Solidarity Nevermore

About the Book

Holding on to the “Solidarity Forever” past has labor unions near extinction. Embracing nonunion human resources management (HRM) practices such as merit pay, peer juries in disciplinary matters, market based compensation structures, and skill based promotions puts unions in the mainstream culture of American individualism. And in competition with union-free employers through union initiated improvements upon HRM practices. Rejecting strikes, because they scare the unorganized justifiably and are an employer weapon for busting unions today, forces unions to focus on cooperative yet persuasive approaches with employers to recognize employees as stakeholders on a par with CEO’s and stockholders. Ceding employers the right to establish “company unions” exposes the unorganized to the potential of employee elected representation at workplaces in today’s union-free environment and provides independent unions with inroads to compete with employers. That’s the gist of Solidarity Nevermore — Union Organizing and American Individualism.

About the Author

Ken Gagala is a native of Hamtramck, Michigan and has a PH.D. in Economics from Michigan State University. He’s worked with hundreds of union organizers through the New York State School of Industrial and Labor Relations - Cornell University, the University of Minnesota, and the AFL – CIO’s George Meany Center for Labor Studies. This book is a sequel to his Union Organizing and Staying Organized. He resides in San Luis Obispo, California and Hilo, Hawaii.