All Items | Books | T-Shirts & Hoodies | Buttons, Stickers & More

Labor Notes books

Looking for materials for your union or organization? Purchase 5 or more of the following books published by Labor Notes and receive deep discounts. Click here for more information.

A Troublemaker's Handbook 2: How To Fight Back Where You Work -- And Win!*

Edited by Jane Slaughter

A completely new update to the first edition, this unique resource of organizing and leadership lessons, tactics, and strategies is a collaboration of over 70 authors and hundreds of activists. No matter how seasoned an activist you are, this book will show you new ways to fight back where you work and win!

Labor Notes, 372 pages, $24 | Add to cart

Democracy Is Power: Rebuilding Unions from the Bottom Up*

By Mike Parker and Martha Gruelle

The missing element in much of today‘s debates about rebuilding labor is internal democracy. Democracy Is Power shows what member control really looks like, and why it is crucial to labor's future.

Labor Notes, 250 pages, $15 | Add to cart

Purchase A Troublemaker's Handbook 2 and Democracy Is Power together and save. $30. |Add to cart

Working Smart: A Union Guide to Participation Programs and Reengineering

By Mike Parker and Jane Slaughter

Working Smart takes a look at union "participation programs" and includes seventeen case studies supplemented by the authors' years of experience. Includes Strategy Guide (listed below).

Labor Notes, 315 pages, $12 | Add to cart

A Union Strategy Guide for Participation Programs

By Mike Parker and Jane Slaughter

Basic steps to develop your unions' own strategy. Supplement to Working Smart.

Labor Notes, 28 pages, $3 | Add to cart

Stopping Sexual Harassment: A Handbook for Union and Workplace Activists

By Camille Colatosti and Elissa Karg

Organizing as well as legal approaches to fighting back. Real-life examples and tips, like how to deal with unsympathetic union officials

Labor Notes, 115 pages, $9 | Add to cart

Time Out! The Case for a Shorter Work Week

By Kim Moody and Simone Sagovac

The growth of overtime, part-time, and contingent work -- and what we can do about it.

Labor Notes, 64 pages, $5 | Add to cart

Unions and Free Trade: Solidarity vs. Protectionism

By Mary McGinn and Kim Moody

The effects of free trade on workers in North America, and why solidarity, not competition, is the only long-term strategy for unions

Labor Notes, 84 pages, $7 | Add to cart

Books from other publishers

Staley: The Fight for a New American Labor Movement

By Steven K. Ashby and C.J. Hawking

This book documents the three-year struggle at the Staley corn processing plant in Decatur, Illinois during the mid-90s. Staley details the workers’ run-the-plant-backward inside campaign, their months on the picket line and civil disobedience, the Road Warriors who took their story to union halls around the country, their several corporate campaigns, and finally their International union’s decision to pull the plug. Staley is a masterpiece not only because of the host of worker voices we hear; you will get to know Staley workers intimately as you read what happened in their own words.

University of Illinois, 384 pages, $25 | Add to cart

Why Unions Matter, 2nd edition

By Michael D. Yates

Ten years ago Why Unions Matter gave us a solid overview of the history, structure, functioning, and problems of U.S. unions. Now Yates has updated the book to look at why labor’s numbers have continued to decline, to evaluate the New Voices Slate in the AFL-CIO and the Change to Win split, and to take account of the rise of immigrant workers and worker centers. He concludes that unions matter more than ever.

Monthly Review Press, 240 pages, $17.95 | Add to cart

Embedded with Organized Labor

By Steve Early

Steve Early's experience as a union dissident, CWA activist, and freelance journalist go hand-in-hand in Embedded with Organized Labor. Early, in a series of essays, writes on the labor movement's struggles--both at the workplace and internal to the movement--taking readers along for a ride of labor's promises and pitfalls.

Monthly Review Press, 288 pages, $17.95 | Add to cart

U.S. Labor in Trouble and Transition: The Failure of Reform From Above, The Promise of Revival From Below

By Kim Moody

Labor Notes co-founder Kim Moody's U.S. Labor in Trouble and Transition examines the failure of reform from above and takes a new look at what it'll take to revitalize the labor movement from below. Moody's first chapter, "A message about the future" analyzes four recent labor struggles that could help to rebuild the U.S. labor movement.

Verso, 289 pages, $25 | Add to cart

The Union Steward's Complete Guide, 2nd ed.

edited by David Prosten

Complement your use of Labor Notes books with Prosten's steward's primer. Whether you're a first time steward, or just need a refresher course, this book deals with the nitty-gritty skills stewards need.

Union Communication Services, 404 pages, $22.95 | Add to cart

Ramparts of Resistance

By Sheila Cohen

Labor Notes supporter Cohen examines the last three decades of worker resistance in the U.S. and Great Britain. Looking at rank-and-file labor struggles, Cohen explores issues of union democracy and the political meaning of ordinary workplace resistance--and puts forward ideas for change.

Pluto, 240 pages, $25 | Add to cart

Poor Workers' Unions: Rebuilding Labor from Below

By Vanessa Tait

Domestic workers. Undocumented immigrants. Workfare laborers. Long regarded by traditional trade unions as "unorganizable," these and millions of other poor workers are becoming the new face of labor. An essential primer to the "other labor movement," Poor Worker's Unions presents the community/labor partnerships, workers' centers, and independent caucuses that are revitalizing labor for the twenty-first century.

South End Press, 272 pages, $20 | Add to cart

The Next Upsurge: Labor and the New Social Movements

By Dan Clawson

The US labor movement may be on the verge of massive growth. Clawson argues that unions don’t grow slowly and incrementally, but rather in bursts. For there to be a new upsurge, he asserts, labor must fuse with social movements concerned with race, gender, and global justice.

Labor Notes, 235 pages, $17 | Add to cart

The Legal Rights of Union Stewards

By Robert Schwartz

One of the books most ordered for union educational programs is now available at Labor Notes! Labor lawyer Schwartz leads readers through their legal rights in a union. Not just for stewards, Legal Rights for Union Stewards puts the power of understanding sometimes tricky labor law in the hands of union members and local leaders.

Work Rights Press, 160 pages, $15 | Add to cart

Strikes, Picketing and Inside Campaigns: A Legal Guide for Unions

By Robert Schwartz

Don't let your boss be the only one that's informed on your rights as a union member to organize a strike, picket, or action. Stikes, Picketing and Inside Campaigns walks union members and leaders through their rights to speak out--a powerful tool for any union mobilizing their ranks. An easy to read resource, this book will strengthen your union's next contract campaign, work grievance action, or picket.

Work Rights Press, 164 pages, $20 | Add to cart

Blueprint For Change: A National Assessment of Winning Union Organizing Strategies

By Kate Bronfenbrenner and Robert Hickey

Despite a climate increasingly hostile to Labor, some unions have experienced organizing success. Blueprint For Change looks at a series of successful campaigns and examines what makes these organizing efforts fundamentally different from unsuccessful ones.

Cornell University Institute for Industrial Relations , 45 pages, $10 | Add to cart

Power on the Job: The Legal Rights of Working People

By Michael Yates

The legal rights of working people set in real-world context. Particular attention to the rights of women and people of color, and organizing to enforce rights.

South End Press, 289 pages, $16 | Add to cart

The Transformation of U.S. Unions: Voices, Visions, and Strategies from the Grassroots

Edited by Ray Tillman and Michael Cummings

What's wrong with U.S. unions and what can make it right? These questions are addressed in 19 essays about the grassroots union movement and union democracy.

Lynne Rienner, 297 pages, $22.50 | Add to cart