Guest Workers and Resistance to U.S. Corporate Despotism (Working Class in American History)

Political scientist Immanuel Ness thoroughly investigates the use of guest workers in the United States, the largest recipient of migrant labor in the world. Ness argues that the use of migrant labor is increasing in importance and represents despotic practices calculated by key U.S. business leaders in the global economy to lower labor costs and expand profits under the guise of filling a shortage of labor for substandard or scarce skilled jobs. Drawing on ethnographic field research, government data, and other sources, Ness shows how worker migration and guest worker programs weaken the power of labor in both sending and receiving countries. His in-depth case studies of the rapid expansion of technology and industrial workers from India and hospitality workers from Jamaica reveal how these programs expose guest workers to employers' abuses and class tensions in their home countries while decreasing jobs for American workers and undermining U.S. organized labor. Where other studies of labor migration focus on undocumented immigrant labor and contend immigrants fill jobs that others do not want, this is the first to truly advance understanding of the role of migrant labor in the transformation of the working class in the early twenty-first century. Questioning why global capitalists must rely on migrant workers for economic sustenance, Ness rejects the notion that temporary workers enthusiastically go to the United States for low-paying jobs. Instead, he asserts the motivations for improving living standards in the United States are greatly exaggerated by the media and details the ways organized labor ought to be protecting the interests of American and guest workers in the United States.

Business & Money

Ness, Immanuel

Economics

University of Illinois Press

Political scientist Immanuel Ness thoroughly investigates the use of guest workers in the United States, the largest recipient of migrant labor in the world. Ness argues that the use of migrant labor is increasing in importance and represents despotic practices calculated by key U.S. business leaders in the global economy to lower labor costs and expand profits under the guise of filling a shortage of labor for substandard or scarce skilled jobs. 
Drawing on ethnographic field research, government data, and other sources, Ness shows how worker migration and guest worker programs weaken the power of labor in both sending and receiving countries. His in-depth case studies of the rapid expansion of technology and industrial workers from India and hospitality workers from Jamaica reveal how these programs expose guest workers to employers' abuses and class tensions in their home countries while decreasing jobs for American workers and undermining U.S. organized labor. 
Where other studies of labor migration focus on undocumented immigrant labor and contend immigrants fill jobs that others do not want, this is the first to truly advance understanding of the role of migrant labor in the transformation of the working class in the early twenty-first century. Questioning why global capitalists must rely on migrant workers for economic sustenance, Ness rejects the notion that temporary workers enthusiastically go to the United States for low-paying jobs. Instead, he asserts the motivations for improving living standards in the United States are greatly exaggerated by the media and details the ways organized labor ought to be protecting the interests of American and guest workers in the United States.

Southern Insurgency: The Coming of the Global Working Class (Wildcat)

The site of industrial struggle is shifting. The West needs to look further if it wants to understand how workers’ self-organisation is developing in countries it too often ignores. Across the Global South, peasant communities are forced off the land to live and work in harsh and impoverished conditions. Inevitably, new methods of combating the spread of industrial capitalism are evolving in ambitious, militant and creative ways. Southern Insurgency will lead the way in examining these organisations in the contemporary era. Immanuel Ness looks at three key countries: China, India and South Africa. In each case he considers the broader historical forces at play – the effects of imperialism, the decline of the trade union movement, the class struggle and the effects of the growing reserve army of labour. For each case study, he narrows his focus to reveal the specifics of each grassroots insurgency: the militancy of the miners in South Africa, the new labour organisations in India and export promotion and the rise of worker insurgency in China. A result of intensive, dedicated firsthand research, at the heart of Southern Insurgency is a study of the nature of the new industrial proletariat in the Global South – a terrifying, precarious existence – but also one of experimentation, solidarity and struggle.

Pluto Press

Even as labor in the developed world seems to be in retreat, industrial struggle continues elsewhere—and with particular force in the Global South. In Southern Insurgency, Immanuel Ness provides a thorough and expert perspective of three key countries where workers are fighting the spread of unchecked industrial capitalism: China, India, and South Africa. In each case, he considers the broader historical forces in play, such as the effects of imperialism, the decline of the international union movement, class struggle, and the growing reserve of available labor. He then narrows his focus in each case on the specifics of the current grassroots insurgency: the militancy of miners in South Africa, new labor organizations in India, and the rise of worker insurgencies in China.   The product of extensive firsthand field research, Southern Insurgency paints a picture of the new industrial proletariat in the Global South—a group that lives a precarious, frightening existence yet at the same time offers hope for new approaches to solidarity and the anti-capitalist struggle.

Organizing Insurgency: Workers' Movements in the Global South (Wildcat)

<div>Workers in the Global South are doomed through economic imperialism to carry the burden of the entire world. While these workers appear isolated from the Global North, they are in fact deeply integrated into global commodity chains and essential to the maintenance of global capitalism. Looking at contemporary case studies in India, the Philippines and South Africa, this book affirms the significance of political and economic representation to the struggles of workers against deepening levels of poverty and inequality that oppress the majority of people on the planet. Immanuel Ness shows that workers are eager to mobilise to improve their conditions, and can achieve lasting gains if they have sustenance and support from political organisations. From the Dickensian industrial zones of Delhi to the&nbsp;agrarian oligarchy on the island of Mindanao, a common element remains - when workers organise they move closer to the realisation of socialism, solidarity and equality.</div>

Central Labor Councils are the local arm of the labor movement responsible for coordinating collective activities among different unions in a region. Once quite powerful organizations with important political roles at local and regional levels, CLCs waned significantly during the 1940s and 50s.This work examines the recent re-emergence of Central Labor Councils and how they are being utilized as effective bodies to help rejuvenate the labor movement. It combines comprehensive history of the CLCs in America since the early 19th century and case studies by CLC leaders in Atlanta, Milwaukee, San Jose, and Seattle -- the regions where CLCs have re-emerged as important players in advancing the labor movement.

Central Labor Councils and the Revival of American Unionism:: Organizing for Justice in Our Communities

Eimer, Stuart

Routledge

Central Labor Councils are the local arm of the labor movement responsible for coordinating collective activities among different unions in a region. Once quite powerful organizations with important political roles at local and regional levels, CLCs waned significantly during the 1940s and 50s.
This work examines the recent re-emergence of Central Labor Councils and how they are being utilized as effective bodies to help rejuvenate the labor movement. It combines comprehensive history of the CLCs in America since the early 19th century and case studies by CLC leaders in Atlanta, Milwaukee, San Jose, and Seattle -- the regions where CLCs have re-emerged as important players in advancing the labor movement.

Central Labor Councils and the Revival of American Unionism:

This ground-breaking look at contemporary immigrant labor organizing and mobilization draws on participant observation, ethnographic interviews, historical documents, and new case studies of three organizing drives. The expert contributors provide tangible evidence of immigrants' eagerness for collective action and organizing. Parting company with mainstream thinking, they argue lucidly that immigrants' propensity to organize stems from social isolation. Many of the contributors highlight a specific ethnic group and special labor niches, such as the dominance of Punjabi in the New York City taxi industry. Each case study examines efforts beyond the conventional unions to organize the immigrants, such as worker centers and independent syndicalism on the job. An essential text for courses in labor-relations and immigrant studies, the book takes into account the latest debates in the fields of labor studies, urban studies, sociology, and political science.

The New Urban Immigrant Workforce: Innovative Models for Labor Organizing

Jayaraman, Sarumathi

First Published in 2017. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor &amp; Francis, an Informa company.

Encyclopedia of World Cities

Politics & Social Sciences

Social Sciences

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Ness, Immanuel. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Ness, Immanuel

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Ness, Immanuel. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Guest Workers and Resistance to U.S. Corporate Despotism (Working Class in American History)

Guest Workers and Resistance to U.S. Corporate Despotism (Working Class in American History)

Southern Insurgency: The Coming of the Global Working Class (Wildcat)

Southern Insurgency: The Coming of the Global Working Class (Wildcat)

Organizing Insurgency: Workers' Movements in the Global South (Wildcat)

Organizing Insurgency: Workers' Movements in the Global South (Wildcat)

Central Labor Councils and the Revival of American Unionism:: Organizing for Justice in Our Communities

Central Labor Councils and the Revival of American Unionism:

The New Urban Immigrant Workforce: Innovative Models for Labor Organizing

Encyclopedia of World Cities