دانلود کتاب Modern Manors

It is not a very long book, but it contains a lot of information and insight. I guess that is why an academic jury awarded it the Taft Prize for Labor History. The book is all about how american businesses–three in particular: Sears, Thompson, and Kodak–used sophisticated welfare capitalist techniques (and the occasional resort to brass-knuckle tactics) to defeat union organizing drives. There are fascinating glimpses at business history, collective bargaining, the evolution of employee benefits, and a dollop of labor economics thrown in for good measure in this work. The writing is accessible, well-documented, and brimful of well-chosen anecdotes without being unduly folksy or slangy. The depictions of how Sears company officials and staff labor relations professionals worked hand-in-glove with fake company unions and the Teamsters (!?) to blunt the CIO’s organizing efforts during and after World War II are particularly good. I have rated this at 5 stars because it was a rewarding read and I thought the (somewhat inadequate) 1 star review ought to be offset.