Book contents
- The Cambridge Handbook of Labor and Democracy
- The Cambridge Handbook of Labor and Democracy
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Contributors
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- Part I Labor and Democracy: Theory and Practice
- Part II History, Politics, and Law
- 5 Sectoral Bargaining in the United States
- 6 The Lever and the Fulcrum
- 7 “Industrial Democracy” in the United States, Past and Present
- 8 Holding On
- 9 Unions and the Democratic First Amendment
- Part III Labor, Diversity, and Democracy
- Part IV Country and Regional Perspectives
- Part V Labor and Democracy Sectoral Case Studies: Platform Workers, Higher Education, and the Care Industry
- Index
- References
7 - “Industrial Democracy” in the United States, Past and Present
from Part II - History, Politics, and Law
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 25 January 2022
- The Cambridge Handbook of Labor and Democracy
- The Cambridge Handbook of Labor and Democracy
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Contributors
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- Part I Labor and Democracy: Theory and Practice
- Part II History, Politics, and Law
- 5 Sectoral Bargaining in the United States
- 6 The Lever and the Fulcrum
- 7 “Industrial Democracy” in the United States, Past and Present
- 8 Holding On
- 9 Unions and the Democratic First Amendment
- Part III Labor, Diversity, and Democracy
- Part IV Country and Regional Perspectives
- Part V Labor and Democracy Sectoral Case Studies: Platform Workers, Higher Education, and the Care Industry
- Index
- References
Summary
This chapter first scans the historical context of the “labor question” in the United States and the radically diverse interpretations and experimentation with “industrial democracy,” widely seen as the answer.Second, it outlines how industrial democracy ultimately came to have meaning through collective bargaining, with the enactment of the 1935 National Labor Relations Act, and how optimism about the law’s promise and achievements turned into disenchantment. Third, the essay sketches the glimmerings of industrial democracy’s revival, with the labor question’s reemergence.Creative experimentation is underway, older notions are being reimagined, collective action is on the rise, and the threat posed by worker’s diminished bargaining power is a matter of public debate.
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- Information
- The Cambridge Handbook of Labor and Democracy , pp. 117 - 126Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2022