Today, most Americans lack constitutional rights on the job. Instead of enjoying free speech or privacy, they can be fired for almost any reason or no reason at all. This book uses history to explain why. It takes readers back to the 1930s and 1940s when advocates across the political spectrum - labor leaders, civil rights advocates and conservatives opposed to government regulation - set out to enshrine constitutional rights in the workplace. The book tells their interlocking stories of fighting for constitutional protections for American workers, recovers their surprising successes, explains their ultimate failure, and helps readers assess this outcome.

Read the detailed and absorbing chronicle of Martin Luther King's leadership during the most tumultuous period in America's recent past—featuring a foreword by Dr. Bernice King. Martin Luther King Jr. is known for famous speeches such as I Have a Dream, and his ability to inspire the people of the United States to demand equality, regardless of the color of their skin. His ability to lead has cemented himself as one of America's greatest civil rights advocates. And in today's world, his wisdom and teachings are needed more than ever. Martin Luther King Jr., On Leadership chronicles the actions of Martin Luther King Jr.'s life and identifies the key leadership skills he displayed such as: Practice what you preach Take direct action without waiting for other agencies to act Give credit where credit is due Laws only declare rights, they do not deliver them And much more . . . This book is part history and part guide to becoming a great leader, inspired by Martin Luther King Jr., an advocate to peaceful change while never wavering in making the opposition listen and give in.

Over the last fifty years in the United States, unions have been in deep decline, while income and wealth inequality have grown. In this timely work, editors Richard Bales and Charlotte Garden - with a roster of thirty-five leading labor scholars - analyze these trends and show how they are linked. Designed to appeal to those being introduced to the field as well as experts seeking new insights, this book demonstrates how federal labor law is failing today's workers and disempowering unions; how union jobs pay better than nonunion jobs and help to increase the wages of even nonunion workers; and how, when union jobs vanish, the wage premium also vanishes. At the same time, the book offers a range of solutions, from the radical, such as a complete overhaul of federal labor law, to the incremental, including reforms that could be undertaken by federal agencies on their own.