Running the Rails: Capital and Labor in the Philadelphia Transit Industry

ISBN-13: 9781501702402 / Angielski / Twarda / 2016 / 304 str.

James Wolfinger

Opis

Philadelphia exploded in violence in 1910. The general strike that year was a notable point, but not a unique one, in a generations-long history of conflict between the workers and management at one of the nation's largest privately owned transit systems. In Running the Rails, James Wolfinger uses the history of Philadelphia s sprawling public transportation system to explore how labor relations shifted from the 1880s to the 1960s. As transit workers adapted to fast-paced technological innovation to keep the city s people and commerce on the move, management sought to limit its employees rights. Raw violence, welfare capitalism, race-baiting, and smear campaigns against unions were among the strategies managers used to control the company s labor force and enhance corporate profits, often at the expense of the workers and the city s well-being.Public service workers and their unions come under frequent attack for being a "special interest" or a hindrance to the smooth functioning of society. This book offers readers a different, historically grounded way of thinking about the people who keep their cities running. Working in public transit is a difficult job now, as it was a century ago. The benefits and decent wages Philadelphia public transit workers secured advances that were hard-won and well deserved came as a result of fighting for decades against their exploitation. Given capital s great power in American society and management's enduring quest to control its workforce, it is remarkable to see how much Philadelphia s transit workers achieved."