The New Rank and File

Much has changed for workers in the years since Staughton and Alice Lynd's classic Rank and File: Personal Histories by Working-Class Organizers was first published in 1973. The New Rank and File presents interviews with working-class organizers of the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s who face the challenges of a new economy with the same determination and creativity shown by those profiled in the earlier book. Reflecting the increasing globalization of labor practices-and problems-The New Rank and File contains oral histories of workers in Guatemala, Palestine, Nicaragua, Mexico, and Canada, as well as the United States.In their narratives, rank-and-file workers from many different industries and workplaces reveal the specific incidents and pervasive injustices that triggered their activism. They discuss the frustrations they faced in attempting to effect change through traditional means, and the ways in which they have learned to advocate through innovation. In an incisive introduction, the Lynds set forth their distinctive perspective on the labor movement, with a focus on "solidarity unionism": making decisions on the assumption that we all may be leaders at one time or another rather than relying on static hierarchies. Their insights, along with true stories told in the organizers' own words, contain much to inspire a new generation of workers and activists.Jim BrophyTony BudakAndrea CarneyChinese Staff and Workers' AssociationCoalition of University EmployeesBill DiPietroKay EisenhowerRich FeldmanThe Frente Autentico del TrabajoMarshall GanzMia GiuntaMartin GlabermanMayra GuillenThe Hebron Union of Workers and General Service PersonnelHugo HernandezMargaret KeithElly LearyEd MannCharlie McCollesterVirginia RomanVicky StarrGary StevensonMike StoutManuela Aju TambrizJames TrevathanTriState Conference on SteelMauricio VallejosWorkers for Ford in Mexico

About the Author :
Staughton and Alice Lynd practiced employment law for years as Legal Services attorneys. They now work with prisoners as well as rank-and-file workers. Staughton Lynd is the author of Living Inside Our Hope: A Steadfast Radical's Thoughts on Rebuilding the Movement, also from Cornell. The Lynds have jointly edited Nonviolence in America: A Documentary History and Homeland: Oral Histories of Palestine and Palestinians.

Review :
"Once you're done with fictional working people, read about real ones in The New Rank and File... Readers get a look at the lives of organizers from a variety of backgrounds and traditions."-Labor Notes, February 2001 "This book looks at labor issues from the movement's rank and file and is invaluable for academic collections in social movements, labor history, and industrial/organizational psychology."-Library Journal, October 1, 2000. "The New Rank and File ... serves to amplify the voices of women and workers from outside the United States. Issues like globalization, NLRB elections, Weingarten rights, downsizing, 'just-in-time' production,' and worker-management 'cooperation' get insightful treatment."-Eric O'Neil, Impact, October, 2000. "For the past thirty years Alice and Staughton Lynd have done groundbreaking work in giving voice to rank and file workers... The timing of The New Rank and File could not be better. Not only does it provide us with a number of inspiring largely unreported rand and file stories, it contributes greatly to the questions facing the labor movement... It is must reading for anyone either working in the labor movement or looking to it as a force for social change... The stories in The New Rank and File are testimony to the fact that rank and file solidarity unionism are happening in more places than most of us realize."-Andy Piascik, The (Assoc. for Union Democracy). November, 2000 "In an inspiring series of pieces by rank-and-file activists and organizers from many sectors of the labor movement, the Lynds demonstrate the type of grassroots approach that the labor movement needs if we are to achieve the strength needed to win against a global, wealthy and well-armed foe... The Lynds have done a fantastic job of pulling together workers into a book that provides innumerable examples of strategies that work, not in someone's theory about organizing, but in actual jobs. If you want to read about the IWW's ideas, then read this book."-Joshua Freeze, Industrial Worker. January/February 2001 "Alice and Staughton Lynd know something that most people who write about Unions do not: that the heart and sinew of the labor movement are its rank-and-file leaders. In this innovative, highly important book, the Lynds chronicle the lives of these committed union activists, and in the process renew one's faith in collective action and humanity. The New Rank and File offers a unique perspective from two people who have devoted their lives to making America a better country."-William Serrin, former New York Times labor reporter and author of Homestead: The Glory and Tragedy of an American Steel Town "The Lynds do it again; The New Rank and File beautifully captures the authentic voice of working-class America in all of its complexity, diversity, and international dimensions. A critical document for our times, this is precisely the kind of book we need if we are to build a new movement."-Robin D. G. Kelley, author of Yo' Mama's DisFunktional!: Fighting the Culture Wars in Urban America "In every case these interviews with everyday heroes leave you wanting to know more about how they did what they did. Their conviction that power belongs with the rank and file is exactly what the labor movement needs."-Jane Slaughter, Labor Journalist "This collection of oral histories from workers around the world is a tool for raising class consciousness and building solidarity. My hope for the liberation of all workers is heightened by these accounts of courage, dignity, and perseverance of common people."-Eric O'Neil, Laborers Local 265, Cincinnati