Industrial Democracy in America

Industrial Democracy in America begins its close examination of what came to be known among collars of any colour as 'the labour problem' with the railroad strikes of the 1870s. The contributors cover the theory and practice of the American labour movement, the promise and demise of industrial jurisprudence, the law of collective bargaining, workplace contractualism, and shop-floor reality in the United States auto industry, and compare these with employment systems in Japan. This book contemplates America's industrial decline and will provoke questions, even within management circles, of the long-run viability of a work regime that does not respect or motivate its workers.

"...informative, wide-ranging, and provocative....Academics and activists alike will find this a sound addition to their `must-reading' shelf." Labor Studies Journal, "This is an important and rich book that should and must be read by anyone interested in the quality of working life." Bryn Jones, Contemporary Sociology, "The book is excellently organized and edited...the list of chapter authors is a virtual 'who's who' of labor scholarship...should be listed in any bibliography on the changing structure of work in the United States." Henry P. Guzda, Monthly Labor Review, "...an astonishingly cohesive edited volume that does more than simply provide a rich and detailed history of the idea and practice of industrial democracy in the United States....This is an important and rich book that should and must be read by anyone interested in the quality of working life." Bryn Jones, Contemporary Sociology, "The book is excellently organized and edited...the list of chapter authors is a virtual 'who's who' of labor scholarship...should be listed in any bibliography on the changing structure of work in the United States." Henry P. Guzda, Monthly Labor Review