Unionized public employees' attitudes in the United States and the possibility of developing a labor party.
Item
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Title
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Unionized public employees' attitudes in the United States and the possibility of developing a labor party.
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Identifier
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AAI8801683
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identifier
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8801683
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Creator
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Bosworth, Stefan.
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Contributor
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Adviser: Bogden Denitch
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Date
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1987
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Language
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English
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Publisher
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City University of New York.
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Subject
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Sociology, Industrial and Labor Relations
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Abstract
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This dissertation asks whether the American trade union movement is going to continue with the traditional union politics of the last three quarters of a century which has been to punish its enemies and to reward its friends or whether it will follow a new political direction and form a labor party. The research focuses on public employees unions because they have been the most organizationally active in the last thirty years. It is believed by the researcher that any change in the political direction of the trade union movement will take place in growth areas of the trade union movement.;The research is divided into two sections: a historical section and a field research project. The historical section gives a brief history of the development of the American trade union movement with particular attention paid to the development and growth of public employees unions. This historical section of the research also focuses on the relationship of the radical movement to the trade union movement.;The field research project focuses on public employees in two distinct areas of the country: New Orleans and New York. Since the research was done in only two areas of the country and only among a small number of workers, approximately 135 respondents, this project must be considered a pilot project.;The results of the research indicate important findings for at least the public employees interviewed. The respondents were fairly optimistic about the future, dissatisfied with their unions, disenchanted with the two major political parties and indicated that there was some support for a labor party.;The results do not come from a large enough sample to indicate whether these feelings are widespread or confined to these two groups of workers. It remains unknown whether the passive support that did exist for a labor party could be turned into active support. There is no indication from the research of a major shift in the political direction among public employees unions, or trade unions in general, away from the traditional trade union politics of supporting one of the two major political parties towards the idea of developing and supporting a labor party.
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Type
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dissertation
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Source
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PQT Legacy CUNY.xlsx
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degree
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Ph.D.
