Labor's Civil War In America

(Paperback)

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A clear analysis of tactics and politics, this thorough account examines the dispute between the United Healthcare Workers (UHW) union in California and its 'parent' organisation, the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) - one of the most important labour conflicts in the United States today. Timed to coincide with elections in California, this detailed history calls for a reexamination of the ideological and structural underpinnings of today's labour movement and illustrates how a local conflict can speaks to the rights of labourers everywhere.

Reviews

"The emergence of NUHW has been one of the most exciting recent developments in US labor. From the ashes of the old, health care workers in California are trying to build something that's new, different, and definitely worth fighting for. Cal Winslow's account of their difficult struggle is moving and insightful--and maybe even a road map for others to follow."
--Steve Early, labor activist and journalist, author of Embedded with Organized Labor

"Highly informative. And the spirit is invigorating."
--Noam Chomsky

"The civil war inside the SEIU is a tragic story, yet as Cal Winslow emphasizes in this urgent and dramatic account, it may contain the seeds of authentic renewal in the American labor movement."
--Mike Davis, author of City of Quartz

"I am a witness to how hard these workers have fought to have their own organization, to have the quality organization and the high standards they have won. I want to commend these workers and the high quality of their leadership--I have worked with them for years. I understand why they are fighting so hard now to rebuild their organization, now the NUHW. This is a book that that everyone needs to read..."
--Dolores Huerta

"Strange tales from the gothic wing of the capitalist health industry, complete with vampires and leeches. In this instant classic of journalism from below, one of the pioneers of radical social history reports on remarkable signs of life in the morbid body of American labor."
--Iain Boal, Retort

Author Bio

Cal Winslow is a historian, the coauthor of Albion's Fatal Tree, and the coeditor of Rebel Rank and File, Labor Militancy in the Long Seventies. He is a fellow in environmental politics at University of California-Berkeley and the director of the Mendocino Institute. He lives in Mendocino, California.