Class schedule (subject to change):

Jump to date:

August: 31

September: 7, 14, 21, 28

October: 5, 12, 19, 26

November: 2, 9, 16, 23, 30

December: 7

PART ONE: INTRODUCING THE ISSUES

August 31: Seminar Introduction, Class Introductions

Osterman, Paul (1999) Securing Prosperity: The American Labor Market: Hose It Has Changed and What to Do about It. (Princeton, NJ: Century Foundation Book) Chapter 2: The Changing Structure of the American Labor Market.

Burawoy, Michael (1985) The Politics of Production (New York: Verso) Introduction: Bringing Workers Back in.

September 7: Conceptualising Labor in the Global Economy

Silver B. 2003. Forces of Labor: Workers’ Movements and Globalization since 1870. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Chapters 1-3.

PART TWO: CASE STUDIES OF THE LABOR PROCESS - COMPARING THE USA AND SOUTH AFRICA

September 14: A Theoretical Basis for Understanding Labour in a Global Context – A Discussion with Beverly Silver (Professor of Sociology, Johns Hopkins University)

Silver B. 2003. Forces of Labor: Workers’ Movements and Globalization since 1870. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Chapters 4-5

Extra:

Burawoy, M. 2003. ‘Where next For Labor?’ Critical Solidarity, 3(3): 2-4.

Burawoy, M. 1985. The Politics of Production: Factory Regimes Under Capitalism and Socialism. London: Verso. Read the chapter on ‘The Hidden Abode of Underdevelopment’.

September 21: Comparative case studies in agriculture

United States:

Wells, Miriam J. 1996. Strawberry Fields: Politics, Class, and Work in California Agriculture. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press. Chapter 1 (Class Relations and the Organization of Work) and Chapter 7 (Sharecropping and Labor Control: The Role of Politics).

South Africa:

Ewert, J. & Du Toit, A. 2004. ‘New Faultlines in the Countryside: Restructuring in the Western Cape Wine Industry.’ In: Webster, EC. & Von Holdt, K. (eds.). Beyond the Apartheid Workplace: Studies in Transition. Durban: University of KwaZulu Natal Press.

[Earlier draft available online]

Klerck, G and Naidoo, L. 2003. ‘In Search of Greener Pastures: Trade Unionism in the Agriculture Sector.’ In: Bramble, T. and Barchiesi, F. (eds.). Rethinking the Labour Movement in the New South Africa. England: Ashgate Publishers.

Other readings:

Burawoy, Michael (1976) “The Functions and Reproduction of Migrant Labour: Comparative Material from Southern Africa and the United States” The American Journal of Sociology, Vol. 81, No. 5, March.

September 28: Comparative case studies in manufacturing

United States:

Parker, Mike. 1996. “Industrial relations myth and shop-floor reality: the ‘team concept’ in the auto industry”, in Lichtenstein, Nelson and Howell John Harris, eds. Industrial Democracy in America: The Ambiguous Promise Cambridge. Cambridge University Press.

Brown, Clair, Michael Reich and David Stern. 1993. “Becoming a high-performance work organization: the role of security, employee involvement and training”. International Journal of Resource Management Vol. 4, No. 2. May. Part 1 & Part 2

Milkman, R. 1997. Farewell the Factory: Auto Workers in the Late Twentieth Century. (supplemental reading)

South Africa:

Bezuidenhout, A. 2004. ‘Post-colonial Workplace Regimes in the Engineering Industry in South Africa.’ In: Webster, EC. & Von Holdt, K. (eds.). Beyond the Apartheid Workplace: Studies in Transition. Durban: University of KwaZulu Natal Press.

Masondo, D. 2004. ‘Trade liberalisation and the restructuring of work: The case of BMW.’ In: Webster, EC. & Von Holdt, K. (eds.). Beyond the Apartheid Workplace: Studies in Transition. Durban: University of KwaZulu Natal Press.

October 5: Comparative case studies in retail

United States:

Schlosser, Eric. 2002. Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal. New York: Harper-Collins. Chapter 3 (Behind the Counter),

Clarck, PF. What price Wal-Mart? Available online at

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/04018/262404.stm

Bernhardt, Annette. 1999.  “The Future of Low-Wage Jobs:  Case Studies in the Retail Industry”  IEE Working Paper No. 10. New York: Columbia University

South Africa:

Kenny, B. 2001. ‘“We are nursing these jobs”: The impact of labour market flexibility on South African retail sector workers.’ In: N. Newman, J. Pape & H. Jansen (eds). Is there an alternative? South African workers confronting globalisation. Cape Town: Ilrig.

Kenny, B. 2004. ‘The Market Hegemonic Workplace Order in Food Retailing.’ In: Webster, EC. & Von Holdt, K. (eds.). Beyond the Apartheid Workplace: Studies in Transition. Durban: University of KwaZulu Natal Press.

Miller, D. 2004. ‘Transition in the Post-apartheid Regional Workplace: Shoprite in Zambia.’ In: Webster, EC. & Von Holdt, K. (eds.). Beyond the Apartheid Workplace: Studies in Transition. Durban: University of KwaZulu Natal Press.

PART THREE: LABOUR RESPONSES TO RESTRUCTURING

October 12: Comparative case studies in labour organising – local and national responses

United States (selections):

Debate on recent AFL-CIO Split:

Restore the American Dream: Building a 21^st Century Labor Movement that Can Win (official position of Change To Win coalition. http://www.changetowin.org/

Benson, Herman (2005) “AFL-CIO Split poses the question: Must Labor Bureaucratize to Win?” Union Democracy Review #157

Fletcher, Bill (2005) “More Heat Than Light: Debate Over the Future of the AFL-CIO” Monthly Review June 2005

Bacon, David (2005) “Labor Needs a Hard Left Turn: An Interview with Bill Fletcher”

Other analyses/initiatives:

Herzenberg, S. 2002. ‘Reinventing the US Labour Movement, Inventing Post-Industrial Prosperity: A Progress Report.’ In: Jose, A.V. (ed.). Organised Labour in the 21^st Century. Geneva: IILS.

Benner, C. & Dean, A. 2000. ‘Labor in the New Economy: Lessons from Labor Organizing in Silicon Valley.’ In: Carre, F., Ferber, M., Golden, L. & Herzenberg, S. (eds.). Nonstandard Work Arrangements and the Changing Labor Markets: Dimensions, Causes, and Institutional Responses. (Industrial Relations Research Association 2000 Annual Research Volume).

Fletcher, B. & Hurd, R. 2000. ‘Is Organizing Enough? Race, Gender and Union Culture.’ New Labor Forum Vol. 6, Spring/Summer. http://www.qc.edu/newlaborforum/html/6_article2.html

Blackwell, Angela Glover and Kalima Rose, 1999. ‘Overcoming the Obstacles: Forging Effective Labor-Community Alliances.’ New Labor Forum, vol. 5, Fall/Winter.

Labor Notes Forum on “Organizing: What’s Needed”. Contributions from: Jeff Lacher, Sam Smucker, Stephen Lerner, Daisy Rooks, David Cohen, Kate Bronfenbrenner, Suzanne Wall, Ken Paff, Sid Shniad, Steve Early, Peter Olney, Kim Moody, Lenny Gentle, Allen Gottheil, Ed Rothstein, and Erin Bowie. http://www.labornotes.org/archives/2003/organizing.html

Olney, Peter. 2002. ‘The Arithmetic of Decline and Some Proposals for Renewal.’ New Labor Forum. Vol 10, Spring/summer 2002. http://www.qc.edu/newlaborforum/html/10_article7.html

Luce, Stephanie 2002. ‘Life Support: Coalition Building and the Living Wage Movement.’ New Labor Forum. Vol 20, Spring/summer 2002. http://www.qc.edu/newlaborforum/html/10_article81.html

Brecher, Jeremy and Tim Costello. 1998. ‘Labor and the Challenge of the Dis-integrated Corporation.’ New Labor Forum. Vol. 2. Spring/Summer.

South Africa:

Buhlungu, S. 2002. ‘Comrades Entrepreneurs and Career Unionists: Organizational Modernisation and new Cleavages among COSATU Union Officials.’ Friedrich Ebert Foundation Occasional Paper no. 17, Johannesburg.

Von Holdt, Karl. 2003. ‘Social Movement Unionism: The South African case.’ Work, Employment and Society

Webster, E. 2004. ‘New Forms of Work and Worker Organisation: A Durban Case Study.’ In: Webster, EC. & Von Holdt, K. (eds.). Beyond the Apartheid Workplace: Studies in Transition. Durban: University of KwaZulu Natal Press.

October 19: Comparative case studies in labour organising – Regional cooperation

North America:

Milkman, Ruth. 2000.  “Immigrant Organizing and the New Labor Movement in Los Angeles” Critical Sociology Vol. 26, No. 1/2

Johnson, Paul. 1999.  “Rethinking cross-border employment in overlapping societies:  A Citizenship Movement Agenda”  Chapter 4 of Forum for Transnational Employment. (Davis, CA:  California Institute for Rural Studies)   Web-site:  http://www.cirsinc.org/fte.html   See also: The Citizenship Project: http://www.newcitizen.org

Watts, Julie (2003) “Mexico-U.S. Migration and Labor Unions: Obstacles to Building Cross-Border Solidarity” Working Paper 79, Center for Comparative Immigration Studies, UCSD

Stillerman, Joel (2003) “Transnational Activist Networks and The Emergence of Labor Internationalism in the NAFTA Countries” Social Science History 27:4 (winter 2003) 577-601

Southern Africa:

Maserumule, B. & Miller, D. 2000. ‘Understanding Regionalism in Post-apartheid Southern Africa.’ South African Labour Bulletin vol 24, no. 6.

Bond, Patrick, Darlene Miller and Greg Ruiters. 2001. ‘The Southern African Working Class: Production, Reproduction and Politics.’ Socialist Register 2001: The global working class at the Millennium. New York: Monthly Review Press

October 26: Comparative case studies in labour organising: Global cooperation

Munck, R. Globalisation, Labour and the “Polanyi Problem”. Paper Presented at Congress on Labour movements, University of Sherfields, United Kingdom.

Lambert, R. and Chan, A. 1999. ‘Global Dance: Factory Regimes, Asian Labour Standards and Corporate Restructuring.’ In Waddington, J. (ed.), Globalization and Patterns of Labour Resistance. London & New York: Mansell.

Lambert, R. and Webster, E. 2001. ‘Southern Unionism and the New Labour Internationalism.’ Antipode, 33(3): 337-361.

PART THREE: THEORETICAL ISSUES AND MACRO OVERVIEW OF WORK RESTRUCTURING

November 2: Service Economy and Emotional Labor

Herzenberg, Stephen, John Alic and Howard Wial (1998) New Rules for a New Economy: Employment and Opportunity in Postindustrial America (Ithaca: ILR Press) Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 3

Hochschild, Arlie (1983) The Managed Heart: Commercialization of Human Feeling (Berkeley: UC Press) Chapter 1, Chapter 9

November 9: Post-Fordism and Flexibility

Harvey, D. 1989. The Condition of Postmodernity. Cambridge: Basil Blackwell. Read Part II on “The political-economic transformation of late twentieth century capitalism.” pp119-141, pp142-161, pp162-179, pp180-197

November 16: Work, globalization and ‘informational capitalism’

Benner, Chris. 2002. Work in the New Economy: Flexible Labor Markets in Silicon Valley. Oxford: Blackwell Press. Introduction, Chapter 1.

Castells, Manuel. 1996. The Rise of the Network Society. Cambridge, Mass.: Blackwell Publishers. Chapter 1: pp 29-47, pp 48-65; Chapter 4: pp 201-219, pp 220-239, pp 240-259, pp 260-279

November 23: No class, Thanksgiving Break

November 30, Student Presentations (Angie Conner, Jim Hildebrand, Seth Dixon)

December 7: Student Presentations (Aaron Angert, Greg Howling, Brendan Schmitt, Kevin Dodge, Theresa Haas, Bryan De Valdivia, Reese Bowman, Tina Klug)