Taking Care of Business: Samuel Gompers, George Meany, Lane Kirkland, and the Tragedy of American Labor

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Monthly Review Press, 1999 - Business & Economics - 315 pages
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In this original, colorful history of "business unionism," Paul Buhle explains how trade union leaders in the United States became remote from the workers they claimed to represent as they allied with the very corporate executives and government officials who persistently opposed labor's interests.
At the center of the tale are three of the most powerful labor leaders of the past century: Samuel Gompers, George Meany, and Lane Kirkland, successive presidents of the American Federation of Labor and its descendent, the AFL-CIO. Many other labor leaders, from John L. Lewis to Walter Reuther, receive in-depth treatment.
Taking Care of Business demonstrates how a union hierarchy heavily populated by former radicals thwarted women and people of color from joining unions, suppressed shop floor militance, and colluded with business and government at home and abroad. Buhle shows how these leaders defeated generations of radical union members who sought a more democratic, class-based approach for the movement.

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Contents

Samuel Gompers and Business Unionism
17
Meany Takes Command
91
Apex and Decline
146
Copyright

4 other sections not shown

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Taking Care of Business: Samuel Gompers, George Meany, Lane Kirkland, and ...
Paul Buhle
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Common terms and phrases

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About the author (1999)

Paul Buhle, retired Brown University Senior Lecturer, has authored and edited more than forty books on the American and Caribbean Left, and is the editor of more than a dozen nonfiction graphic novels.

Bibliographic information

QR code for Taking Care of Business
TitleTaking Care of Business: Samuel Gompers, George Meany, Lane Kirkland, and the Tragedy of American Labor
Taking Care of Business: Samuel Gompers, George Meany, Lane Kirkland, and the Tragedy of American Labor, Paul Buhle
AuthorPaul Buhle
Edition2, illustrated, revised
PublisherMonthly Review Press, 1999
Original fromthe University of Michigan
DigitizedAug 23, 2010
ISBN1583670033, 9781583670033
Length315 pages
Subjects ›  › 

Business & Economics / General
Business & Economics / Labor / General
History / United States / General
Political Science / Labor & Industrial Relations
  
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