olney, Director of Organizing, International Longshore
and Warehouse Union (ILWU)
"Steve Early is not just another scholar
situated outside the labor movement. For more than thirty-five
years, he helped do the hard work of organizing and collective
bargaining. His latest book confirms that there is no one
with a better understanding of contemporary union problems.
When he warns about the dangers of undemocratic practices,
sweetheart deals with employers, and over reliance on the
Democratic Party, we had better listen."
- Michael
Yates, author, Why Unions Matter
“Steve Early’s account of recent troubles
within and between progressive unions is an engaging and
original work. Early is the most tenacious, free-thinking
journalist covering labor today, respected by friend and
foe alike. Civil Wars is essential to understanding how union
centralization and top-down control have failed as a strategy
for revitalizing the labor movement.”
-
Immanuel Ness, professor,
Brooklyn College, CUNY, editor, WorkingUSA and author, Immigrants,
Unions and The New U.S. Labor Movement.
“This is Steve Early at his finest, committed,
principled and practical. In Civil Wars, the true SEIU is
revealed- no holds barred - its incarnation of corporate
unionism is laid bare for all to see. Then, the author follows
the remarkable rise of the National Union of Healthcare Workers.
His book is a passionate appeal for clean, decent, democratic
trade unionism and much more –it makes the case, urgently,
honestly, for workers’ power.”
-
Cal Winslow, labor historian
and author, Labor’s Civil War In California
“Steve Early shows how leading unions are
grappling with the trade-offs between contract standards
and growth in the private sector. If the quid pro quo for
organizing rights includes limiting workers' ability to build
a real union and fight for better conditions in the future,
that's a serious problem in any labor organization, including
my own.”
-
Sandy Pope, President of Teamsters Local 805 and
candidate for IBT President
“Civil Wars in U.S. Labor is a passionate,
thoroughly researched indictment of recent misdeeds by America's
second largest labor organization, the Service Employees
International Union. It’s also a cri de coeur for union democracy,
not just in principle or as a fine sentiment, but in highly
practical ways that are illustrated throughout this rigorously-argued
book. Anyone who cares about the future of American labor
should read (and study) this 21st Century ‘J’accuse!’”
- Jack
Metzgar, professor emeritus, Roosevelt University and author, Striking
Steel
“Civil Wars penetrates the purple haze of
confusion about a major union’s painful and destructive estrangement
from its own members, other labor organizations, and longtime
campus and community allies.”
-
Randy Shaw, founder, Tenderloin
Housing Clinic, co-editor of BeyondChron, and author, Beyond
The Fields
“Democracy means having a choice and we,
the rank-and-file members of NUHW, have been in a great struggle
to insure that we do have a choice of unions in California
hospitals and nursing homes. Steve Early's book shows that,
when workers are faced with dictatorship, they will do what
it takes to safeguard their rights and liberties.”
-
Brenda
Washington, LVN and NUHW Executive Board Member
“Many who join the labor movement and participate
in its critical struggles discover, sooner or later, that
we are a movement with some major shortcomings. Invariably,
if you speak out about these internal problems, you will
be asked — or told — to keep them under wraps. Not Steve
Early. In Civil Wars, he takes a hard look at recent union
conflicts that became outright fiascos and a source of widespread
political outrage.”
- Chris Townsend, Political Action Director,
United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America (UE)
“Steve Early was one of the few North American
journalists to report on the struggle of Puerto Rican teachers,
when they came under attack by a tainted governor and his
political ally, SEIU. As Early demonstrates, unions that
combine participatory democracy, member engagement and aggressive
action in the workplace provide a much-needed model for the
rest of the labor movement.”
-
Judy Sheridan-Gonzalez, RN,
Puerto Rico Solidarity Network and Labor Notes Policy Committee
“This is a much needed piece of journalism.
The author’s perspective on how ‘60s activists shaped the
labor movement, for better or worse, adds both historical
depth and personal flavor to the larger story. Civil Wars
deserves a wide audience.”
-
Kate Titus, former Change To Win
organizer
“Civil Wars doesn’t just make a principled
argument for union democracy and rank-and-file militancy,
it demonstrates that they are the key to organizing the unorganized
and revitalizing working class resistance in an age of global
capitalism. Labor activists and scholars, in both the United
States and Canada, will find this book invaluable.”
-
Peter
Brogan, Department of Geography, York University and founding
member, Greater Toronto Workers' Assembly
“Civil Wars shows how tens of thousands
of low-wage women - who care for the young, the aged, and
the infirm—have waged successful organizing campaigns, only
to find that they lacked a sufficient voice in their own
union. This is a story that only Steve Early could have told,
with his insider’s access and rank-and-file orientation.
There is no better guide to American labor’s continuing infirmities
than this often-controversial but always insightful commentator.”
-
Jane LaTour, Former Director, Association for Union Democracy
Women’s Project and author, Sisters in the Brotherhoods
“My own labor council has seen raids on
affiliates, driven by forces far from the lives of the workers
who meet in our union hall each month. Union civil warfare
is often viewed as mere personality conflicts or disputes
over ‘jurisdiction.’ Early looks deeper, at the tough debates
about how to rebuild the labor movement and the nature of
the movement we are trying to build.”
-
Jeff Crosby, President,
IUE-CWA Local 201, and North Shore Central Labor Council
“If the American labor movement were succeeding,
by any measure, its leaders might be justified in dismissing
Steve Early's vivid reports from the front lines . But we're
not succeeding so it's beneficial to have a perspective -
from inside labor - that is very different from that of other
labor commentators, in journalism and academia, who have
pandered to the top too much and overlooked what's happening
at the bottom of leading unions. Civil Wars reminds us what
grassroots democracy looks and sounds like.”
-
Suzan Erem,
author, Labor Pains: Inside America's New Union Movement
“This account of one of the largest trusteeships
in U.S. labor history, and related intra-union conflict,
forces us to examine hard questions about workers’ ability
to run their own unions and, at the same time, beat the boss.”
-
Stephanie Luce, The Murphy Institute, City University of
New York
“If our goal is to build a more vibrant,
democratic labor movement, we need to think about what kind
of unions we want and how to get them. Early accurately describes
the pitfalls and possibilities of union reform, drawing on
more than 35 years of personal experience in several different
unions. Readers may disagree with his conclusions—-and may
be infuriated by some of his observations. But his reporting
makes an effective case for union democracy, while pointing
out the shortcomings of centralization and top-down control
as strategy for union revitalization.”
- Judith Schneider,
attorney and president, Association for Union Democracy |
Embedded With Organized Labor:
Journalistic
Reflections on the Class War at Home
Paperback, 288 pages
ISBN-13: 978-1-58367-188-7
Released:
July 2009
Price: $17.95
Order at: http://monthlyreview.org/press/books/pb1887/
Embedded With Organized Labor describes how union members
have organized successfully, on the job and in the community,
in the face of employer opposition now and in the past. The
author has produced a provocative series of essays—an unusual
exercise in “participatory labor journalism” useful to any
reader concerned about social and economic justice. As workers
struggle to survive and the labor movement tries to revive
during the current economic crisis, this book provides ideas
and inspiration for union activists and friends of labor
alike.
Praise for Embedded With Organized Labor:
“Steve Early
has long been a voice of distinctive clarity, honesty and
intellectual seriousness in and about the labor movement.
This collection performs a valuable service in bringing together
a broad sample of his writing on class, politics, the trade
union movement, its status and prospects. As always with
Early’s work, these essays are grounded in concrete history
and problems. To that extent, they also provide a unique
window onto the last several decades of evolving American
political history. At a time like this it is all the more
important to have the benefit of a voice like his.”
-
Adolph
Reed Jr., Professor of Political Science, University of Pennsylvania
“Steve Early says things other people in the labor movement
would like to say but don’t, because of protocol, fear of
firing, or, if truth be told, fear of afflicting the comfortable.”
-
Jane Slaughter, Labor Notes
“This is an exciting collection
that respects workers enough to engage them in desperately
needed discussions about union strategy. It presents a radical
defense of the working class and an uncompromising critique
of the labor movement as it exists today.”
-
Sam Gindin, York
University, Former Research Director, Canadian Auto Workers
“For those of us who continue to believe that a revitalized
labor movement remains the last best hope for social change
in America, Early’s reporting is simply irreplaceable.”
-
Rose
Ann DeMoro, Executive Director, California Nurses Association/NNOC
“For three decades, Steve Early has been in the forefront
of the fight for worker power and union democracy. His experience
as an organizer gives him rare insight into the problems
that unions face.” —Sal Rosselli, President, National Union
of Healthcare Workers
“Steve Early’s collected works is a real treasure trove.
The author’s astute analysis of labor’s historic struggles,
its achievements and shortcomings, is spiced by a lively
writing style and enriched by years of personal involvement
in unions. This is a book that every labor activist should
read and think about.”
-
Harry Kelber, Editor, The Labor
Educator
“There aren’t many people who could pull off Early’s
hat trick. Here’s a full–time union representative with an
academician’s smarts and education—and he can write. The
result is a volume that will have long–time labor activists
nodding their heads in recognition, union observers scribbling
footnotes, and working people gaining a better appreciation
of why unions are the way they are, for better and worse.”
-
Andy Zipser, Editor, The Guild Reporter, The Newspaper
Guild/CWA
“Embedded With Organized Labor contains some very
timely reflections on labor law reform and enforcement. As
American unions try once again to seek changes in the National
Labor Relations Act, they’d be well advised to consult this
author’s account of how and why similar campaigns have failed
in the past.”
-
Lee Adler
Attorney and Labor Law Instructor,
Cornell ILR School and Labor Extension Program
“If organized
labor is ever going to regain its clout in the era of globalization,
it must, as this collection argues, embrace real cross–border
solidarity and bottom–up organizing.”
-
Ellen David-Friedman,
Research Associate, Harvard Labor & Worklife Program
“Steve Early has never left the front lines of labor. He
challenges unions to trust in the members and their right
to be heard. He’s relentless about the importance of workers’
power on the job and in the community.”
-
Hetty Rosenstein,
New Jersey Area Director, Communications Workers of America
“This collection demonstrates Steve Early’s status as one
of the leading organic intellectuals in labor. Early’s attention
to what workers read, think, say, and do places them at the
center of his work as the active agents of their own lives
and futures.” —Peter Rachleff, Professor of History, Macalester
College “Early combines a realistic understanding of union
functioning with the passionate outrage of a union reformer.”
-
Mike Parker, coauthor, Democracy is Power: Rebuilding Unions
from the Bottom
“Steve Early aided organizing drives, contract
campaigns, bargaining sessions, and strikes involving CWA
members for more than 25 years. His book gives us the benefit
of his own experience and that of the many other authors
and activists whose work is vividly described in this collection.”
-
Peter Kellman, President of the Southern Maine Labor Council,
AFL–CIO
“Steve Early is more than just a keen observer of
labor and grassroots movements to revitalize it. He’s been
an activist deeply engaged at the rank–and–file level, which
gives his journalism special urgency and relevance.”
-
Ken
Paff,
National Organizer, Teamsters for a Democratic Union
“Telling truth to power is seldom easy. Embedded With Organized Labor
describes unionism as it should be, not as it sometimes is.
The author’s insistence on union democracy is a singular
feature of his work.”
-
Jerry Tucker, former United Auto
Workers Regional Director and IEB Member
“Steve Early’s own
background in the labor movement makes this collection particularly
insightful and worthwhile. He argues that unions
must have a profoundly democratic vision if they
want to be more effective as a force for progressive
change.”
-
Frank Emspak, Executive Producer, Workers
Independent News, Emeritus Professor, University
of Wisconsin School for Workers
“Steve Early’s
book displays a balanced, clear–thinking approach to
a wide range of working class issues, reflecting the
author’s knowledge of labor history, his writing skill,
and his unusual ability to connect with a broad audience
of labor activists and intellectuals.”
-
Marty Fishgold,
Past President, International Labor Communications
Association
“I’m always eager to read Steve Early’s latest
article, and now this book brings together many fine pieces
about key issues facing the workers’ movement as well as
past struggles that have lessons for us today. Highly recommended
for activists and anyone who wants to understand U.S. labor.”
David Camfield, Labour Studies, University of Manitoba
“I shudder to think what the labor movement would be like
without Steve Early around to help us seek some accountability
from those currently in charge.”
Tom Leedham, Secretary-Treasurer,
Teamsters Local 206, former IBT Warehouse Division, Director |