The New Rank and File

by Staughton Lynd (Editor), Alice Lynd (Editor)

Overview

Much has changed for workers in the years since Staughton and Alice Lynd's classic Rank and File: Personal Histories by Working-Class Organizers was first published in 1973. The New Rank and File presents interviews with working-class organizers of the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s who face the challenges of a new economy with the same determination and creativity shown by those profiled in the earlier book. Reflecting the increasing globalization of labor practices—and problems—The New Rank and File contains oral histories of workers in Guatemala, Palestine, Nicaragua, Mexico, and Canada, as well as the United States.

In their narratives, rank-and-file workers from many different industries and workplaces reveal the specific incidents and pervasive injustices that triggered their activism. They discuss the frustrations they faced in attempting to effect change through traditional means, and the ways in which they have learned to advocate through innovation. In an incisive introduction, the Lynds set forth their distinctive perspective on the labor movement, with a focus on "solidarity unionism": making decisions on the assumption that we all may be leaders at one time or another rather than relying on static hierarchies. Their insights, along with true stories told in the organizers' own words, contain much to inspire a new generation of workers and activists.

Jim Brophy
Tony Budak
Andrea Carney
Chinese Staff and Workers' Association
Coalition of University Employees
Bill DiPietro
Kay Eisenhower
Rich Feldman
The Frente Autentico del Trabajo
Marshall Ganz
Mia Giunta
Martin Glaberman
Mayra Guillen
The Hebron Union of Workers and General Service Personnel
Hugo Hernandez
Margaret Keith
Elly Leary
Ed Mann
Charlie McCollester
Virginia Roman
Vicky Starr
Gary Stevenson
Mike Stout
Manuela Aju Tambriz
James Trevathan
TriState Conference on Steel
Mauricio Vallejos
Workers for Ford in Mexico

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780801486760
Publisher:	Cornell University Press
Publication date:	10/17/2000
Series:	ILR Press Bks.
Pages:	288
Product dimensions:	6.12(w) x 9.25(h) x 0.69(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Staughton and Alice Lynd practiced employment law for years as Legal Services attorneys. They now work with prisoners as well as rank-and-file workers. Staughton Lynd is the author of Living Inside Our Hope: A Steadfast Radical's Thoughts on Rebuilding the Movement, also from Cornell. The Lynds have jointly edited Nonviolence in America: A Documentary History and Homeland: Oral Histories of Palestine and Palestinians.

What People are Saying About This

Jane Slaughter

In every case these interviews with everyday heroes leave you wanting to know more about how they did what they did. Their conviction that power belongs with the rank and file is exactly what the labor movement needs.

William Serrin

Alice and Staughton Lynd know something that most people who write about Unions do not: that the heart and sinew of the labor movement are its rank-and-file leaders. In this innovative, highly important book, the Lynds chronicle the lives of these committed union activists, and in the process renew one's faith in collective action and humanity. The New Rank and File offers a unique perspective from two people who have devoted their lives to making America a better country.

Robin D. G. Kelley

The Lynds do it again; The New Rank and File beautifully captures the authentic voice of working-class America in all of its complexity, diversity, and international dimensions. A critical document for our times, this is precisely the kind of book we need if we are to build a new movement.

Eric O'Neil

This collection of oral histories from workers around the world is a tool for raising class consciousness and building solidarity. My hope for the liberation of all workers is heightened by these accounts of courage, dignity, and perseverance of common people.

Editorial Reviews

In an inspiring series of pieces by rank-and-file activists and organizers from many sectors of the labor movement, the Lynds demonstrate the type of grassroots approach that the labor movement needs if we are to achieve the strength needed to win against a global, wealthy and well-armed foe.... The Lynds have done a fantastic job of pulling together workers into a book that provides innumerable examples of strategies that work, not in someone's theory about organizing, but in actual jobs. If you want to read about the IWW's ideas, then read this book.

Industrial Worker - Joshua Freeze

Once you're done with fictional working people, read about real ones in The New Rank and File.... Readers get a look at the lives of organizers from a variety of backgrounds and traditions.

Labor Notes

The New Rank and File... serves to amplify the voices of women and workers from outside the United States. Issues like globalization, NLRB elections, Weingarten rights, downsizing, 'just-in-time' production, and worker-management 'cooperation' get insightful treatment.

Impact - Eric O'Neil

The New Rank and File... serves to amplify the voices of women and workers from outside the United States. Issues like globalization, NLRB elections, Weingarten rights, downsizing, 'just-in-time' production, and worker-management 'cooperation' get insightful treatment.

--Eric O'Neil "Impact"

For the past thirty years Alice and Staughton Lynd have done groundbreaking work in giving voice to rank and file workers.... The timing of The New Rank and File could not be better. Not only does it provide us with a number of inspiring largely unreported rand and file stories, it contributes greatly to the questions facing the labor movement.... It is must reading for anyone either working in the labor movement or looking to it as a force for social change.... The stories in The New Rank and File are testimony to the fact that rank and file solidarity unionism are happening in more places than most of us realize.

--Andy Piascik "Association for Union Democracy"

In an inspiring series of pieces by rank-and-file activists and organizers from many sectors of the labor movement, the Lynds demonstrate the type of grassroots approach that the labor movement needs if we are to achieve the strength needed to win against a global, wealthy and well-armed foe.... The Lynds have done a fantastic job of pulling together workers into a book that provides innumerable examples of strategies that work, not in someone's theory about organizing, but in actual jobs. If you want to read about the IWW's ideas, then read this book.

--Joshua Freeze "Industrial Worker"

Once you're done with fictional working people, read about real ones in The New Rank and File.... Readers get a look at the lives of organizers from a variety of backgrounds and traditions.

-- "Labor Notes"

This book looks at labor issues from the movement's rank and file and is invaluable for academic collections in social movements, labor history, and industrial/organizational psychology.

-- "Library Journal"

From the Publisher

"The Lynds do it again; The New Rank and File beautifully captures the authentic voice of working-class America in all of its complexity, diversity, and international dimensions. A critical document for our times, this is precisely the kind of book we need if we are to build a new movement."

Robin D. G. Kelley

"In every case these interviews with everyday heroes leave you wanting to know more about how they did what they did. Their conviction that power belongs with the rank and file is exactly what the labor movement needs."

Jane Slaughter

"Alice and Staughton Lynd know something that most people who write about Unions do not: that the heart and sinew of the labor movement are its rank-and-file leaders. In this innovative, highly important book, the Lynds chronicle the lives of these committed union activists, and in the process renew one's faith in collective action and humanity. The New Rank and File offers a unique perspective from two people who have devoted their lives to making America a better country."

William Serrin

The editors are former legal services attorneys with many years of experience in the labor movement, and Staughton Lynd is the author of several books, including Living Inside Our Hope. Their connections to the movement yield 24 vibrant, intimate interviews with labor organizers from the factory floor who struggle against both the employer and the union bureaucracy. The interviews, often substantiated with other documents, provide insight into how each person entered the movement, key events of particular organizing efforts, and personal responses to the struggle. The representative voices are for the most part not well known and include Chinese, Central American, Mexican, and Palestinian perspectives. Although the editing is uneven, with some interviews providing less context to help make sense of the narrative, this current look at labor issues from the movement's rank and file is invaluable for academic collections in social movements, labor history, and industrial/organizational psychology. Paula R. Dempsey, DePaul Univ. Lib., Chicago Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.

Library Journal

For the past thirty years Alice and Staughton Lynd have done groundbreaking work in giving voice to rank and file workers.... The timing of The New Rank and File could not be better. Not only does it provide us with a number of inspiring largely unreported rand and file stories, it contributes greatly to the questions facing the labor movement.... It is must reading for anyone either working in the labor movement or looking to it as a force for social change.... The stories in The New Rank and File are testimony to the fact that rank and file solidarity unionism are happening in more places than most of us realize.

Association for Union Democracy - Andy Piascik