Robert Ovetz, ed. (2021) Workers' Inquiry and Global Class Struggle: Strategies, Tactics, Objectives

Ovetz, Robert, ed. 2021. Workers’ Inquiry and Global Class Struggle: Strategies, Tactics, Objectives. London: Pluto Press.

Rumours of the death of the global labour movement have been greatly exaggerated. Rising phoenix-like from the ashes of the old trade union movement, workers' struggle is being reborn from below by workers themselves.

By engaging in what Karl Marx called a workers' inquiry, workers and militant co-researchers are studying their working conditions, the technical composition of capital, and how to recompose their own power in order to devise new tactics, strategies, organisational forms and objectives. These workers' inquiries, from call centre workers to platform, trucking, cleaning, logistics, mining, auto factories, teachers, and adjunct professors, are re-energising unions, bypassing unions altogether or innovating new forms of workers' organisations.

In one of the first major studies to critically assess this new cycle of global working class struggle, Robert Ovetz collects together case studies from over a dozen contributors, looking at workers' movements in China, Mexico, the US, South Africa, Turkey, Argentina, Italy, India and the UK. The book reveals how these new forms of struggle are no longer limited to single sectors of the economy or contained by state borders, but are circulating internationally and disrupting the global capitalist system as they do.

Kim Scipes (2021) Building Global Labor Solidarity

 

Scipes, Kim. 2021. Building Global Labor Solidarity: Lessons from the Philippines, South Africa, Northwestern Europe, and the United States. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books.

Dundon, Tony, Miguel Martinez Lucio, Emma Hughes, Debra Howcroft, Arjan Keizer and Roger Walden (2020)

Dundon, Tony, Miguel Martinez Lucio, Emma Hughes, Debra Howcroft, Arjan Keizer and Roger Walden. 2020. Power, Politics and Influence at Work. Manchester: Manchester University Press.

Simon Black (2020) Social Reproduction and the City

 

Black, Simon. 2020. Social Reproduction and the City: Welfare Reform, Child Care, and Resistance in Neoliberal New York. Athens: University of Georgia Press.

Social Reproduction and the City

Welfare Reform, Child Care, and Resistance in Neoliberal New York

Simon Black

• DESCRIPTION
• REVIEWS

The transformation of child care after welfare reform in New York City and the struggle against that transformation is a largely untold story. In the decade following welfare reform, despite increases in child care funding, there was little growth in New York's unionized, center-based child care system and no attempt to make this system more responsive to the needs of working mothers. As the city delivered child care services "on the cheap," relying on non-union home child care providers, welfare rights organizations, community legal clinics, child care advocates, low-income community groups, activist mothers, and labor unions organized to demand fair solutions to the child care crisis that addressed poor single mothers' need for quality, affordable child care as well as child care providers' need for decent work and pay. Social Reproduction and the City tells this story, linking welfare reform to feminist research and activism around the "crisis of care," social reproduction, and the neoliberal city.

At a theoretical level, Simon Black's history of this era presents a feminist political economy of the urban welfare regime, applying a social reproduction lens to processes of urban neoliberalization and an urban lens to feminist analyses of welfare state restructuring and resistance. Feminist political economy and feminist welfare state scholarship have not focused on the urban as a scale of analysis, and critical approaches to urban neoliberalism often fail to address questions of social reproduction. To address these unexplored areas, Black unpacks the urban as a contested site of welfare state restructuring and examines the escalating crisis in social reproduction. He lays bare the aftermath of the welfare-to-work agenda of the Giuliani administration in New York City on child care and the resistance to policies that deepened race, class, and gender inequities.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR/EDITOR

SIMON BLACK is an assistant professor in the Department of Labour Studies at Brock University.

Daya Kishan Thussu and Kaarle Nordenstreng, eds. (2021) BRICS Media

Thussu, Daya Kishan and Kaarle Nordenstreng, eds. 2021. BRICS Media: Reshaping the Global Communication Order? London: Routledge.

Book Description

Bringing together distinguished scholars from BRICS nations and those with a deep interest in and knowledge of these emerging powers, this collection makes a significant intervention in the ongoing debates about comparative communication research and thus contribute to the further internationalization of media and communication studies.

The unprecedented expansion of online media in the world’s major non-Western nations, exemplified by BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) is transforming global communication. Despite their differences and divergences on key policy issues, what unites these five nations, representing more than 20 per cent of the global GDP, is the scale and scope of change in their communication environment, triggered by a multilingual, mobile Internet. The resulting networked and digitized communication ecology has reoriented international media and communication flows. Evaluating the implications of globalization of BRICS media on the reshaping of international communication, the book frames this within the contexts of theory-building on media and communication systems, soft power discourses and communication practices, including in cyberspace. Adopting a critical approach in analysing BRICS communication strategies and their effectiveness, the book assesses the role of the BRICS nations in reframing a global communication order for a ‘post-American world’.

This critical volume of essays is ideal for students, teachers and researchers in journalism, media, politics, sociology, international relations, area studies and cultural studies programmes.

Chan, Selden and Pun 2020 Dying for an iPhone

Chan, Jenny, Mark Selden and Pun Ngai. 2020. Dying for an iPhone: Apple, Foxconn, and the Lives of China’s Workers. London: Pluto Press & Chicago, IL: Haymarket Books.

Dying for an iPhone: Apple, Foxconn, and the Lives of China’s Workers

Authors: Jenny CHAN, Mark SELDEN and PUN Ngai

Haymarket Books: https://www.haymarketbooks.org/books/1468-dying-for-an-iphone

Pluto Press: https://www.plutobooks.com/9780745341286/dying-for-an-iphone/

Authors’ book website: www.dyingforaniphone.com

© 2020

Pluto Press (June 2020)

Paperback ISBN: 9780745341293

Hardcover ISBN: 9780745341286

eBook ISBN: 9781786806277

Haymarket Books (August 2020)

HARDBACK ISBN: 9781642592252

EBOOK ISBN: 9781642592047

PAPERBACK ISBN: 9781642591248

‘Holding a sleek new iPhone in our hands it is difficult to imagine the brutal work lives of the people who assemble our smartphones. In Dying for an iPhone Jenny Chan, Mark Selden, and Pun Ngai make this reality visible. Drawing on in-depth field work and a deep knowledge of the global electronics industry, the authors demonstrate not only the steep human cost of our love affair with smartphones, but also the fierce struggles by Chinese workers to improve their working conditions.’ 

—Nicole Aschoff, author of The Smartphone Society: Technology, Power, and Resistance in the New Gilded Age

‘Dying for an iPhone is far and away the most comprehensive account of the lives and working conditions of the people who produce what is perhaps the iconic commodity of the 21st century—the iPhone. But it is much more than that. We also see how Apple and Foxconn, working within a neoliberal trade regime promoted by the US, Taiwanese, and Chinese governments alike, transcended national boundaries to develop a brutally exploitative system of labor discipline. It is an incisive account of the social dislocation, but also the resistance, wrought when capitalists of many nations unite against workers. Global in outlook while still presenting fine-grained and highly engaging accounts of workers’ lived experiences, this book is a shining example of public scholarship.’

—Eli Friedman, co-editor of China on Strike

'Dying for an iPhone is an absolutely necessary read for anyone seeking to understand the realities of modern-day capitalism. Contrary to the mythology of Silicon Valley, this carefully researched book explains why companies like Apple owe their success more to exploitation than to innovation'

— Wendy Liu, author of 'Abolish Silicon Valley: How to Liberate Technology from Capitalism'

‘Dying for an iPhone takes readers deep inside the dark Satanic mills of Foxconn’s industrial empire. Drawing on the words of the workers themselves, the book offers an invaluable portrait of the Chinese working class as it pumps blood (sometimes literally) into the productive heart of world capitalism’

— Ben Tarnoff, co-founder of Logic Magazine

'Critical, accessible, and rigorously researched, this book offers the most comprehensive analysis of Foxconn, the world's largest electronics factory: its bleak landscape, dire consequences, and inspiring efforts to change it for the better'

— Jack Linchuan Qiu, author of 'Goodbye iSlave: A Manifesto for Digital Abolition'

'A sobering investigation into the human, social and environmental costs of producing the devices we have come to rely on, a process in which both corporations and we, the consumers, are complicit'

— Nick Holdstock, author of 'Chasing the Chinese Dream'

‘A deep dive into exploitation and labour struggle in the world of high-tech electronics manufacturing in China during the past decade. Dying for an iPhone exposes the human suffering behind the brands. Everyone should read this.’

— Hsiao-Hung Pai, Taiwanese journalist

‘When reading chapters describing the assembly line experience of workers, and the scientific management system, I could only compare it to the chapter in Marx’s Capital, when we are taken into the hidden abode of production. Dying for an iPhone is truly a great achievement to present such incisive description and analysis in a highly readable and accessible form.’

— Jeffery Hermanson, International Union Educational League

‘The runaway success of products like iPhones and iPads have made Apple one of the most preeminent tech firms of the twenty-first century. Yet much of the company’s profitability depends on cheap labor to assemble its products, and the Taiwanese company Foxconn is among their chief suppliers. Chan, Selden, and Pun draw on financial reports, news media, and interviews with Foxconn workers to examine the true cost of the gadgets so many Americans carry in their pockets and purses. As the Chinese government resists enacting or enforcing worker protections, Foxconn employees are forced to work grueling hours at low pay, under conditions that threaten their mental and physical health. Although Apple touts its commitment to ethical business practices, it continues to permit Foxconn to bust unions, set unrealistic work and quality quotas, and take advantage of vulnerable workers through exploitative contracts and “internship” programs. Dying for an iPhone balances heartbreaking worker interviews with carefully compiled employment and financial data from Apple and Foxconn to present a compelling case against the tech giant and its suppliers.’
— Jenny Hamilton, Booklist

‘Dying for an iPhone is deeply researched, comprehen­sively anno­ta­ted and fuelled by anger. The globalised system, in which corporations subcontract responsibility alongside manu­facturing, leaves enormous gaps in accountability and justice.’

— Mike Cormack, The South China Morning Post, 30 April 2020 https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/books/article/3082307/dying-iphone-investigating-apple-foxconn-and-brutal

‘Dying for an iPhone, by sociologists Jenny Chan, Mark Selden and Pun Ngai, tackles head-on the unsavoury practices associated in the Chinese factories that produce Apple’s bestselling product.’

— Oliver Farry, The Irish Times, 24 May 2020

https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/books/dying-for-an-iphone-inside-the-factories-that-produce-apple-s-bestselling-product-1.4249772?mode=sample&auth-failed=1&pw-origin=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.irishtimes.com%2Fculture%2Fbooks%2Fdying-for-an-iphone-inside-the-factories-that-produce-apple-s-bestselling-product-1.4249772

‘A damning indictment of Apple’s labor and supply practices.

Chan, Selden, and Pun persuasively argue that the relationship between Apple and shadowy Chinese manufacturing giant Foxconn epitomizes the brutality of globalized late-stage capitalism. “In summer 2010,” write the authors, “we collaborated with researchers from China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong to conduct undercover research at Foxconn’s major manufacturing sites....Our effort to engage the corporations in discussion of labor responsibility produced only corporate rationalizations and platitudes.” The authors investigate Foxconn’s aggressive rise, propelled by mysterious CEO Terry Gou, seemingly determined to create a Maoist workers’ cult complete with slogans and surveillance. Still, “while Foxconn carved out a niche as the exclusive final assembler of the iPhone, the lion’s share of the profits was captured by Apple.” The authors merge deep dives into data with chilling testimonials from workers, including some who attempted suicide. “All of us log long hours of overtime with only two rest days in the entire month,” said one worker regarding the demands for iPad production. Due to such pressures, “fire hazards and metallic dust explosions had put workers’ lives at severe risk, with Apple complicit along with its supplier network.” Although their focus is the corrosive effect of Foxconn on China’s labor market, the authors address subtopics including exploitative internship programs, environmental issues, and workers’ efforts to organize for better treatment, opposed by the company and the government. This contrasts uncomfortably with Apple’s hip, progressive public image. “We can speak of a veritable cult of Apple,” write the authors, “with tens of thousands of consumers tracking each corporate unveiling of a new design.” Although their tone is dry, they harness disturbing and varied evidence, including anecdotes, corporate communications, and first-person accounts, creating a compelling exposé of what lies behind one of the most recognizable icons of consumerism.

A valuable contribution to an overdue discussion about technology and privilege.’ 
— Kirkus Reviews, 2 June 2020
https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/jenny-chan/dying-for-an-iphone/

‘China’s workers unionise and militate for better conditions.’

— Steve Hanson, Manchester Review of Books, 5 June 2020

https://manchestereviewofbooks.wordpress.com/2020/06/05/time-to-really-think-different/

‘While the book tells the story of the strategic exploitation of a million-strong workforce, at its heart are the individual struggles of the workers themselves, conveyed in their lyrics, poetry and statements. “Each screw turns diligently / but they can’t turn around our future”, writes one. Apple’s CEO, Tim Cook, has said that his mission, and that of the company, is “to serve humanity”; Dying for an iPhone calls into question that aim and the ethics of our globalized economy as a whole.’ — Emily Kenway, The Times Literary Supplement (TLS), 17 July 2020 (No. 6120) https://www.the-tls.co.uk/articles/dying-for-an-iphone-jenny-chan-mark-selden-ngai-pun-review-emily-kenway/?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Twitter#Echobox=1594831914

Wilkinson, Donaghey, Dundon and Freeman, eds. 2020 Handbook of Research on Employee Voice

Wilkinson, Adrian, Jimmy Donaghey, Tony Dundon, and Richard B. Freeman, eds. 2020. Handbook of Research on Employee Voice: Participation and Involvement in the Workplace. 2^nd Edition. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar Publishing.

Handbook of Research on Employee Voice

2nd edition

Research Handbooks in Business and Management series

Edited by Adrian Wilkinson, Professor and Director, Centre for Work, Organisation and Wellbeing, Griffith University, Australia and Visiting Professor, University of Sheffield, UK, Jimmy Donaghey, Professor of Human Resource Management, UniSA Business School, University of South Australia, Australia, Tony Dundon, Professor of Human Resource Management and Employment Relations, Kemmy Business School, University of Limerick, Ireland and Visiting Professor, Work and Equalities Institute (WEI), University of Manchester, UK and Richard B. Freeman, Professor of Economics, Harvard University and National Bureau of Economic Research, US

Publication Date: 2020 ISBN: 978 1 78897 117 1 Extent: 624 pp

This thoroughly revised second edition presents up-to-date analysis from various academic streams and disciplines that illuminate our understanding of employee voice from a range of different perspectives. Exploring the previously under-represented paradigm of the organizational behaviour approach, new chapters take account of a broader conceptualization of employee voice. Written by expert contributors, this Handbook explores the meaning and impact of employee voice for various stakeholders and considers the ways in which these actors engage with voice processes such as collective bargaining, individual processes, mutual gains, task-based voice and grievance procedures.

URL: https://www.elgaronline.com/view/edcoll/9781788971171/9781788971171.xml

Rebecca Gumbrell-McCormick and Richard Hyman (2018) Trade Unions in Western Europe

Gumbrell-McCormick, Rebecca and Richard Hyman. 2018. Trade Unions in Western Europe: Hard Times, Hard Choices. 2^nd edn. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

• New afterword for the paperback edition
• Covers 10 countries with contrasting types of unions, and political and economic contexts
• Written by two leading authorities on trade unions
• Sophisticated analytical approach to illustrate and discuss critically a range of theories
• Supported by extensive but accessible empirical material
• Organized thematically to cover key issues currently confronting trade unions

Robert Ovetz (2019) When Workers Shot Back

Ovetz, Robert. 2019. When Workers Shot Back: Class Conflict from 1877 to 1921. Chicago, IL: Haymarket Books.

When Workers Shot Back argues that the escalation of working-class conflict drives rather than reacts to capital's consolidation and reorganisation.

When Workers Shot Back: Class Conflict from 1877 to 1921 explores one of the most tumultuous times in United States history. Self-organized workers recomposed their power by devising new strategies and tactics to disrupt the capitalist economy and extract concessions. Mine, railroad, steel, and iron workers pursued a strategy of tension that sometimes erupted into militant class conflict and general strikes in which workers took over and ran a number of cities. Turning conventional wisdom on its head, When Workers Shot Back argues that the escalation of working-class conflict drives rather than reacts to the consolidation and reorganisation of capital and economic and political reform of the state. Studying the class composition of this period illustrates why workers escalated the intensity of their tactics, even using tactical violence, to extract concessions and reforms when all other efforts to do so were blocked, co-opted or repressed.

Pat Armstrong and Hugh Armstrong, eds (2020) The Privatization of Care

https://www.routledge.com/The-Privatization-of-Care-The-Case-of-Nursing-Homes-1st-Edition/Armstrong-Armstrong/p/book/9781138346024

Book Description

Nursing homes are where some of the most vulnerable live and work. In too many homes, the conditions of work make it difficult to make care as good as it can be. For the last eight years an international team from Germany, Sweden, Norway, the UK, the US and Canada have been searching for promising practices that treat residents, families and staff with dignity and respect in ways that can also bring joy. While we did find ideas worth sharing, we also saw a disturbing trend toward privatization.

Privatization is the process of moving away not only from public delivery and public payment for health services but also from a commitment to shared responsibility, democratic decision-making, and the idea that the public sector operates according to a logic of service to all.

This book documents moves toward privatization in the six countries and their consequences for families, staff, residents, and, eventually, us all. None of the countries has escaped pressure from powerful forces in and outside government pushing for privatization in all its forms. However, the wide variations in the extent and nature of privatization indicate privatization is not inevitable and our research shows there are alternatives.

Dundon and Wilkinson, eds. (2020) case studies in work, employment and human resource management

Dundon, Tony and Adrian Wilkinson, eds. 2020. Case Studies in Work, Employment and Human Resource Management. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar Publishing.

Choudry, A. and Vally, S. eds. (2020) The University and Social Justice

Choudry, A. and Vally, S. eds. 2020. The University and Social Justice: Struggles Across the Globe. London: Pluto Press. (Between the Lines.)