Skilled Hands, Strong Spirits: A Century of Building Trades History Contributor(s): Palladino, Grace (Author) |
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ISBN: 0801474140 ISBN-13: 9780801474149 Publisher: ILR Press OUR PRICE: $31.63 Product Type: Paperback - Other Formats Published: May 2007 |
Additional Information |
BISAC Categories: - Political Science | Labor & Industrial Relations - Business & Economics | Economic History - Business & Economics | Industries - Construction |
Dewey: 331.881 |
Physical Information: 0.71" H x 6.06" W x 8.87" (0.93 lbs) 304 pages |
Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
Publisher Description: Skilled Hands, Strong Spirits follows the history of the Building and Construction Trades Department from the emergence of building trades councils in the age of the skyscraper; through treacherous fights over jurisdiction as new building materials and methods of work evolved; and through numerous Department campaigns to improve safety standards, work with contractors to promote unionized construction, and forge a sense of industrial unity among its fifteen (and at times nineteen) autonomous and highly diverse affiliates. Arranged chronologically, Skilled Hands, Strong Spirits is based on archival research in Department, AFL-CIO, and U.S. government records as well as numerous union journals, the local and national press, and interviews with former Department officers. Grace Palladino makes the history of the building trades come alive. By investigating the sources of conflict and unity within the Building and Construction Trades Department over time, and demonstrating how building trades unions dealt with problems and opportunities in the past, she provides a historical context for the current generation of workers and leaders as they devise new strategies to suit their current situation. |
Contributor Bio(s): Palladino, Grace: - Grace Palladino is the Codirector of The Samuel Gompers Papers at the University of Maryland, College Park. She authored Skilled Hands, Strong Spirits: A Century of Building Trades History, from Cornell. She is also the author of Teenagers: An American History; Dreams of Dignity, Workers of Vision: A History of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers; and Another Civil War: Labor, Capital, and the State in the Anthracite Regions of Pennsylvania. |