Reviews (1)

Factories in the Field
An excellent book for anyone interested in California History, US History, the Great Depression or the history of corporate agriculture.Originally released the same year as Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath, McWilliams' book relates the history of not only migrant farm labor in California, but the corporate farm as well. Having included extensive background on California's 19th Century land grab, McWilliams presents a comprehensive look at corporate agriculture, including its effect on various labor groups and the economy of the State of California.Written with a definite bias toward the underdog (the migrant worker), Factories in the Field nevertheless provides the reader with an understanding of the beginnings of corporate economy in California and its true beginnings in agriculture, including an explanation of the power of the ag growers--a political hot potato that continues in the state today. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Business & Economics    2. California    3. Labor    4. Labor & Industrial Relations - General    5. Migrant Workers    6. Migrant agricultural laborers    7. Politics / Current Events    8. Science/Mathematics    9. 20th century    10. Agriculture & related industries    11. American history: from c 1900 -    12. Political Science / Labor & Industrial Relations    13. Social classes    14. Work & labour   

Reviews (6)

This book...or an expensive situation. You do the math
I have given away quite a few copies of this book to friends who stepped into new management positions. Always, it seems, there is a situation that has been stewing for months if not years with a problem person. But dealing with the problem the RIGHT way saves money, the wrong way, well, you do the math. Sometimes problem employees can be quite clever at working the system to their favor. Other times, dismissing them or managing them improperly leads to a time bomb. Expensive any way you look at it, not to mention the time sink it can cause.
A great resource book that delivers as advertised.
This book is an excellent starter for anyone who is new to running a small company, and wants a better understanding of the legal pitfalls of employment practices and some practical advice on how to avoid them.The book does a good job in covering most of the basics of employment law, and in addition provides some tips on performance management, terminations, and investigations that should work well in the majority of situations. Nearly Flawless
Dealing With Problem Employees is an excellent resource for most organizations, especially for start up companies.This fine book investigates key employment issues such as contract employees, sexual harassment, alcohol and drug abuse, developing performance appraisals, dealing with dangerous employees, interviewing, and countless legal issues. All of the above issues are discussed from a detailed point of view as numerous examples are cited illustrating the fine line between what is proper conduct and what is illegal.Very specific examples are given how to fire someone, provide fair job references, and conduct a disciplinary hearing that motivates employees to improve. The importance of having an employee handbook is emphasized greatly. The depth is so phenomenal that there is even a section on how to fire your employment lawyer when he does you wrong.Read more

Subjects:  1. Business / Economics / Finance    2. Labor    3. Labor & Employment    4. Labor And Employment Law    5. Labor discipline    6. Labor laws and legislation    7. Law    8. Law and legislation    9. Legal status, laws, etc.    10. Management - General    11. Popular works    12. Problem employees    13. United States   

Reviews (1)

Don't Negotiate a Labor Contract Without It
"Negotiating a Labor Contract" by Charles S. Loughran is anoutstanding how-to book. Itbreaks down a highly complex subject in aneasily understood manner.There is no legal mumbo-jumbo in this book-just a practical, to the point, step-by-step overview of the entire laborcontract negotiating process. The book benefits not only the laborrelations professional. Operations people will gain a strongunderstanding of the negotiating process, including the preparationrequired prior to beginnning bargaining.It will allow managementtoposition themselves to get the best deal possible.The book's appendix includes detailed checklists on, among other items,negotiations andstrike contingency preparation.It also includes a succinct overview ofthe law controlling labor negotiations.The book was indispensable for meas a member of the negotiating team during a protracted nine-monthnegotiation that included a union reneg, a tie ratification vote,elimination of dues check-off and declaration of impasse.With each twistand turn in the road, there are people who gladly will offer advice. Throughout it all, Charles Loughran was there to keep me pointed in theright direction. I also found the book invaluable when I was assignedto be chief spokesperson for several small bargaining unit negotiations.Irecommend the book strongly to anyone who is involved, in any way, in laborcontract negotiations. I must include in this group,members ofUnionnegotiating committees.Union reps who read this book would benefitgreatly (and so would their members).It has been three years since I readthe book, but I refer back to it frequently.I also recommend it to otherswhenever possible.My hope is that the author is able to keep the bookup-to-date.The second edition is now six years old. At least one lineof his advice, that "management negotiators should seek to include a'zipper' clause" (p. 465) appears to be a concept no longer in vogueamong labor attorneys. Nevertheless, to me,Charles Loughran's work willalways be a classic of business books.Don't negotiate a labor contractwithout it. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Business & Economics    2. Business / Economics / Finance    3. Business/Economics    4. Collective Bargaining    5. Collective labor agreements    6. Handbooks, manuals, etc    7. Human Resources & Personnel Management    8. Labor    9. Labor & Industrial Relations - General   

Subjects:  1. Alien labor, Philippine    2. Anthropology - Cultural    3. Archaeology / Anthropology    4. Business & Economics    5. Business/Economics    6. Emigration & Immigration    7. Employment    8. Ethnic Studies - General    9. Filipinos    10. Foreign countries    11. Labor    12. Labor & Industrial Relations - General    13. Women domestics    14. Women's Studies - General    15. Italy    16. Philippines    17. Social & cultural anthropology    18. USA    19. Women's studies   

Subjects:  1. Business & Economics    2. Business / Economics / Finance    3. Business/Economics    4. Development - Sustainable Development    5. Discrimination    6. Discrimination in employment    7. Economic aspects    8. Foreign Exchange    9. Labor    10. Research    11. United States    12. Equal opportunities    13. Labour economics    14. Racism & racial discrimination    15. Sex discrimination   

Editorial Review

We live in an era where image is nearly everything, where the proliferation of brand-name culture has created, to take one hyperbolic example from Naomi Klein's Read more

Reviews (156)

A must read...
I live in the suburbs of a former steel mill town whose mills are now defunct.At one time we boasted the highest unemployment rate in the state, the highest murder rate per capita and were named number four in George magazine's most corrupt towns list.But we are creating jobs...Wal Mart, Sam's Club, Taco Bell, one chain store after another.My town is a prime example of the new economy - service, part-time and temp work with little room for advancement and little hope.
The overwhelming worldwide effect of branding
Ironically my sister who is a Marketing Director for a hugecorporation gave me this book.Marketing graduates and professionals may wish to know the axe they weild.
Modern Manifesto in Defense of Citizen Public Against Corporate Fascism

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Subjects:  1. Business & Economics    2. Business/Economics    3. Case studies    4. Corporate image    5. Corporations    6. Economics (Specific Aspects)    7. General    8. Industries - General    9. International - Economics    10. International - Marketing    11. Labor    12. Management    13. Politics / Current Events    14. Popular Culture   

Subjects:  1. Business & Economics    2. Business / Economics / Finance    3. Business/Economics    4. Economics - General    5. Economics - Theory    6. Labor    7. Labor Economics (Specific Aspects)    8. Labour economics   

Reviews (1)

Excellent reference
Every word of this book is valuable if you are trying to recruit and retain nurses during a shortage which is reaching crisis levels. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Business / Economics / Finance    2. Business/Economics    3. Labor    4. Medical / Nursing / General    5. Nurses    6. Nursing    7. Nursing - Management & Leadership    8. Supply and demand    9. United States   

Reviews (14)

A clumsy collection of quotes from newspapers
My oh my, does this book need some editing. It's basically a collection of quotes from newspapers that play up India's prospects in IT and software--that's all. The author conducted absolutely no original research, and resorts to hyperbole to get his point across. Poorly written, jingoistic, and poorly argued, not worth the time or money. Hard to believe Common Courage would publish such an unbalanced work.

Buy Rising Elephant and get a dictionary and history book free
How ironic that the first reasoned and comprehensive effort to explain a tectonic shift in the global balance of power, which is now impacting on many lives around the world, is called "India industry propaganda". It is after all tectonic. Ask the US National Intelligence Council on their estimates of the world in 2020, or the many opinion polls (even in the Western world) on this subject ?
Indian Industry Propaganda at its Worst
This book is nothing but a self-congratulatory epistle for India written by a man with modest writing and intellectual skills.His constant use of terms like "massive" and "huge" when describing increases in business volumes, his complete lack of significant or comparative statistics and his untamed proclivity for hyperbole leaves the reader both bored and breathless.The tale brings to mind the threats, twenty years ago, that Japan would "buy the United States and rent it back to us."That "miracle economy" has been in uninterrupted recession since at least 1990.
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Subjects:  1. Economic aspects    2. Foreign trade and employment    3. General    4. Globalization    5. History    6. History: American    7. International business enterpr    8. Investments, Foreign, and empl    9. Investments, Foreign, and employment    10. Labor    11. Politics / Current Events    12. United States - 20th Century    13. History / United States / 20th Century   

Subjects:  1. Business & Economics    2. Business/Economics    3. International - Economics    4. Labor    5. Labor & Industrial Relations - General    6. Labor laws and legislation, International    7. Labor policy    8. Politics / Current Events    9. Business & Economics / Labor    10. Economics    11. Economics | International    12. International economics    13. International trade    14. Labour economics    15. Microeconomics    16. Political economy   

Subjects:  1. Business & Economics    2. Business/Economics    3. Congresses    4. Europe    5. Labor    6. Labor & Industrial Relations - General    7. Organizational Behavior    8. Organizational change    9. Politics / Current Events    10. Public Policy - Social Policy    11. Sexual division of labor    12. Work and family    13. Labour economics    14. Sociology, Social Studies   

Subjects:  1. 1897-1962    2. 20th Century American Novel And Short Story    3. American - General    4. Characters    5. Faulkner, William,    6. Handbooks, manuals, etc    7. Labor    8. Literary Criticism    9. Literature - Classics / Criticism    10. Stories, plots, etc    11. Stories, plots, etc.    12. Business & Economics / Labor    13. English    14. Faulkner, William    15. Modern fiction    16. Novels, other prose & writers: from c 1900 -    17. USA   

Subjects:  1. 2nd cent    2. Astronomers    3. Biography    4. Greece    5. Ptolemy,    6. Business & Economics / Labor    7. Ptolemy   

Subjects:  1. Business & Economics    2. Business/Economics    3. Employment    4. Employment Of The Mentally And Physically Challenged    5. Labor    6. Labor & Industrial Relations - General    7. Learning disabled    8. Politics - Current Events    9. Services For The Mentally Challenged    10. Services for    11. United States   

Subjects:  1. Labor    2. Labor & Employment    3. Law    4. Legal status, laws, etc.    5. Miscellanea    6. Shop stewards    7. United States   

Subjects:  1. Business & Economics    2. Business / Economics / Finance    3. Business/Economics    4. Development - Business Development    5. Exports & Imports    6. Labor    7. Labour economics   

Reviews (28)

Interesting, but not quite convincing
The author primarily convinces us that homework is a tool supported by global corporations to serve as a predecessor to the arduous fifty to sixty hour work weeks expected in many professional careers.Homework is often viewed by school-aged children as a burden due to its usual stipulations of longer hours away from their friends and familial responsibilities.It can promote difficult situations within one's home, and ultimately sever family ties.For example:a child is forced by his or her parents to work on additional assignments after school, that child sometimes becomes rebellious or obnoxious in the attempt to resist the work because it is not generally seen by youngsters as a means to an end.Parents and schools are allegedly a part of an `unspoken conspiracy" to simply inflict unnecessary challenges and inconvenience on its children; rather than enrich them in academic pursuits.
A eye opening book
Greg Davis
Time to discuss homework?
Everyone might have thought at least once that it would be nice to be free from the burden of everyday homework. However, we have convinced ourselves to do homework because we think of it is an unchangeable fact, without any room for discussion about alternatives.Is homework really needed for students to improve their academic performance? John Buell, in his Closing the Book on Homework, claims that the ways in which homework is assigned in today's society is not effective, useless, and there is a need for homework reform.He emphasizes the need for reducing the burdens of homework in America's public school by discussing roles and consequences of homework and by suggesting limitations and alternatives for homework for efficient education. He insists on his points by explaining the impacts of homework on students and the relation of homework beyond the educational (school) setting: America's culture and social conditions.His argument on homework is multidimensional, convincing, and compelling.
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Subjects:  1. Education    2. Education / Teaching    3. Educational Policy & Reform    4. Home and school    5. Homework    6. Labor    7. Parent participation    8. Social Science    9. Social aspects    10. Sociology    11. Sociology - General    12. United States    13. Leisure    14. Organization & management of education    15. Study & learning skills   

Subjects:  1. Business & Economics    2. Development - Economic Development    3. Economic Policy    4. Labor    5. Labor & Industrial Relations - General    6. Minimum wage    7. Politics / Current Events    8. Politics/International Relations    9. United States    10. Wages    11. Labour economics    12. Political science & theory   

Subjects:  1. Business & Economics    2. Business / Economics / Finance    3. Business/Economics    4. Economic Conditions    5. France    6. Labor    7. Manpower policy    8. Unemployment    9. Business & Economics / Labor    10. Labour economics   

Reviews (18)

We all rate like we think...
First, I will be forthright and say that I am an unreconstructed Southerner.If that makes my review prejudiced, so be it.But I would be willing to wager that all those reviewers who critisize this work and give it only 1 or 2 starrs, while glowingly giving indirect 5 star recommendations to Gutman's works, are just as prejudiced the other way.The fact of the matter is that 'we' rate like we think and no volume of material is going to sway our preconceived or 'brainwashed' notions.
Still a Classic
One of the all-time classics in the genre of economic history, there have been very few more controversial books in the past half-century. There are still those today who call Fogel a racist or (as one other commentator did) an apologist for slavery. These people more than miss the point of this work. The profitability of slavery has nothing to do with the morality of it, as the authors point out. This is a survey and analysis of previously unresearched data. Fogel and Engerman take the first systematic look at data on slave movement, working conditions, life expectancy, and the economies of scale in both free labor and slave labor in the South.
A Great Example of Bad History
Fogel and Engerman's "Time on the Cross" was used in one of my junior history classes. The professor had us read it, write a paper on it and then, after we handed in our papers, demolished the book in class. He assigned it entirely as an example of sloppy historical research and how something well written can be convincing even if its based on deeply flawed information. Read more

Subjects:  1. Economic aspects    2. History - U.S.    3. History: American    4. Labor    5. Slavery    6. United States    7. United States - Civil War    8. American history: c 1500 to c 1800    9. American history: c 1800 to c 1900    10. Labour economics    11. Slavery & emancipation    12. USA