State of the Unions; How Labor can Strengthen The Middle Class, Improve our Economy, and Regain Political Influence

New York, N.Y.: McGraw-Hill, 2008. First Printing [Stated]. Hardcover. Very good/Very good. Alain Nogues (Bottom Cover Photo). xxxv, [1], 276 pages. Decorative endpapers. Signed by the author sticker on front of DJ (part coming off). Signed by the author on the title page. The book includes a Foreword, Acknowledgments, Introduction, Notes, Bibliography, and Index. Chapters include Dead Man Walking; Delta Pride; Heartland Values; From Dialogue to Division; Up on the Roof (Or Silencing The Working Class); JOE T! JOE T!; and What it Means for the Future. Philip Dine is a Washington-based writer, speaker and commentator. His book, State of the Unions: How Labor Can Strengthen the Middle Class, Improve Our Economy, and Regain Political Influence was selected as one of the best books on labor or work issues by the United Association for Labor Education. Dine speaks frequently to unions, labor-management associations and other groups and appears on TV and radio shows. During a quarter-century reporting on the labor beat, Dine was nominated three times for the Pulitzer Prize, was selected as the top Washington correspondent by the National Press Club and the Society of Professional Journalists, and was named top foreign correspondent by the Overseas Press Club. His commentary pieces have appeared in the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Washington Post and elsewhere. He reported from more than 20 countries on economic, political and military issues, covering conflicts in the Persian Gulf, Kosovo, Afghanistan and behind the Iron Curtain. He did graduate work in industrial relations at MIT and spent two years researching the response of the French and German labor movement to immigrant workers. In a profound sense, the labor movement has been an indispensable part of the history and fabric of the United States in ways extending far beyond the workplace. This is due in large measure to the peculiar nature of trade unionism in the United States. The goal of unions in much of Europe and elsewhere has been to overthrow--or at least fundamentally alter--the social order and economic system, but America's unions have fought to improve and expand them, and to do so incrementally at that. Having bought into the system, they haven't tried to redefine or disparage the American dream, but neither they have allowed more people to realize it by raising the living standards of workers, integrating waves of immigrants from around the world, and narrowing racial and religious divides. From steel workers, Teamsters, and coal miners to teachers, actors, and civil servants, union members once accounted for more than one third of the American workforce. At a mere 12 percent, union membership today is a shadow of what it once was. What happened to organized labor in America and what can be done to restore it to its role of the defender of middle-class values and economic well-being? Award-winning investigative reporter Philip M. Dine takes us on a riveting journey through America's cities and back roads, its factories and union halls, to answer those questions. From the health care crisis to massive job flight overseas, from rampant home foreclosures to illegal immigration, he clearly shows how virtually every major economic, political, and social trend impacting our way of life is tied to the state of America's unions. Combining a compelling narrative with expert analysis, Dine offers firsthand accounts of the union members striving to make their voices heard in a political landscape increasingly shaped by corporate interests. A reporter who has covered labor for two decades, Dine not only details where labor has gone wrong, but he also offers sage advice on how it can adapt to a global economy to recover the ground it lost over the last quarter century.