The Union Makes Us Strong
Radical Unionism on the San Francisco Waterfront

This book challenges the notion that American labour history is a history of defeat and accommodation.

David Wellman (Author)

9780521629683, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 28 August 1997

388 pages, 8 b/w illus.
22.8 x 15.2 x 2.6 cm, 0.525 kg

"Wellman writes in a clear and concise style and his descriptions of the union hall meetings and workplace culture are a joy to read. The author is sensitive to the language and physical communication among the longshoremen, and whenever possible he allows the workers to speak for themselves. He also offers some rare and detailed insights into the present-day conflicts of the maritime industry and everyday class struggle in the workplace." John F. Lyons, Science & Society

American labour history is typically interpreted by scholars as a history of defeat. Hidden by this conventional wisdom are a handful of militant unions that did not follow the putative Congress of Industrial Organizations trajectory. Based on three years of ethnographic research, this book examines a union that organised itself to systematically challenge management's rule on the shopfloor: San Francisco's longshore union. American unionism looks quite different than conventional wisdom suggests when everyday union practices are observed. American labour's trajectory, this book argues, is neither inevitable nor determined; militant, democratic forms of unionism are possible in the United States; and collective bargaining does not automatically eliminate contests for workplace control. The contract is a bargain that reflects and reproduces fundamental disagreement; it states how production and conflict will proceed.

Preface
Notes on unpublished sources
Part I. Labour Radicalism Revisited: 1. Unsettling old scores: labour radicalism encounters conventional wisdom
2. Sealing the fate of radical labour theoretically
3. A framework for American unionism
Part II. Local Community and 'Tumultuous' Democracy: the Socio-Cultural Foundations of Unionism on the San Francisco Waterfront: 4. Political community on the San Francisco waterfront
5. The structure of participationist politics
6. Being political in Local 10
Part III. Unionism, Work and Technological Change: 7. Work, knowledge and control: conventional longshoring
8. Work, knowledge and control: containerised longshoring
9. 'Doing the right thing': working principles and codes of conduct
Part IV. Waging the Battle for Workplace Control on Contractual Terrain: 10. Who decides how to work?
11. Which side's language shall govern?
12. By whose principles will merit be rewarded?
Part V. Agreeing to Disagree: Being Defensibly Disobedient: 13. Translating troubles into grievable issues
14. 'We essentially have no contract with you': keeping the agreement
15. Constructing and maintaining the appearance of co-operation
Conclusion: Trade union exceptionalism or prefigurative politics?
Appendix: doing field research - an ethnographic account
References
Name index
Subject index.

Subject Areas: Sociology & anthropology [JH]