What Workers Want

By Richard B. Freeman and Joel Rogers

Book Overview

Praise for the first edition: "This very valuable book reports the results of a large-scale and complex survey aimed at understanding the preferences of employees regarding workplace governance and their attitudes toward the three key institutions in the labor market: unions, government, and firms.... The findings are... sophisticated and convincing.... This is a terrifically useful book that contains a wealth of information."--Labor History"What Workers Want is one of the most ambitious efforts ever undertaken to determine the attitudes of employees about the American workplace.... An extremely important contribution to the long and often heated debates that swirl around these issues."--Ralph Nader"What Workers Want is a sharply focused study of how American workers think about workplace participation. This book is a message about workplace democracy that union leaders would do well to build into their organizing strategies."--Dissent"This is easily one of the most readable books on industrial relations matters written by academics in recent times. The authors are able simultaneously to engage the reader in an almost folksy manner, while also being quite rigorous in their presentation of data. There should be more such books."--Journal of Industrial RelationsHow would a typical American workplace be structured if the employees could design it? According to Richard B. Freeman and Joel Rogers, it would be an organization run jointly by employees and their supervisors, one where disputes between labor and management would be resolved through independent arbitration. Their groundbreaking book provides a comprehensive account of employees' attitudes about participation, representation, and regulation on the job.For the updated edition, the authors have added an introduction showing how recent data have confirmed and strengthened their basic argument. A new concluding chapter lays out the model of "open source unionism" that they propose for rebuilding unionism in the United States, making this updated edition essential for anyone thinking about what labor should be doing to move forward.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 080147325X
• ISBN13: 9780801473258
• Release Date: August 2006
• Publisher: ILR Press
• Length: 256 Pages
• Weight: 0.80 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 6.0" x 8.9"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

What Workers Want

Finally a book that ask's workers what they want, rather than some pontification of a organizational theory or anecdotal information by a Ivory Tower Guru. The authors used a multi-part survey that ask workers about what they wanted - participation in the organizations is what the workers seeked. Workers voiced their opinion in that they believe that greater participation in their jobs and organizations would both benefit the organization and the employee. The authors, Richard Freeman, Ascherman Professor of Economics at Harvard and Joel Rogers MacArthur Professor of Law, Political Science, and Sociology at the Univesity of Wisconsin believe representation and participation of the workers at their jobs would benefit both the employee and employer, who would gain a more engaged and committed workforce. A interesting section in the book covers, "Why Care about What Workers Want? The authors answer these questions with some thoughtful discussion. Compelling and honest! I thoroughly recommend it to Executives, Administrators, Managers and Human Resources professionals! I