US Labor in Trouble and Transition: The Failure of Reform from Above, The Promise of Revival from Below, by Kim Moody, London; New York: Verso, 2007, 289 pp., ISBN 978-1-844671-55-7.

This book addresses two related matters. First, it provides a thoughtful and cleverly crafted analysis of the decline of the United States union movement. Second, it presents a strategy for union revival. The publication has 11 chapters which cover these issues from the perspectives of stakeholders in the labour management process. For example there are sections dealing with demographic and geographic changes; post-mortems on previous attempts to recreate more effective unions and, finally, a chapter which offers a comprehensive plan for their renewal. The book mostly has a historical focus. In this respect each discussion is inclined to make its point through presenting a contrast between industrial and post-industrial society. In making this contrast, the book stays focused on its key message(s). Moody presents argument(s) about union decline which are thoughtful, iconoclastic and embedded in a detailed discussion of economic history. In my opinion, the main strength of the book is that it provides a new and multidisciplinary way of understanding what happened to unions. It gives some convincing explanations of why the structures and institutions of post-industrial society are inherently less collective than the world in which I started my career. It replaces (or augments) views which vaguely imply that union demise is occurring because of virtual workplaces, global trade and outsourcing. In this respect, the book breaks new ground through examining the antecedents of these phenomena and resists uncritically rehashing well rehearsed arguments. Rather, it offers a rather detailed narrative which posits that industry profits have declined in the post-OPEC years because of growing competition including international competition. Employers, so the argument goes, made up the shortfall through employment relations strategies. Broadly speaking, these have been: outsourcing; adoption of what we all know as the HRM approach; and lean manufacturing, which is perhaps a specific manifestation of HRM. For the most part, this argument is well supported by data from disparate sources. One of the book’s strengths is that it incorporates an historical perspective into its argument. This approach has two advantages. First, and most importantly, it makes the work entertaining to those of us who are history buffs. I also enjoyed the way the author builds his case through moving back and forth between qualitative and quantitative consideration of various evidences. For example, the discussion of CEO salary growth is amongst the best analyses of this issue that I have seen. It incorporates information about aggregate trends as well as elements of case studies. Second, the book’s argument(s) mostly have “face-validity”; they seem to arise from, or fit with, historical circumstances and appear to be supported by data. I have three criticisms of the book. First, on several occasions points are not explained as well as I think they need to be. There are two subcomponents to this criticism. The first is that key ideas are ignored or not addressed – in what I consider to be – sufficient detail. The second subcomponent is that certain discussions are confusing and could be better explained. For example, early in the book, a discussion is presented about declining industry profits which arise from a falling return on fixed-capital. On page 13 a Table is presented that provides data that is intended to build the case that US firm profits have been in long-term decline between the years 1950 and 1972. I found this discussion somewhat unconvincing and difficult to follow. I think that more – and better – definitions would have aided the analysis. The second criticism is more serious. Certain data is inconsistent; a problem which, once discovered, shakes one’s confidence in the entire publication. For example on …