The Lexicon of Labor: More Than 500 Key Terms, Biographical Sketches and Historical Insights Concerning Labor in America - Softcover

Murray, R.Emmett

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1565844564 ISBN 13: 9781565844568

Publisher: The New Press, 1998

Synopsis

This text features informative and engaging descriptions of more than 500 key places, people, and events in American labour history. From Eugene Debs to Cesar Chavez, the Haymarket Riots in 1886 to the Teamsters/UPS strike in 1997, labour writer R. Emmett Murray provides brief sketches of this vital part of the American experience. It also includes explanations of major legislative acts, definitions of key legal terminology, and complete listings of all the member unions of the AFL-CIO and independent unions in the United States.

About this title

From the Publisher

A Hit with the Critics
"More than a reference book and guide to American labor-it's an encyclopedia of the world of work and workers in America. Teachers, students, lawyers, journalists and anyone interested in the world of work and labor will want to have a copy of The Lexicon of Labor. Informative and fun to read, a copy should be in every school and office in the country."-Elaine Bernard, Executive Director of the Harvard Trade Union Program

"A critical resource, not just as a guide to the U.S. labor movement's often-hidden past, but as a spotlight on labor's living history."-Janine Jackson, Research Director of Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting

"Extraordinarily useful."-Nelson Lichtenstein, Professor of History, University of Virginia

From the Author

Invaluable guide for members of labor & everyone else.
With the "Lexicon of Labor," I've tried to familiarize the reader with the language and laws, rules and practices that have emerged from labor unionism in the United States. And I try to do it in a light, non-academic style that makes it easy to read. Worthy of particular attention, I think, are the entries on blacks in the labor movement, the working women's movement, Cesar Chavez, the labor movement, Mother Jones, the Knights of Labor, the IWW, the Pullman Strike, Red scares -- and hell, a whole bunch more! As I say in my introduction, "For close to two centuries, we in the American labor movement have spoken our own language. It is a rich idiom, laden with humor and barbs, heady with history. In its purest form, it gets right to the calling-a-spade-a-spade point, without gobbledygook. Problem is, fewer and fewer of us speak it, and even fewer on the outside understand it or know how it came about. This "Lexicon" aims at re-acquainting our own members with not only this unique language but also with a bit of labor history and with key acts of legislation through the years that brought labor, for better or for worse, to where it is today. If I'm at all successful, it will also provide the media, teachers and students in public schools and candidates for political office -- even incumbents! -- a handy reference guide." But the biggest reward of all, I think, would be Mr., Mrs., and Ms. Average America, not very knowledgeable about unions or the labor movement at all, or hardly aware of their existence, buying the "Lexicon," browsing through it -- and learning something.

Edition details

• Publisher: The New Press
• Publication date: 1998
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1565844564
• ISBN 13: 9781565844568
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 192