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BOOKS
 | Apollo's Fire
"For too long, we have been offered a false choice between jobs and the environment," declares Bracken Hendricks. "We will have both, or we will have neither." In "Apollo's Fire," he and co-author Rep. Jay Inslee make a persuasive argument that it's practical for us to have both—we can tame global warming, break our addiction to foreign oil and create millions of new family-supporting jobs by developing green industries and technologies. That's exactly the point of the Apollo Alliance, in which the AFL-CIO and several unions are partners. "Apollo's Fire" describes success stories such as the four Gamesa facilities in Pennsylvania, where 700 United Steelworkers members manufacture massive wind turbines; and the Electrical Workers union apprenticeship programs that train workers nationwide in solar installation. Available at .™ |
 | The Man Who Hated Work and Loved Labor: The Life and Times of Tony Mazzocchi
Long before most people did, union activist Tony Mazzocchi worried about the clouds of dust and toxic fumes workers breathed on the job, and he deserves a huge amount of credit for the creation of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). His close friends and allies ranged from Karen Silkwood to Bruce Springsteen. He pioneered blue-green alliances between unionists and environmentalists. Twice, he narrowly missed being elected president of the old Oil, Chemical and Atomic Workers—but no matter; he won impressive victories for working people on the strength of his street smarts, militancy and personal warmth. "It's hard to imagine a life better spent than Tony Mazzocchi's," says Barbara Ehrenreich. This fascinating book shows why. Available at The Union Shop Online.™ |
 | Freedom in the Workplace?
According to the conservative wing nuts, free and unregulated labor markets give workers all the freedom they need. Not so fast, says Gertrude Ezorsky, a City University of New York philosopher. What about a worker whose conscience tells her to blow the whistle on her employer for OSHA violations, or an unemployed worker offered a job that barely feeds him and his family, or an ailing worker who stays in a physically painful job so she and her kids will have health insurance? They have freedom—freedom to lose their jobs, their health insurance and their homes—and according to Ezorsky, that kind of freedom isn't worthy of the name. In addition to exploring the nature of true freedom on the job, Ezorsky offers information on a range of topics, such as outsourcing. Available at .™ |
 | Global Unions: Challenging Transnational Capital Through Cross-Border Campaigns
All union activists know corporations and financial institutions act globally, so we need to do so as well. But which strategies will work for us? You'll find plenty of answers in this book, which is based on a 2006 conference that brought together unionists, academics and non-governmental organizations' representatives from around the world. It covers the waterfront—including effective cross-border campaigns such as the ground-breaking struggle by U.S. and South African trade unionists in the 1980s against apartheid, the nuts-and-bolts of strategic research on large transnational corporations like Wal-Mart and Exxon Mobil. This book shows why "we are one" isn't just a pretty slogan—it's practical fact. Available at .™ |
WEBSITE
 | Firedoglake
"I like lying in front of the fire with my dogs and watching the Lakers," says movie producer Jane Hamsher, citing the origins of the name of the blog she started after the 2004 election. Firedoglake writers offered the most extensive live-blogging coverage of the trials surrounding the leak of Valerie Plame Wilson's identity as a CIA agent—so extensive, some of the traditional media relied on the blog as their source. From the Iraq war to union organizing and strikes, the site's distinctive strength is its original reporting with a progressive point of view. It's clear Firedoglake must be doing a lot right: Fox commentator Bill O'Reilly calls it "fascist and Nazi." |
DVD
 | Dreadful Memories: The Life of Sarah Ogan Gunning
Sarah Ogan Gunning didn't have an easy life. Born to an impoverished mining family in Kentucky, she learned about unions from her father, an activist with the Mine Workers. Gunning and her sister, known as Aunt Mollie Jackson, made their own powerful contribution to the union movement: their music. They frequently sang at union rallies and picket lines, often putting new lyrics to old songs. Gunning eventually became one of the most famous in a generation of folk singers who included Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger and Burl Ives. "Dreadful Memories," named after one of her most famous songs, tells her experiences with the help of interviews of Pete Seeger, Hazel Dickens and Archie Green—and memorializes the larger story of a dramatic moment in the movement to which she devoted much of her life. Available at . |
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