Description
Book SynopsisLabor unions remain the largest membership-based organizations in major North American cities, even after years of decline. Labor continues to play a vital role in mobilizing urban residents, shaping urban conflict, and crafting the policies and regulations that are transforming our urban spaces. As unions become more involved in the daily life of the city, they find themselves confronting the familiar dilemma of how to fold union priorities into broader campaigns that address nonunion workers and the lives of union members beyond the workplace. If we are right to believe that the future of the labor movement is an urban one, union activists and staffers, urban policymakers, elected officials, and members of the public alike will require a fuller understanding of what impels unions to become involved in urban policy issues, what dilemmas structure the choices unions make, and what impact unions have on the lives of urban residents, beyond their members.Unions and the City ser
Trade Review
Concise analysis of the approach developed by those of us deeply involved in the struggle to improve working and living conditions in Canada's largest urban centre.... A clear analysis of unions and the dialectics of renewal.
* Our Times: Canada's Independent Labour Magazine *
The essays in this uniformly strong collection present a highly nuanced account of successes and setbacks of union campaigns to shape the direction of two changing cities: New York and Toronto.... Readers will learn much from this book about union engagement with urban space, policy and politics.
* Labour *
Unions and the City is successful in showing that union demands are not merely workplace concerns... It is hoped that MacDonald's book will encourage future scholarship on the efficacy of unions in this broader urban terrain.
* Journal of Urban Affairs *
Unions and the City is a well-written and well-edited account of labor challenges in an urban context. It fills a significant gap in the union renewal literature by raising important questions about how unions must transcend their traditional roles and address societal ten- sions around class, gender, and race.
* ILR Review *
This volume provides a timely and infor- mative exploration of the role of unions in urban politics and fills a gap in the litera- ture. MacDonald has done an excellent job of introducing the reader to the importance of unions as urban actors and the dynamics of urban politics.
* Industrial Relations *
Table of ContentsIntroduction. The Urbanization of Union Strategy and Struggle, Ian MacDonaldPart 1. LABOR AND THE HOSPITABLE CITY,Ian MacDonald1. Labor Strategy and the Politics of Elite Division in Midtown Manhattan, Ian MacDonald
2. Organized Labor and Casino Politics in Toronto, Steven TuftsPart 2. LABOR AND THE CREATIVE CITY, Maria Figueroa, Lois S. Gray, and Thorben Wieditz3. New York Film Production Unions Enter the Political Arena in Search of Tax Subsidies,Maria Figueroa and Lois S. Gray4. Film Unions' Struggle to Defend Studio Space in Toronto, Thorben WieditzPart 3. LABOR AND THE SUSTAINABLE CITY, James Nugent5. Building a Green New York: Construction Unions and Community Alliances, Maria Figueroa6. Struggling for Good Green Jobs in Toronto’s Deindustrializing Suburbs, James NugentPart 4. LABOR AND THE CARING CITY, Simon Black7. Creating a City for Workers: Union Strategies on Child Care in New York City, Susanna F. Schaller, K. C. Wagner, and Mildred E. Warner8. In Defense of "Gold-Plated" Child Care: Union Struggles to Preserve Quality Care and Quality Care Work in Toronto, Simon BlackConclusion, Ian MacDonald
