Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: From about 1900 until 1920, the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) engaged in a series of successful strikes begining in the West and continuing in the East. This project analyzes why in the East some strikes were successful while others failed. As a starting point this paper investigates arguably the most famous IWW strike, the Bread and Roses strike in Lawrence, Massachusetts in 1912, as a case study. It uses a contentious politics approach as its theoretical framework and event strucutre analysis (ESA) as its methodological technique. Previous research argues that failed repression by employers and government was the key determinants of strike success. While this factor is critical, this explanation is lacking. The relationship between mobilization, collective action, and repression is more complicated than past work suggests.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: From about 1900 until 1920, the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) engaged in a series of successful strikes beginning in the West and continuing in the East. This project analyzes why in the East some strikes were successful while others failed. This second paper in the study compares the IWW victory in Lawrence, Massachusetts in 1912 to the defeat in Patterson, New Jersey in 1913. The analysis focuses on the unstable nature of conflict between non-violent protestors and violent authorities and on the linkage between collective action and repression. These two factors are considered by examining the children’s campaigns in these two cities. These campaigns represent turning points in strike trajectories.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: Using previously unreleased data on nearly every work stoppage that occurred between 1984 and 2000, this paper tests whether the positive wage-strike relationship held following the breakdown of the post-war labor-capital accord. Unlike in decades past, these findings indicate a complete decoupling of the wage-strike relationship within most industries during the last years of the twentieth century. In those industries with the highest rates of unionization, the data suggest that increased strike activity is negatively associated with median worker pay. The findings of this paper highlight the need for rethinking existing theoretical models on strike activity and wages in an era of capital dominance.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: With the development of the resource mobilization perspective, scholars have accorded social movement organizations (SMOs) a central role in their analyses of contentious protest activity. Despite this, there has been little attempt to systematically analyze how important organizational characteristics affect the group’s deliberate use of collective action. The industrial strike represents one potentially fruitful area of research to assess SMO/protest dynamics, as labor unions have long been heavily involved in most work stoppages. A unique dataset of 70 local unions measured from 1990-2001 allows me to systematically bridge these two research traditions and address the major role of unions in individual strike efforts. The results indicate that the effects of important organizational dynamics, including bureaucracy and resource allocation, not only has a direct relationship with strike propensity but also interacts with other factors, including the militancy of the union and the industry within which the union functioned, in a number of interesting ways. For example, the negative relationship between bureaucracy and strike activity was further exaggerated when interacted with measures of union militancy. Many results such as these, I argue, demonstrate an important distinction between an SMO’s possession of power, and its need to demonstrate it through contentions activity.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: Mexican and Filipino farm workers in California formed the labor union known as the United Farm Workers of America in 1965. However, Mexican and Filipino farm workers made concerted efforts to form agricultural labor unions three decades earlier. Between 1933 and 1939, agricultural labor strikes would occur throughout California led by large numbers of Filipino and Mexican workers. This paper answers the following questions: Why were Filipino and Mexican farm workers unable to succeed in forming an agricultural labor union in the 1930s? Previous studies on California farm workers fail to provide adequate analysis of the effects of race, ethnicity, and white racism on the ability of workers of color to form a multiracial labor union. The paper argues that the failure of strikes in the 1930s are a function of white supremacy emanating from landowners, the government, organized labor, and the public at large.