On the ground
Subtitle: labor struggle in the American airline industry
By: Liesl Miller Orenic.
Series: The working class in American history
Publisher: University of Illinois Press
Published: 2009
Place of publication: Urbana
Language: eng
Number of pages: 281
ISBN-13: 9780252034336; 9780252076275
Subjects: Airlines -- Employees -- Labor unions -- United States -- History -- 20th century; Airlines -- United States -- History -- 20th century
Description: "On the Ground charts labor relations in the airline industry, unraveling the story of how baggage handlers--classified as unskilled workers--built tense but mutually useful alliances with their skilled coworkers such as aircraft mechanics and made tremendous gains in wages and working conditions, even in the era of supposedly "complacent" labor in the 1950s and 1960s. Examining company and union records as well as interviews with former baggage handlers, Liesl Miller Orenic explains how airline jobs on the ground were constructed, how workers chose among unions, and how federal labor policies as well as industry regulation both increased and hindered airline workers' bargaining power."--Publisher's website.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.