Three Strikes: Labor's Heartland Losses and What They Mean for Working Americans
Chicago Tribune labor writer Franklin vividly describes the  impact of three strikes on union workers in Decatur, IL. Union  members who had worked their entire lives for Caterpillar,  Staley, or Bridgestone/Firestone were forced out on strike,  threatened with permanent replacement, and, if lucky, called  back to work under a company-imposed contract full of  concessions. Franklin tells the story from the viewpoint of  production workers caught between aggressive corporations and an  aging union bureaucracy. The drumbeat of negative news captures  all too well the ongoing pain experienced by the workers in  Decatur. Franklin is harsh in his judgments of organized labor  and makes too little of the straightjacket of antilabor laws  imposed by the federal government and the economic ruthlessness  of transnational companies. However, this heartbreaking account  of blue-collar life in the new economy should be mandatory  reading for all those who blithely dismiss the social costs of  free trade and unregulated corporate power. Recommended for  academic libraries and current events collections in public  libraries. Duncan Stewart, State Historical Soc. of Iowa Lib.,  Iowa CityCopyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.