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Unions and the City: Negotiating Urban Change

Online ISBN:
9781501712692
Print ISBN:
9781501706547
Publisher:
Cornell University Press
Book

Unions and the City: Negotiating Urban Change

Ian Thomas MacDonald (ed.)
Ian Thomas MacDonald
(ed.)
University of Montreal
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Published online:
18 January 2018
Published in print:
1 June 2017
Online ISBN:
9781501712692
Print ISBN:
9781501706547
Publisher:
Cornell University Press

Abstract

Labor unions remain the largest membership-based organizations in major North American cities. As unions become more involved in the daily life of the city, they find themselves confronting the familiar dilemma of how to fold union priorities into broader campaigns that address non-union workers and the lives of union members beyond the workplace. If we are right to believe that the future of the labor movement is an urban one, union activists and staffers, urban policymakers, elected officials, and members of the public alike will require a fuller understanding of what impels unions to become involved in urban policy issues, what dilemmas structure the choices unions make, and what impact unions have on the lives of urban residents, beyond their members. This book serves as a road map toward both a stronger labor movement and a socially just urbanism. It presents the findings of a collaborative project which investigated how and why labor unions were becoming more involved in urban regulation and urban planning. It assesses the effectiveness of this involvement in terms of labor goals as well as broader social consequences of union strategies, such as expanding access to public services, improving employment equity, and making neighborhoods more affordable. Focusing on four key economic sectors (film, hospitality, green energy, and child care), the book reveals that unions can exert a surprising level of influence in various aspects of urban policymaking and that they can have a significant impact on how cities are changing and on the experiences of urban residents.

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