Life After Death for Labor?
The Death and Life of American Labor: Toward a New Workers' Movement (Book Review)
Cohen, David (Reviewer); Aronowitz, Stanley (Author)
http://www.solidarity-us.org/site/node/4476
Date Written: 2015-07-01
Publisher: Against the Current
Year Published: 2015
Resource Type: Article
Cx Number: CX21239
In his new book, veteran labour activist/academic Stanley Aronowitz offers a critique of what is wrong with the labour movement in the United States, as well as a 10-point manifesto for the steps "Toward a New Workers Movement."
Abstract:
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Excerpt:
Aronowitz asserts that the Occupy movement must be seen as a "labor movement of a new type - a class fight - and that a large number of its constituents were declassed intellectual workers and professionals who had studied for years only to discover that there were no jobs, that at best they could work in various service occupations such as those in the food industry, where employment is precarious and often part time and its rewards uneven."
Much of the book's criticism of the labor movement and labor law has been fodder for debates that have been going on for decades, such as the reliance of the AFL-CIO on the Democratic Party while getting nothing in return, and the inability of unions to organize new members, among others.
Stanley raises other criticisms as well. He says the labor movement does not have any real educational programs for its members and their families (except for CUNY in New York) and those that do exist are not radical enough in their critique of society.
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