Why Unions Matter

Contents: Acknowledgements. Preface to the second edition. Introduction. 1. Why Unions? 2. How Unions form. 3. Union structures and democracy. 4. Collective bargaining. 5. Unions and politics. 6. Race, gender, ethnicity and sexual orientation. 7. Immigrant workers. 8. The tasks ahead. Useful resources. Notes. Index.

"In this second edition of Why Unions Matter, written ten years after the first, Michael D. Yates shows why unions still matter. Yates uses simple language, clear data, and engaging examples to explain why workers need unions, how unions are formed, how they operate, how collective bargaining works, the role of unions in politics, and what unions have done to bring workers together across the divides of race, gender, religion, and sexual orientation. This new edition updates the first and examines the record of the New Voice Slate in the AFL-CIO, the continuing decline in union membership and density, the Change to Win split in 2005, the growing importance of immigrant workers, the rise of worker centers, the impacts of and labor responses to globalization, and the need for labor to have an independent political voice. This is simply the best introduction to unions on the market." (jacket)