Labor in the Age of Finance

Download Labor in the Age of Finance PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Princeton University Press
ISBN 13 : 0691217203
Total Pages : 368 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (912 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Labor in the Age of Finance by : Sanford M. Jacoby

Download or read book Labor in the Age of Finance written by Sanford M. Jacoby and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2021-06 with total page 368 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From award-winning economic historian Sanford M. Jacoby, a fascinating and important study of the labor movement and shareholder capitalism Since the 1970s, American unions have shrunk dramatically, as has their economic clout. Labor in the Age of Finance traces the search for new sources of power, showing how unions turned financialization to their advantage. Sanford Jacoby catalogs the array of allies and finance-based tactics labor deployed to stanch membership losses in the private sector. By leveraging pension capital, unions restructured corporate governance around issues like executive pay and accountability. In Congress, they drew on their political influence to press for corporate reforms in the wake of business scandals and the financial crisis. The effort restrained imperial CEOs but could not bridge the divide between workers and owners. Wages lagged behind investor returns, feeding the inequality identified by Occupy Wall Street. And labor’s slide continued. A compelling blend of history, economics, and politics, Labor in the Age of Finance explores the paradox of capital bestowing power to labor in the tumultuous era of Enron, Lehman Brothers, and Dodd-Frank.

Framed!

Download Framed! PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Cornell University Press
ISBN 13 : 1501728547
Total Pages : 265 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (17 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Framed! by : Christopher R. Martin

Download or read book Framed! written by Christopher R. Martin and published by Cornell University Press. This book was released on 2018-08-06 with total page 265 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Christopher R. Martin argues that the mainstream news media (and the large corporations behind them) put the labor movement in a bad light even while avoiding the appearance of bias. Martin has found that the news media construct "common ground" narratives between labor and management positions by reporting on labor relations from a consumer perspective. Martin identifies five central storytelling frames using this consumer orientation that repeatedly emerged in the news media coverage of major labor stories in the 1990s: the 1991–94 shutdown of the General Motors Willow Run Assembly Plant in Ypsilanti, Michigan; the 1993 American Airlines flight attendant strike; the 1994–95 Major League Baseball strike, the 1997 United Parcel Service strike, and the 1999 protests against the World Trade Organization's conference in Seattle. In Martin's view, the news media's consumer "take" on the labor movement has the effect of submerging issues of citizenship, political activity, and class relations, and elevating issues of consumption and the myth of a class-free America. Instead of facilitating a public sphere, the democratic ideal in which the public can engage in discovery and rational-critical debate, Martin says, news organizations have fostered a consumer sphere, in which public discourse and action is defined in terms of consumer interests—the impact of strikes, lock-outs, shut-downs, and protests on the general consumer economy and the price, quality, and availability of things such as automobiles, airline flights, and baseball tickets.

Hog Wild

Download Hog Wild PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : University of Iowa Press
ISBN 13 : 1609385853
Total Pages : 305 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (93 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Hog Wild by : Lynn Waltz

Download or read book Hog Wild written by Lynn Waltz and published by University of Iowa Press. This book was released on 2018-05-15 with total page 305 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The story of Joe Luter and Smithfield -- Cheap labor built on a legacy of slavery -- Lots of pigs, lots of poop, lots of politics, lots of pollution -- The plant opens, the work is beastly, the union fight heats up -- The first union vote -- The plant changes southeastern North Carolina -- The company woman -- The second union vote, 1997 -- The trial : Buffkin and Luter testify -- The judge rules -- Organizing on the road -- Gene Bruskin rides into town -- The union campaign, Harris Teeter -- Ludlum is back : Immigration enforcement tightens -- Workers walk off the job -- The stockholders, secret talks, stalemate -- Rico, the settlement, the third union vote, the end

Steelworker Alley

Download Steelworker Alley PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Cornell University Press
ISBN 13 : 9780801486005
Total Pages : 238 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (86 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Steelworker Alley by : Robert Bruno

Download or read book Steelworker Alley written by Robert Bruno and published by Cornell University Press. This book was released on 1999 with total page 238 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For retired steelworkers in Youngstown, Ohio, the label "working class" fits comfortably. Questioning the widely held view that laborers in postwar America have adopted middle-class values, Robert Bruno shows that in this community a blue-collar identity has provided a positive focus for many residents.The son of a Youngstown steelworker, Bruno returned to his hometown seeking to understand the formation of his own working-class consciousness and the place of labor in the larger capitalist society. Drawing on interviews with dozens of former steelworkers and on research in local archives, Bruno explores the culture of the community, including such subjects as relations among co-workers, class antagonism, and attitudes toward authority. He describes how, because workers are often neighbors, the workplace takes on a feeling of neighborhood. He also demonstrates that to understand class consciousness one must look beyond the workplace, in this instance from Youngstown's front porches to its bowling alleys and voting booths. Written with a deeply personal approach, Steelworker Alley is a richly detailed look at workers which reveals the continuing strength of class relationships in America.

The New Politics of Transnational Labor

Download The New Politics of Transnational Labor PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : ILR Press
ISBN 13 : 1501733206
Total Pages : 217 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (17 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis The New Politics of Transnational Labor by : Marissa Brookes

Download or read book The New Politics of Transnational Labor written by Marissa Brookes and published by ILR Press. This book was released on 2019-03-15 with total page 217 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Over the years many transnational labor alliances have succeeded in improving conditions for workers, but many more have not. In The New Politics of Transnational Labor, Marissa Brookes explains why this dichotomy has occurred. Using the coordination and context-appropriate (CCAP) theory, she assesses this divergence, arguing that the success of transnational alliances hinges not only on effective coordination across borders and within workers' local organizations but also on their ability to exploit vulnerabilities in global value chains, invoke national and international institutions, and mobilize networks of stakeholders in ways that threaten employers' core, material interests. Brookes uses six comparative case studies spanning four industries, five countries, and fifteen years. From dockside labor disputes in Britain and Australia to service sector campaigns in the supermarket and private security industries to campaigns aimed at luxury hotels in Southeast Asia, Brookes creates her new theoretical framework and speaks to debates in international and comparative political economy on the politics of economic globalization, the viability of private governance, and the impact of organized labor on economic inequality. From this assessment, Brookes provides a vital update to the international relations literature on non-state actors and transnational activism and shows how we can understand the unique capacities labor has as a transnational actor.

Predatory Value Extraction

Download Predatory Value Extraction PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 0192585983
Total Pages : 325 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (925 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Predatory Value Extraction by : William Lazonick

Download or read book Predatory Value Extraction written by William Lazonick and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2019-12-04 with total page 325 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Predatory Value Extraction explains how an ideology of corporate resource allocation known as 'maximizing shareholder value' (MSV) that emerged in the 1980s came to dominate strategic thinking in business schools and corporate boardrooms in the United States. Undermining the social foundations of sustainable prosperity, it resulted in employment instability, income inequity, and slow productivity growth. In explaining what happened to sustainable prosperity, William Lazonick and Jang-Sup Shin focus on the growing imbalance between value creation and value extraction in the U.S. economy, and the corporate-governance institutions that determine this balance in the nation's major business corporations. The imbalance has become so extreme that predatory value extraction is now a central economic activity, to the point at which the U.S. economy as a whole can be aptly described as a value-extracting economy. Balancing the contributions of economic actors to value creation with their power to extract value provides the foundation for stable and equitable economic growth. When certain economic actors are able to assert their power to extract far more value than they contribute to the value-creation process, an imbalance occurs which, when extreme, leads to dire economic, political, and social consequences. This book not only explores these consequences, but also sets out an agenda for restoring sustainable prosperity.

Everyday Transgressions

Download Everyday Transgressions PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Cornell University Press
ISBN 13 : 1501715763
Total Pages : 200 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (17 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Everyday Transgressions by : Adelle Blackett

Download or read book Everyday Transgressions written by Adelle Blackett and published by Cornell University Press. This book was released on 2019-04-15 with total page 200 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The book's breadth and grounding in labor law make it most accessible and useful to a professional audience, but even nonspecialists and lay readers will appreciate Blackett's insights about law and domestic work and provocative issues such as social stratification and immigration.― Choice Adelle Blackett tells the story behind the International Labour Organization's (ILO) Decent Work for Domestic Workers Convention No. 189, and its accompanying Recommendation No. 201 which in 2011 created the first comprehensive international standards to extend fundamental protections and rights to the millions of domestic workers laboring in other peoples' homes throughout the world. As the principal legal architect, Blackett is able to take us behind the scenes to show us how Convention No. 189 transgresses the everyday law of the household workplace to embrace domestic workers' human rights claim to be both workers like any other, and workers like no other. In doing so, she discusses the importance of understanding historical forms of invisibility, recognizes the influence of the domestic workers themselves, and weaves in poignant experiences, infusing the discussion of laws and standards with intimate examples and sophisticated analyses. Looking to the future, she ponders how international institutions such as the ILO will address labor market informality alongside national and regional law reform. Regardless of what comes next, Everyday Transgressions establishes that domestic workers' victory is a victory for the ILO and for all those who struggle for an inclusive, transnational vision of labor law, rooted in social justice.

Private Regulation of Labor Standards in Global Supply Chains

Download Private Regulation of Labor Standards in Global Supply Chains PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Cornell University Press
ISBN 13 : 150175453X
Total Pages : 252 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (17 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Private Regulation of Labor Standards in Global Supply Chains by : Sarosh Kuruvilla

Download or read book Private Regulation of Labor Standards in Global Supply Chains written by Sarosh Kuruvilla and published by Cornell University Press. This book was released on 2021-04-15 with total page 252 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Private Regulation of Labor Standards in Global Supply Chains examines the effectiveness of corporate social responsibility on improving labor standards in global supply chains. Sarosh Kuruvilla charts the development and effectiveness of corporate codes of conduct to ameliorate "sweatshop" conditions in global supply chains. This form of private voluntary regulation, spearheaded by Nike and Reebok, became necessary given the inability of third world countries to enforce their own laws and the absence of a global regulatory system for labor standards. Although private regulation programs have been adopted by other companies in many different industries, we know relatively little regarding the effectiveness of these programs because companies don't disclose information about their efforts and outcomes in regulating labor conditions in their supply chains. Private Regulation of Labor Standards in Global Supply Chains presents data from companies, multi-stakeholder institutions, and auditing firms in a comprehensive, investigative dive into the world of private voluntary regulation of labor conditions. The picture he paints is wholistic and raw, but it considers several ways in which this private voluntary system can be improved to improve the lives of workers in global supply chains.

Injury Impoverished

Download Injury Impoverished PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
ISBN 13 : 1108488706
Total Pages : 311 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (84 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Injury Impoverished by : Nate Holdren

Download or read book Injury Impoverished written by Nate Holdren and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2020-04-09 with total page 311 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Combining archival research, critical theory, and gender- and disability-analysis, Nate Holdren argues that Progressive Era reform to employee injury law created new employment discrimination against disabled people and a new injury culture that treated employees and their injuries instrumentally.

Workers without Borders

Download Workers without Borders PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Cornell University Press
ISBN 13 : 1501729160
Total Pages : 112 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (17 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Workers without Borders by : Ines Wagner

Download or read book Workers without Borders written by Ines Wagner and published by Cornell University Press. This book was released on 2018-11-15 with total page 112 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How the European Union handles posted workers is a growing issue for a region with borders that really are just lines on a map. A 2008 story, dissected in Ines Wagner’s Workers without Borders, about the troubling working conditions of migrant meat and construction workers, exposed a distressing dichotomy: how could a country with such strong employers’ associations and trade unions allow for the establishment and maintenance of such a precarious labor market segment? Wagner introduces an overlooked piece of the puzzle: re-regulatory politics at the workplace level. She interrogates the position of the posted worker in contemporary European labour markets and the implications of and regulations for this position in industrial relations, social policy and justice in Europe. Workers without Borders concentrates on how local actors implement European rules and opportunities to analyze the balance of power induced by the EU around policy issues. Wagner examines the particularities of posted worker dynamics at the workplace level, in German meatpacking facilities and on construction sites, to reveal the problems and promises of European Union governance as regulating social justice. Using a bottom-up approach through in-depth interviews with posted migrant workers and administrators involved in the posting process, Workers without Borders shows that strong labor-market regulation via independent collective bargaining institutions at the workplace level is crucial to effective labor rights in marginal workplaces. Wagner identifies structures of access and denial to labor rights for temporary intra-EU migrant workers and the problems contained within this system for the EU more broadly.

Human Rights in Labor and Employment Relations

Download Human Rights in Labor and Employment Relations PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Cornell University Press
ISBN 13 : 9780913447987
Total Pages : 256 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (479 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Human Rights in Labor and Employment Relations by : James A. Gross

Download or read book Human Rights in Labor and Employment Relations written by James A. Gross and published by Cornell University Press. This book was released on 2009 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Collection of papers on the proposition that workers' rights are human rights and how they relate to labour activism and advocacy in a market-driven global economy. Considers health and safety at the workplace, child labour, freedom of association, protection of migrant and forced labour, human rights from a corporate perspective, employment discrimination, etc., referring to the situation in the United States and other industrial countries, and elsewhere. Includes an ILO contribution, co-authored by Barbary Murray, entitled "Human rights of workers with disabilities".

Freelancing Expertise

Download Freelancing Expertise PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Cornell University Press
ISBN 13 : 0801460387
Total Pages : 273 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (14 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Freelancing Expertise by : Debra Osnowitz

Download or read book Freelancing Expertise written by Debra Osnowitz and published by Cornell University Press. This book was released on 2010-10-15 with total page 273 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Contract work is more important than ever—for better or for worse, depending on one's perspective. The security once implied by a full-time job with a stable employer is becoming rarer, thereby erasing one of the major distinctions between "freelance work" and a "steady gig." Why hang on to a regular job for the sake of security if security can no longer be assumed? Instead, contractors, hired temporarily for specific knowledge and skills, market their expertise as they move from project to project. Even though their employment is precarious, a great many consider freelancing preferable to holding a "regular" job: the control they feel over their time and careers is well worth the risks that come with relatively uncertain cash flow. Freelancing Expertise is a qualitative study of decision making, work practices, and occupational processes among writers and editors who work in print and Web communications and programmers and engineers who work in software and systems development. Debra Osnowitz conducted sixty-eight extended interviews with representatives of both groups and twelve interviews with managers and recruiters, observed four different work settings in which contractors work alongside employees, and monitored blogs and online discussions among contractors. As a result, she provides a unique and sensitive assessment of a cultural shift in occupations and organizations.Osnowitz calls for a reconfiguration of the employer/employee relationship that accepts more variation and flexibility: just as "freelancing" has, over time, taken on many traits considered characteristic of traditional career paths, so might regular jobs make themselves more appealing to today's workforce by mimicking some of the positive aspects of transactions between clients and contract workers.

New Working-Class Studies

Download New Working-Class Studies PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Cornell University Press
ISBN 13 : 1501718576
Total Pages : 291 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (17 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis New Working-Class Studies by : John Russo

Download or read book New Working-Class Studies written by John Russo and published by Cornell University Press. This book was released on 2018-08-06 with total page 291 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "We put the working class, in all its varieties, at the center of our work. The new working-class studies is not only about the labor movement, or about workers of any particular kind, or workers in any particular place—even in the workplace. Instead, we ask questions about how class works for people at work, at home, and in the community. We explore how class both unites and divides working-class people, which highlights the importance of understanding how class shapes and is shaped by race, gender, ethnicity, and place. We reflect on the common interests as well as the divisions between the most commonly imagined version of the working class—industrial, blue-collar workers—and workers in the 'new economy' whose work and personal lives seem, at first glance, to place them solidly in the middle class."—from the Introduction In John Russo and Sherry Lee Linkon's book, contributors trace the origins of the new working-class studies, explore how it is being developed both within and across fields, and identify key themes and issues. Historians, economists, geographers, sociologists, and scholars of literature and cultural studies introduce many and varied aspects of this emerging field. Throughout, they consider how the study of working-class life transforms traditional disciplines and stress the importance of popular and artistic representations of working-class life.

Promise Unfulfilled

Download Promise Unfulfilled PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Cornell University Press
ISBN 13 : 9780801441868
Total Pages : 240 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (418 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Promise Unfulfilled by : Philip L. Martin

Download or read book Promise Unfulfilled written by Philip L. Martin and published by Cornell University Press. This book was released on 2003 with total page 240 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Prologue--what went wrong? -- California farm labor -- History of farm labor -- Farm worker unions -- The ALRA, ALRB, and elections -- Employer and union unfair labor practices -- Strikes and remedies -- Nontraditional farm worker unions -- Immigration and agriculture.

A Behavioral Theory of Labor Negotiations

Download A Behavioral Theory of Labor Negotiations PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Cornell University Press
ISBN 13 : 9780875461793
Total Pages : 468 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (617 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis A Behavioral Theory of Labor Negotiations by : Richard E. Walton

Download or read book A Behavioral Theory of Labor Negotiations written by Richard E. Walton and published by Cornell University Press. This book was released on 1991 with total page 468 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this book, Walton and McKersie attempt to describe a comprehensive theory of labor negotiation. The authors abstract and analyze four sets of systems of activities which they believe account for much of the behavior found in labor negotiations. The first system of activities, termed "distributive bargaining," comprises competitive behaviors that are intended to influence the division of limited resources. The second system is made up of activities that increase the joint gain available to the negotiating parties, referred to as "integrative bargaining." They are problem-solving behaviors and other activities which identify, enlarge and act upon the common interests of the parties. The third system includes activities that influence the attitudes of the parties toward each other and affect the basic relationship bonds between the social units involved. This process is referred to as "attitudinal structuring." The fourth system of activities, which occurs as an integral aspect of the inter-party negotiations, comprises the behaviors of a negotiator that are meant to achieve consensus within one's own organizations. This fourth process is called "intra-organizational bargaining." Each sub process has its own set of instrumental acts or tactics. Therefore, each of the four model chapters is followed by a chapter on the tactics which implement the process. These chapters translate the model into tactical assignments and include an abundance of supporting illustrations from actual negotiations. This study should be of interest to several audiences, including students and teachers of industrial relations, social scientists interested in the general field of conflict resolution, as well as practitioners of collective bargaining and other individuals directly involved in international negotiations. The overall theoretical framework has been derived by a mixture of inductive and deductive reasoning. Extensive fieldwork and several dozen printed case studies have provided the bulk of the empirical data. In terms of meaning, the study has three touchstones: the field of collective bargaining; the field of conflict resolutions; and the underlying disciplines of economics, psychology, and sociology.

Behind the Kitchen Door

Download Behind the Kitchen Door PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Cornell University Press
ISBN 13 : 0801467594
Total Pages : 207 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (14 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Behind the Kitchen Door by : Saru Jayaraman

Download or read book Behind the Kitchen Door written by Saru Jayaraman and published by Cornell University Press. This book was released on 2013-02-12 with total page 207 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Sustainability is about contributing to a society that everybody benefits from, not just going organic because you don't want to die from cancer or have a difficult pregnancy. What is a sustainable restaurant? It's one in which as the restaurant grows, the people grow with it."-from Behind the Kitchen Door How do restaurant workers live on some of the lowest wages in America? And how do poor working conditions-discriminatory labor practices, exploitation, and unsanitary kitchens-affect the meals that arrive at our restaurant tables? Saru Jayaraman, who launched the national restaurant workers' organization Restaurant Opportunities Centers United, sets out to answer these questions by following the lives of restaurant workers in New York City, Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, Miami, Detroit, and New Orleans. Blending personal narrative and investigative journalism, Jayaraman shows us that the quality of the food that arrives at our restaurant tables depends not only on the sourcing of the ingredients. Our meals benefit from the attention and skill of the people who chop, grill, sauté, and serve. Behind the Kitchen Door is a groundbreaking exploration of the political, economic, and moral implications of dining out. Jayaraman focuses on the stories of individuals, like Daniel, who grew up on a farm in Ecuador and sought to improve the conditions for employees at Del Posto; the treatment of workers behind the scenes belied the high-toned Slow Food ethic on display in the front of the house. Increasingly, Americans are choosing to dine at restaurants that offer organic, fair-trade, and free-range ingredients for reasons of both health and ethics. Yet few of these diners are aware of the working conditions at the restaurants themselves. But whether you eat haute cuisine or fast food, the well-being of restaurant workers is a pressing concern, affecting our health and safety, local economies, and the life of our communities. Highlighting the roles of the 10 million people, many immigrants, many people of color, who bring their passion, tenacity, and vision to the American dining experience, Jayaraman sets out a bold agenda to raise the living standards of the nation's second-largest private sector workforce-and ensure that dining out is a positive experience on both sides of the kitchen door.

I Am Not a Tractor!

Download I Am Not a Tractor! PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Cornell University Press
ISBN 13 : 1501714309
Total Pages : 424 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (17 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis I Am Not a Tractor! by : Susan L. Marquis

Download or read book I Am Not a Tractor! written by Susan L. Marquis and published by Cornell University Press. This book was released on 2017-12-15 with total page 424 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: I Am Not a Tractor! celebrates the courage, vision, and creativity of the farmworkers and community leaders who have transformed one of the worst agricultural situations in the United States into one of the best. Susan L. Marquis highlights past abuses workers suffered in Florida’s tomato fields: toxic pesticide exposure, beatings, sexual assault, rampant wage theft, and even, astonishingly, modern-day slavery. Marquis unveils how, even without new legislation, regulation, or government participation, these farmworkers have dramatically improved their work conditions. Marquis credits this success to the immigrants from Mexico, Haiti, and Guatemala who formed the Coalition of Immokalee Workers, a neuroscience major who takes great pride in the watermelon crew he runs, a leading farmer/grower who was once homeless, and a retired New York State judge who volunteered to stuff envelopes and ended up building a groundbreaking institution. Through the Fair Food Program that they have developed, fought for, and implemented, these people have changed the lives of more than thirty thousand field workers. I Am Not a Tractor! offers a range of solutions to a problem that is rooted in our nation’s slave history and that is worsened by ongoing conflict over immigration.