On Strike for Respect

About the Book

It is we who push the papers, put the paychecks in the mail;
It is we who type the letters, mind the office without fail.
And until we get a contract, it is we who'll shut down Yale, For the union makes us strong.

(To the tune of "John Brown's Body")

"Must reading for anyone who wants to learn what a revitalized labor movement would look like." -- Labor Notes

"A textbook on solidarity unionism." -- Staughton Lynd

"One of the very best books on labor in the 1970s and 80s." -- Dana Frank, University of California at Santa Cruz

"There are very few case studies in recent labor history as readable and provocative as this one." -- Karen Sawislak, Stanford University

On Strike for Respect is a lively account of the 1984-85 strike by clerical and technical workers at Yale University. Members of Local 34, with a strong female majority, mobilized themselves and the public, breathing new life into the labor movement as they fought for and won substantial gains. A short update on current conditions concludes this volume.