Striking Steel: Solidarity Remembered (Critical Perspectives on the Past)

Rating:
Summary: Unions make a difference
Review: In these memoirs by the son of a steelworker union rep, Metzger does a great job explaining how steelworkers and their Union created a middle class in steel towns across the U.S. by repeatedly striking during the 1950's. He brings to life the dry legalistic contract language, that steelworkers walked off the job for 119 days to protect and shows how when backed by a strong union and dedicated union reps, these words gave ordinary workers the tools to get respect on the job even when the boss wasn't keen on giving it. His history of the 1959 strike is well documented and he does a good job explaining why so many others got it wrong.

Rating:
Summary: Leads to better understanding of labor issues
Review: Striking Steel is well written. The author did a massive amount of research and shows an understanding of the deeper underlying labor issues. While we may not always agree on the issues, I came away with a better understanding of why it is sometimes necessary for unions to strike. Even though Mr. Metzgar did not drive the point that all of us--even those of us with comfy office jobs--have better working conditions because unions have demanded them, his recitation of working conditions in the 20th century, made me realize this is so. It is when he brings the issues home--literally--to show how they shaped his family and neighborhood that the book takes on life. Statistics, theory, and conjecture are fine--but the reality of the lives of the workers is where the book has its greatest impact.