Labor Under Fire: A History of the AFL-CIO since 1979

Minchin (North American history, La Trobe Univ., Australia) has written the first comprehensive history of the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) from the Ronald Reagan era to the presidency of George W. Bush. Minchin had first access to AFL-CIO archives as well as interviews with numerous labor leaders. Here he recounts labor's fall from a political and economic powerhouse in the 1960s to a marginalized movement with fewer private sector members and a precarious base built on public sector unionism in the 21st century. Since 1981, corporations demanded give backs, union-busting consultants stymied organizing, and unsympathetic politicians from both parties promoted antiunion policies. AFL-CIO leaders struggle to turn a moribund bureaucracy into a social and economic movement yet deindustrialization, Reagan Democrats, and the low-wage service economy reduced the power of workers to organize. According to the author, the Federation cannot defend economic gains once sacrosanct, clings to Democrats who take labor support for granted, and fights concerted antiunion attacks by an increasingly conservative Republican Party.