Suggested Reading

The following books on workers rights, unions and nurses may be of interest to UAN website readers.  Note that inclusion of any publication on this list does not constitute an endorsement from UAN. 

Taking Back the Workers' Law: How to Fight the Assault on Labor Rights
by Ellen Dannin with a forward by former Congressman David E. Bonior
Union activists and their supporters have argued for quite some time that the National Labor Relations Act no longer serves its original purpose, which was to promote collective bargaining.  Rather than bemoan this situation, Ellen Dannin offers a long term litigation strategy designed to overturn judicial decisions that have diverted labor law away from its original purposes.  Much like the NAACP Legal Defense Fund worked from the early 1930s through the civil rights era to use litigation to wipe out legalized discrimination, Dannin argues that labor can use a litigation strategy to return labor law to it original vision of social and industrial democracy, solidarity, justice and worker empowerment.  As Fred Feinstein, former General Council of the NLRB, puts it on the book flap, “This book is written with passion and conviction, is a pleasure to read, and doesn’t require in-depth expertise to follow.”

Nurses on the Move: Migration and the Global Health Care Economy
by Mireille Kingma
Recently a plan was announced to bring 10,000 RNs from Korea to New York to be trained to become U.S. nurses.  The Philippines is experiencing a physician shortage because so many Filipino doctors have moved to the U.S. to become nurses.  South African nurses comprise a major portion of the RN workforce in London.

This book not only highlights the problems that arise from massive nurse migration, but also presents new ways to think about migration and strategies to make migration work for the needs of nurses, patients, and the health systems of both industrialized and developing countries.  Is migration voluntary or in some way coerced?  Is it fair for developed economies to attract nurses form under developed countries where nurse vacancy rates exceed 40 percent, or does this represent a new form of colonialism?

Kingma, who consults for the International Council of Nurses in Geneva, fills the book with rich details and personal stories of migrant nurses.  This makes it a pleasure to read.

All Together Now: Common Sense for a Fair Economy
by Jared Bernstein
America’s founders saw our country as a unique opportunity to build a society that values the well-being of the majority over the interests of the few.  But over the last three decades we have turned away from the philosophy of caring for one another and our government has adopted what the author refers to as a YOYO (you’re-on-your-own) philosophy. 

No matter what problems the country faces—decaying public schools, poor health coverage, retirement insecurity, stagnant incomes and so forth--the YOYO approach is to say “Here’s a tax cut and a private account, now go fend for yourself.”  In this highly readable and creative book, Jared Bernstein, an analyst with the Economic Policy Institute, argues for an alternative approach that he calls WITT (we’re-all-in-this-together).  He shows how we can build collaborative responses to our problems, working together and using the tools of government to build a more just and equitable society.  As former Sen. John Edwards says, All Together Now explains the importance of an economy that puts people first and ensures a fair shake for all.”

The Other Women's Movement
by Dorothy Sue Cobble
The feminist movement of the 1960s, led by household names such as Betty Freidan and Gloria Steinem, is well-known.  But this is a story about a less-well-known feminist movement that began laying the groundwork for pay equity and workplace fairness as early as the 1930s.  The labor reformers portrayed in this book were part of a culturally and ethnically diverse movement that sought to end unfair discrimination based on gender, to create fairness in compensation and to have time to care for their families and communities.  Dorothy Sue Cobble, a professor of Labor Studies at Rutgers University, shows how the social reformers in the labor movement were linked to this movement for gender equity.

Also check out the AFL-CIO’s Union Shop web site, which carries most of these books and has many other good reading suggestions relating to labor unions and social and economic justice, as well as Union Communication Services, authors of the Union Steward’s Guide and other useful publications for union activists.

Other links:

• State affiliates 
• Labor organizations
• Nursing organizations
• Allied groups
• Research sources
• Health and safety
• Suggested Reading