Book Description

A one-stop resource for setting up or improving an existing payroll system

The most comprehensive resource available on the subject, Accounting for Payroll: A Comprehensive Guide provides up-to-date information to enable users to handle payroll accounting in the most cost-effective manner.

From creating a system from scratch to setting up a payroll department to record-keeping and journal entries, Accounting for Payroll provides the most authoritative information on the entire payroll process. Ideal for anyone new to the payroll system or as a skill-honing tool for those already immersed in the field, this hands-on reference provides step-by-step instructions for setting up a well-organized payroll system or improving an existing one.

Featuring checklists, a dictionary of payroll terms, information on Internet payroll sources, and much more, Accounting for Payroll shows CFOs, controllers, accounting managers, and systems analysts how to:

• Create a payroll department from scratch
• Increase the efficiency of the payroll function through best practices
• Reduce payroll data entry time and transactional errors
• Evaluate the services of a payroll outsourcing provider
• Set up and maintain an outsourcing relationship
• Set up an efficient payroll system

Reviews (7)

A Classic in the Field of Social and Labor History
Well, it took me darn near a month to finish this monster (800+ pages) of a book. Can't say I regret the experience, though. Truly , this is a masterpiece, both in terms of its substance and its approach. I could quite easily write more then a thousand words on this book, but hey, this is Amazon, right?

Before I begin, I would like to state up front that I am not a historian or a graduate student of history. Please forgive me if my review contains incorrect statements.

"The Making of the English Working Class" is precisely what its (awkward) title describes: a history of the developments leading to the emergence of the modern industrial working class in England (and Scotland, sort of. Wales and Ireland are excluded, although Irish immigrants living in England to figure in some parts of the book). The time period covered is roughly the 1790's to the 1840's. Thompson starts with a description of "Dissent", discusses the influence of the French Revolution on that tradition (Dissent), spends a good chunk of the book describing the effect of the industrial revolution on the lives and lifestyles of the workers in industrial England, and then spends an equal amount of time describing the reaction of the workers and their leaders to this adjustment in circumstances.

Along the way, Thompson takes a hatchet to historians on the left, right, and center. His section on the change in circumstances of the workers in England is most critical of writers like F.A. Hayek, i.e. those writers who try to say that the industrial revolution "wasn't that bad" or "wasn't bad at all" for the workers. He devotes a good part of Part II of the book to attacking the methods of statistical or economic history. His preference is to use documentary evidence of the time. In this way, the book (published in the 60's) is a forerunner of historical "postmodernism"(Oh, please forgive me for the term), where authors abandon "objective" evidence (economic statistics) in favor of "subjective" evidence (pamphlets, letters and newspapers).

I guess that's hardly a revolutinary arguement now-a-day, but back then, I can hardly imagine.
His section on the reaction of workers to the industrial revolution is rather more critical to historians of the left and center, who sought to discount the violence associated with the Luddite movement as somehow unrepresentative of the working class movement in England. Thompson's revisionist history of the Luddite movement is a tour de force. Really, it's breathtaking.

In my opinion, the book kind of loses steam after that section. Thompson has some harsh words for the London based "leaders" of the workers movement, and I felt his discussion of Owenism left too much to the readers imagination. I don't suppose this book was meant for someone with only a loose grounding in English history, but none the less, that's what I have, so I'm just stuck.

To the extent that I have anything critical to say about this book, it's that Thompson at times presupposes a graduate level education in English history. I haven't read AJP Taylor or Hayek or any of the other authors Thompson attacks. IN the end, though, I felt like it didn't hurt my enjoyment of this book. I would highly recommend it, although you should set aside a good chunk of time to make your way from beginning to end.

More on the Peter Smith edition of E.P. Thompson
One of America's best small independent publishing houses is---Peter Smith of Gloucester, Massachusetts! The individual's name is also the name of the company, which explains the incorrect ID by the earlier reviewer.

For many years Peter Smith (man & company) has provided reprints of essential scholarly and other works in affordable hardcover editions. The only way to continue this helpful service is by keeping production costs low, which occasionally leads to the regrettable results detailed below. The resulting profit margins are too low to interest the goliaths of the book world, but scholars and other customers (not to mention libraries with tight acquisition budgets) are profoundly grateful for what is perhaps as much a public service as a business decision. Why not order their catalog and give 'em some much-needed business? You'll probably spot other worthwhile classics....For instance, my library includes James Malin, "Grassland of North America" and Wesley Frank Craven, "Soil Exhaustion as a Factor in the Agricultural History of Virginia & Maryland," two fine early environmental histories that are virtually impossible to find apart from Peter Smith's editions.

I hope this isn't being too hard on the earlier reviewer, but I thought the matter needed clarification. The earlier reviewer's disappointment surely reflects his admiration for EP Thompson's work, which I certainly share---it's arguably the greatest history of the 20th century.

Correction to inanity of other reviews
Thompson's book is THE ground-breaking work of social history for our century, pioneering in the "history of everyday life" (also taken up by Foucault, de Certeau, Davis, etc.); the history of working people; and the consideration of culture in the past. Unlike most other social history it is also brilliantly written and accessible. Buy it.

The hardback of the Making
Buyers beware of the hardback version of E. P Thompson's classic work The Making of the English Working Class. Firstly, note that the hardback is a 1966 edition. This means that is does not have Thompson's 1968 postscript, nor his 1980 preface (it probably also misses the author's 1968 revisions, but I have not checked this). Secondly, this is not an organically produced hardback: the picture on the cover is glued on, and the spine does not have the author's name (instead, it has the name 'Peter Smith" - so who the hell is Peter Smith?). All in all, a shocker for the purists, or any serious scholar.

A classic full of sympathy with the losers of the first Indu
strial revolution.

E.P. Thompson's magnum opus is a real classic. No serious student of social history should omit reading it! As a history student, I had read it more than 25 years ago. When I reread large parts of it, recently, I noticed - with the life experience acquired since that time - that the book is an even finer gem than I remembered.

It is clear that the author shows a certain bias in favour of the "losers" of the first Industrial Revolution: the English artisans in the textile trade, who in the late 18th and early 19th century were being reduced to the position of factory workers condemned to work under appalling conditions. But this bias does not substract anything from the worth of this study. On the contrary, such bias, or rather such sympathy towards the groups the author focuses on, is probably necessary to motivate a historian in examining his subject in such detail and writing such a full report about the activities of Jacobites, Luddites, Owenites, Chartists and all the other groups who did not accept the oppressing social and economic order of their time. Of course, such sympathy (or bias) should be kept in check by professional rigour, which is certainly the case in profesor Thompson's magnificent study.

The author persuasively argues that, during the generation between 1815 and 1848, England had come much closer to a Revolution of the kind France had gone through between 1789 and 1794, than the "Whig Interpretation of History" would make us believe.

Some of Thompson's assertions are not beyond dispute. He claims, for instance, that the position of the English poor had definitely deteriorated compared to the 18th century. It has been convincingly shown that their position was already dismal long before the Industrial Revolution started. The historians' dispute over this question is still far from being concluded.

Thompson also puts forward the question how so many Englishmen of that time could have been so callously insensitive towards the suffering of the poor. He blaims it for a good part on Methodism, the creed that tended "to make man his own slave driver". He approvingly cites a late 19th century historian: "A more appalling system of religious terrorism, one more fitted to unhinge a tottering intellect and to darken and embitter a sensitive nature, has seldom existed."' ... Read more

Book Description

Compiled by members of the Midwest Academy this book is a bible for anyone who wants to effectively organize to change the quality of their lives or the lives of others. Now in its third edition this book has already sold 60,000 copies in all of its editions since 1991. With new information on the trends, technology, and concerns of the new millennium, this edition of Organizing for Social Change will help concerned citizens bring about needed changes by learning from the experiences of those who have succeeded. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

This is it!
This manual takes you through waht you need to know about organizing. From strategy development to research to implementation, this book shows you how to do it. Well written and simple to understand. Outstanding reference for novice to experienced organizer.

The best purchase you can make and you won't need to buy others. ... Read more

Book Description

A practical, straight-talking guide to thriving in today's tumultuous workplace

According to author Linda Dominguez, today's turbulent work environment is rife with advancement opportunities for those who know how to seize them. In How to Shine at Work she describes 14 surefire strategies, as well as dozens of techniques and tips, for charting a course through today's work environment and coming out at the head of the pack.

Among other things, readers learn how to deal with ever-changing bosses; market themselves to their superiors and peers; master office politics; gain visibility--even in remote office; cope with difficult workers; and land a promotion and a raise in any economy. How to Shine at Work features:

• Case studies and real-world examples taken from AT&T, Oracle, Starbucks, Prudential, and other Dominguez clients
• Quotes and words of wisdom from executives and career coaches
• Valuable self-tests, worksheets, and checklists

Reviews (2)

An eye-opening, fun read for anyone wanting to get ahead
I loved this book. The real-life examples made it so easy to apply the tools to my own situation. Dominguez's style is funny and easy to read. I have definitely gained some valuable insight and confidence to execute new strategies in my own situation.

Getting through those tough spots at work
This book is quick and funny, and is filled with self-tests and worksheets. There are great examples of how to work with difficult people (even if it's your boss) - it's about getting along, getting ahead, or getting out when necessary. Take control of your own career while staying true to yourself, have some fun, and get ahead! ... Read more

Book Description

This book analyzes consumer organizing tactics and the decline of the Seattle labor movement in the 1920s, as a case study of the U.S. labor movement in the 1920s.The book examines the transformation of the movement after the famous Seattle General Strike of 1919 by showing that workers organized not only at the point of production, but through politicized consumption as well, employing boycotts, cooperatives, labor-owned businesses, and union label promotion.It pays special attention to the gender dynamics of labor's consumer campaigns, as trade union men sought to persuade their wives to "shop union," and to the racial dynamics of campaigns organized by white workers against Seattle's Japanese-American businesses. ... Read more

Book Description

The miners' strike against Pittston Coal in 1989–1990, which spread throughout southwestern Virginia, southern West Virginia, and eastern Kentucky, was one of the most important strikes in the history of American labor, and, as Richard Brisbin observes, "one of the longest and largest incidents of civil disorder and civil disobedience in the United States in the second half of the twentieth century." The company aggressively sought to break the strike, and workers and their families used a variety of tactics—lawful and unlawful—to resist Pittston's efforts as the situation quickly turned ugly.

In A Strike like No Other Strike: Law and Resistance during the Pittston Coal Strike of 1989–1990, Richard Brisbin offers a compelling study of the exercise of political power. In considering the legal significance of the strike, Brisbin asks the larger question of whether even extreme transgression or resistance can fracture the "imagined coherence of the law." He shows how each party in the strike invoked the law to justify its actions while attacking those of the other side as unlawful. In the end, both sides lost; although the U.S. Supreme Court ultimately ruled in favor ofthe union, most of the strikers faced elimination of their jobs and an ongoing struggle for pensions and health benefits. ... Read more

Book Description

Hardbound. The Handbook of Social Choice and Welfare presents, in two volumes, essays on past and on-going work in social choice theory and welfare economics.The first volume consists of four parts.In Part 1 (Arrovian Impossibility Theorems), various aspects of Arrovian general impossibility theorems, illustrated by the simple majority cycle first identified by Condorcet, are expounded and evaluated.It also provides a critical survey of the work on different escape routes from impossibility results of this kind.In Part 2 (Voting Schemes and Mechanisms), the operation and performance of voting schemes and cost-sharing mechanisms are examined axiomatically, and some aspects of the modern theory of incentives and mechanism design are expounded and surveyed. In Part 3 (structure of social choice rules), the positional rules of collective decision-making (the origin of which can be traced back to a seminal proposal by Borda), the game-theoretic aspec ... Read more

Book Description

A searing indictment of corporate management in the roaring '90s which has shattered the future of the white-collar worker. If you look at the stock market, or at the corporate bottom line, it seems the best of times. But look into the lives of average middle managers, and we are living in the worst of times. Media attention has focused either on the horrors of massive layoffs or on episodic explosions of corporate violence. But for those millions of Americans who have neither been laid off nor "gone postal," life at the office has become a corporate nightmare: seven-day-a-week work loads; reduced salaries, pensions, or benefits; virtual enslavement to technology; and a pervasive fear about job security. What has happened to the American dream? With facts, figures, and trenchant case histories, Jill Fraser chronicles this catastrophic sea change in industry after industry: telecommunications, the media, banking, information technology, Wall Street. Her book is essential reading for anyone concerned with the future of the American economy . . . or worried about his or her own job. ... Read more

Reviews (9)

Good Analysis, Weak (and Dated) Solutions
Fraser hits the nail on the head with her hard-hitting stories and analysis of the current state of "corporate America." Hard-working employees are not reaping the rewards they really earn, and create wealth without getting any in return. What employees do get is less time off, longer workdays, more broken homes, more job insecurity, and less satisfaction out of life -- and most corporate executives are just fine with harming the ones they depend upon as long as it's profitable.

While Fraser accurately diagnoses the problems of overwork, she offers little in the way of a viable solution aside from "pick up your things and leave", especially in the current weak economy.

If you want some solutions, this book is not what you're looking for. If you do want some great writing about quality of life issues that affect all of us, especially in the corporate environment, this book is insightful and thought-provoking.

Compelling, Thought-Provoking, Unsettling
The author of this book is a professional journalist, with experience covering business for the New York Times, The New York Observer, and Forbes. She's served as an editor for Inc. Magazine and Bloomberg Personal Finance. She knows how to write in a style that grabs and holds a reader's attention. I went straight through cover-to-cover with this book, turning pages and turning down pages.

After several years of research, this book was assembled to tell the story of the nightmare that has been the life of the white collar worker in America in recent decades. Using an enticing mixture of facts and figures and real-life stories collected from people in the trenches, Fraser documents a story that cries for exposure. White collar employees from large companies will recognize-painfully-the picture that's painted, with personal histories and company names and practices illuminating the text. Page after page reveals the details of an embarrassingly destructive period in our country's corporate history. Sadly, the story continues, with complications and far-reaching implications, far beyond what's presented in White Collar Sweatshop.

You'll experience a wide range of emotions as you move through this factual report. Those emotions will range from pity to sympathy, from empathy to rage. Using the internet, Fraser found a wide range of people to open their hearts, share their experiences, and expose the questionable, unfeeling, almost inhumane acts of corporate executives. You'll read about people who invested their lives, at the expense of their families and themselves, to help build companies that later chewed them up and spit them out.

The research for this book was conducted during the late 1990s and into 2000. These were the years of the hot economy where opportunities to change jobs were plentiful. Many of the people who worked for large corporations, where this book is centered, did not leave for greener pastures; they were trapped in a never-ending cycle of working, working, working for companies-emotional and professional handcuffs that held them in a no-alternatives, no-win rut.

Since this book was written, the economy has shifted. During the slowdown of 2000-2002, employers became even more ruthless. With fewer jobs to jump to, workers had their escape routes blocked. The current reality is probably even worse than the deterioration described in Fraser's documentary. As the economy picks up, we'll see some cataclysmic changes in the relationship between employers and employees. The historical period recorded in this book will be a foundation for a major upheaval.

To understand what's coming, read this book to understand what's happened. Special note to senior corporate executives: If you want to attract, inspire, and optimize top talent, read this book to comprehend how your employees feel. Even if you're not the size of the major companies cited in the case histories, know that your future or even current employees-directly or indirectly-are influenced by the experiences described.

This book will be a catalyst for change if corporate leaders apply the knowledge they'll gain to assure that sweatshop practices are terminated.

Extra benefits: strong notes section with a number of valuable book references, as well as a comprehensive index.

Abandon Hope All Ye Who Enter
Depending on what you are looking for your will either love this book or you will hate it. I suppose that's true for all books, really, but it seemed especially true with this one. If you seek validation or some form of group-hug catharsis in knowing that you are not alone in hating your job and it's diminishing rewards then this book is for you. If, on the other hand, you know that work [isn't good] and want some kind of strategy for making it better then you will probably be disappointed. Unfortunately, for me, my reaction to was more hate than love.

I say "unfortunately" because technically it really is a good book. It is well-written and well-researched and the author really has captured a good deal of what's wrong with the workplace these days, so it's not that it was executed poorly. In fact it was often too on target. I found myself growing increasingly uncomfortable reading some of the accounts of corporate sadism. Like a rape victim who reads another woman's account of her ordeal or a veteran who reads about another soldier's experience in a desperate firefight these accounts can be very exhausting to get through at times.

The problem I had was that despite really nailing the problem the author has little to offer in the way of solutions (or hope) other than what seemed to me to be wish-upon-a-star platitudes. Now, it's really not fair to expect that one person should have the answer to over 30 years of corporate greed and profit-addicted short sightedness. Still, I felt many times that reading this book was a waste of my time since I already knew how messed up things were; I was looking for relief not a chance to relive the horror.

If you want an accurate, often excruciating, blow-by-blow account of why work [is no good] and why no matter how hard you work you will earn less and less and still get laid off then this book may be for you. If you pretty much know why you're getting shafted at work but want to find a way to avoid the pain then you probably should pass this one by.

Too liberal, yet interesting
Fraser does an excellent job of detailing many high stressed white collar jobs that continually demand more and more work. She explains the cost, and details it with smidgen of statistics and a lot of one-person stories. Though one sided, it does do an excellent job of telling her point of view.

She details the effects fanatic pace of the average white collar worker, the invasion of the professional life into the private life, the effects of layoffs, the slow erosion of benefits, and the complete absence of job security. She incorporates great stories about companies, certain people, CEOs, and certain ideas.

This book is a fluid page-turner and puts most other non-fiction books to shame. It's an easy read that captures and fascinates you.

The main flaw in the book is "evil corporation" and victimization idea, and how CEOs are just in for stock market increases. She doesn't blame the stockholders, which are often pensions and mutual funds, for supporting such short-sided CEOs. She gives the impressions that layoffs are all bad, and that they should be avoided totally, despite the health of the company and economy. Most importantly, she places no guilt on the employees who continue to endure the continuously demanding pressures of their job. Instead of quitting, they abide by their job in order to pay for their current lifestyle, despite the increasing workload and disappearing benefits. It's not the corporation's fault that there is a huge mortgage or car payments, it's purely on the employees end there.

Bottom-up analysis of corporate self-destruction
Jill Andresky Fraser's "White Collar Sweatshop" is an effective and empowering mixture of research, case histories and analysis on the subject of declining workplace conditions in the corporate world. The author's bottom-up analysis offers a vivid description of corporate self-destruction at work, and suggests why mega-mergers in certain industries (such as banking) have failed to meet expectations.

The book suggests that much of the heralded productivity gains of the 1990s were due not to the wonders of technology but to the kind of old-fashioned sweatshop labor practices that Karl Marx might have recognized in an earlier era: unpaid and compulsory overtime, cuts in pension and health benefits, homework, speed-up, etc. Fraser cites numerous sources and statistics to show that the era of the paternalistic corporation that thrived from the 1950s to the 1970s has given way to today's unsentimental corporation that values only the bottom line and regularly uses fear as a motivating factor.

However, Fraser challenges the idea that fear is a good motivator and that management failures should always be corrected by squeezing the rank and file. She cites figures showing that most companies that have suffered massive layoffs do NOT enjoy better stock market performances than other firms. Her oftentimes moving correspondence with the human casualties of this corporate callousness suggests that this is because the surviving employees become demoralized. They have learned that the rewards for their hard work may never materialize. Their teamwork suffers when workers are taught to become self-reliant but protective "free agents" of their own careers, and the tendency to self-identify with the success of the company has practically been destroyed.

Fraser also highlights the blatant and unconscionable lack of consistency in the executive suites to the call for shared pain among the workers. "Chainsaw" Al Dunlop, Jack Welch and Michael Eisner are a few of the CEOs who are criticized for accepting lavish pay-outs when their respective corporations were supposedly enduring hard times.

Fraser concludes the book with some optimism and proposes a number of suggestions that could help end sweatshop conditions, such as: caps on CEO pay, limits on the use of contingent labor, increased use of employee stock ownership plans, better benefits, and so on. Unfortunately, many of Fraser's ideas depend on their support from enlightened executives and consequently may be of little use. But with the wave of corporate scandals that have roiled America since the book's publication in early 2001, it is possible that change may be legislated anyway to help curb the public's disgust and investor mistrust of corporate America.

In the end, Fraser has succeeded in focusing our attention to the fact that the fate of business depends on the well-being of its workers. I believe that "White Collar Sweatshop" should be read by CEOs, legislators and disaffected workers alike if we are to avoid doing further damage to our lives and our economy. Highly recommended. ... Read more

Book Description

In this, the sequel to his critically acclaimed and controversial The End of Homework, John Buell extends his case against homework. Arguing that homework robs children—and parents—of unstructured time for play and intellectual and emotional development, Closing the Book on Homework offers a convincing case for why homework is an outgrowth of broader cultural anxieties about the sanctity of work itself.

After the publication of his previous book, many professional educators portrayed reducing homework as a dangerous idea, while at the same time parents and teachers increasingly raised doubts as to its continued usefulness in education.

According to Buell, the importance of play is culturally underappreciated. Not only grade schoolers, but high school students and adult workers deserve time for the kind of leisure that fosters creativity and sustains a life long interest in learning. Homework is assigned for many reasons, many having little to do with learning, including an accepted, if unchallenged, belief that it fosters good work habits for children's futures. As Buell argues convincingly, homework does more to obstruct the growth of children's minds, and consumes the time of parents and children who may otherwise develop relationships that foster true growth and learning.

A unique book that is sure to fuel the growing debate on school reform, Closing the Book on Homework offers a roadmap for learning that will benefit the wellbeing of children, parents, and teachers alike. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

humanitarian urgency
You can see even by the book's cover that the is a matter of humanitarian urgency. I am a narrow survivor of impossible abusive homework 20 years ago, motivated by conservative backlash educational theory combined with belief that I was gifted. Only an autistic skill at going into unresponsive trances averted me being driven to suicide or running away, in a situation no grown up was capable of believing was possible while it was happening. The media and publishers have always been totally closed to wanting to let the public know these things can happen, To find writers with a platform in the world of educational theory have now forced a hearing, is going to open up a whole secret history of crimes against children. ... Read more

Book Description

This elegant essay on the justice of work focuses on the fit between who we are and the kind of work we do. Russell Muirhead shows how the common hope for work that fulfills us involves more than personal interest; it also points to larger understandings of a just society. We are defined in part by the jobs we hold, and Muirhead has something important to say about the partial satisfactions of the working life, and the increasingly urgent need to balance the claims of work against those of family and community.

Against the tendency to think of work exclusively in contractual terms, Muirhead focuses on the importance of work to our sense of a life well lived. Our notions of freedom and fairness are incomplete, he argues, without due consideration of how we fit the work we do.

Muirhead weaves his argument out of sociological, economic, and philosophical analysis. He shows, among other things, how modern feminism's effort to reform domestic work and extend the promise of careers has contributed to more democratic understandings of what it means to have work that fits. His account of individual and social fit as twin standards of assessment is original and convincing--it points both to the unavoidable problem of distributing bad work in society and to the personal importance of finding fulfilling work. These themes are pursued through a wide-ranging discussion that engages thinkers from Plato to John Stuart Mill to Betty Friedan. Just Work shows what it would mean for work to make good on the high promise so often invested in it and suggests what we--both as a society and as individuals--might do when it falls short.

Book Description

In the five years following the passage of federal welfare reform law, the labor force participation of low-income, single mothers with young children climbed by more than 25 percent. With significantly more hours spent outside the home, single working mothers face a serious childcare crunch—how can they provide quality care for their children? In "Putting Children First," Ajay Chaudry follows 42 low-income families in New York City over three years to illuminate the plight of these mothers and the ways in which they respond to the difficult challenge of providing for their children’s material and developmental needs with limited resources.

Using the words of the women themselves, Chaudry tells a startling story. Scarce subsidies, complicated bureaucracies, inflexible work schedules, and limited choices force families to piece together care arrangements that are often unstable, unreliable, inconvenient, and of limited quality. Because their wages are so low, these women are forced to rely on inexpensive caregivers who are often under-qualified to serve the developmental needs of their children. Even when these mothers find good, affordable care, it rarely lasts long because their volatile employment situations throw their needs into constant flux. The average woman in Chaudry’s sample had to find five different primary caregivers in her child’s first four years, while over a quarter of them needed seven or more in that time.

This book lets single, low-income mothers describe the childcare arrangements they desire and the ways that options available to them fail to meet even their most basic needs. As Chaudry tracks these women through erratic childcare spells, he reveals the strategies they employ, the tremendous costs they incur and the anxiety they face when trying to ensure that their children are given proper care.

Honest, powerful and alarming, "Putting Children First" gives a fresh perspective on work and family for the disadvantaged. It infuses a human voice into the ongoing debate about the effectiveness of welfare reform, showing the flaws of a social policy based solely on personal responsibility without concurrent societal responsibility, and suggesting a better path for the future. ... Read more

Book Description

The history of the American labor movement is filled with advances, triumphs, setbacks, decline, and resurgence. This two-volume A-Z resource covers the history of organized labor in all of its complexity, from the dawn of the industrial revolution to the "post-industrial age." ... Read more

Book Description

For over a decade, policy makers have emphasized work as the best means to escape poverty. However, millions of working Americans still fall below the poverty line. Though many of these "working poor" remain mired in poverty for long periods, some eventually climb their way up the earnings ladder. These success stories show that the low wage labor market is not necessarily a dead end, but little research to date has focused on how these upwardly mobile workers get ahead. In "Moving Up or Moving On," Fredrik Andersson, Harry Holzer, and Julia Lane examine the characteristics of both employees and employers that lead to positive outcomes for workers.

Using new Census data, "Moving Up or Moving On" follows a group of low earners over a nine-year period to analyze the behaviors and characteristics of individuals and employers that lead workers to successful career outcomes. The authors find that, in general, workers who "moved on" to different employers fared better than those who tried to "move up" within the same firm. While changing employers meant losing valuable job tenure and spending more time out of work than those who stayed put, workers who left their jobs in search of better opportunity elsewhere ended up with significantly higher earnings in the long term – in large part because they were able to find employers that paid better wages and offered more possibilities for promotion. Yet moving on to better jobs is difficult for many of the working poor because they lack access to good-paying firms. Andersson, Holzer, and Lane demonstrate that low-wage workers tend to live far from good paying employers, making an improved transportation infrastructure a vital component of any public policy to improve job prospects for the poor. Labor market intermediaries can also help improve access to good employers. The authors find that one such intermediary, temporary help agencies, improved long-term outcomes for low-wage earners by giving them exposure to better-paying firms and therefore the opportunity to obtain better jobs.Taken together, these findings suggest that public policy can best serve the working poor by expanding their access to good employers, assisting them with job training and placement, and helping them to prepare for careers that combine both mobility and job retention strategies.

"Moving Up or Moving On" offers a compelling argument about how low-wage workers can achieve upward mobility, and how public policy can facilitate the process. Clearly written and based on an abundance of new data, this book provides concrete, practical answers to the large questions surrounding the low-wage labor market. ... Read more

Amazon.com

We live in an era where image is nearly everything, where the proliferation of brand-name culture has created, to take one hyperbolic example from Naomi Klein's No Logo, "walking, talking, life-sized Tommy [Hilfiger] dolls, mummified in fully branded Tommy worlds." Brand identities are even flourishing online, she notes--and for some retailers, perhaps best of all online: "Liberated from the real-world burdens of stores and product manufacturing, these brands are free to soar, less as the disseminators of goods or services than as collective hallucinations."

In No Logo, Klein patiently demonstrates, step by step, how brands have become ubiquitous, not just in media and on the street but increasingly in the schools as well. (The controversy over advertiser-sponsored Channel One may be old hat, but many readers will be surprised to learn about ads in school lavatories and exclusive concessions in school cafeterias.) The global companies claim to support diversity, but their version of "corporate multiculturalism" is merely intended to create more buying options for consumers. When Klein talks about how easy it is for retailers like Wal-Mart and Blockbuster to "censor" the contents of videotapes and albums, she also considers the role corporate conglomeration plays in the process. How much would one expect Paramount Pictures, for example, to protest against Blockbuster's policies, given that they're both divisions of Viacom?

Klein also looks at the workers who keep these companies running, most of whom never share in any of the great rewards. The president of Borders, when asked whether the bookstore chain could pay its clerks a "living wage," wrote that "while the concept is romantically appealing, it ignores the practicalities and realities of our business environment." Those clerks should probably just be grateful they're not stuck in an Asian sweatshop, making pennies an hour to produce Nike sneakers or other must-have fashion items. Klein also discusses at some length the tactic of hiring "permatemps" who can do most of the work and receive few, if any, benefits like health care, paid vacations, or stock options. While many workers are glad to be part of the "Free Agent Nation," observers note that, particularly in the high-tech industry, such policies make it increasingly difficult to organize workers and advocate for change.

But resistance is growing, and the backlash against the brands has set in. Street-level education programs have taught kids in the inner cities, for example, not only about Nike's abusive labor practices but about the astronomical markup in their prices. Boycotts have commenced: as one urban teen put it, "Nike, we made you. We can break you." But there's more to the revolution, as Klein optimistically recounts: "Ethical shareholders, culture jammers, street reclaimers, McUnion organizers, human-rights hacktivists, school-logo fighters and Internet corporate watchdogs are at the early stages of demanding a citizen-centered alternative to the international rule of the brands ... as global, and as capable of coordinated action, as the multinational corporations it seeks to subvert." No Logo is a comprehensive account of what the global economy has wrought and the actions taking place to thwart it. --Ron Hogan ... Read more

Reviews (133)

In-depth look at the dark side of our modern global economy
A tremendous amount of research and analysis has gone into this informative study of the dark secrets behind the brands that dominate our lives in Western society. The neglect and deliberate lack of social responsibility, both alarming and disturbing, that has become a central element to the maufacturing and business activities of some of the world's largest and most recognizeable brand names is staggering. How can these self-proclaimed leaders of our economy be so callous? Klein details their motivation and the evolution of such nefarious practices, as well as the collusion of corrupt and greedy local authorities in developing nations, which serve to sustain and propogate such injustice. On the flip side, Klein offers hope through her exaustive examination of the counter-movements that have to a degree succeeded in keeping the rampant exploitation of the afore-mentioned multinationals in check and on their toes. The book is written in an open and accessible tone, with down-to-earth interpretations of the patterns of disdain for labourers and their rights as well as for the environment and our planet's dimishing natural resources, all in an unrelenting quest to reinforce the brand name and dominate the market share. I for one will never look at brand logos such as the Nike swoosh, the same again. For that matter, thanks to this important and timely book, I will carefully monitor such questions as freedom of expression and the control that such corporations as Wal-Mart have on the content of what we as consumers have access to.

Major flaw in growth rate analysis
With in a few pages of this book I found a glaring error that somewhat negates Kliens argument. I'm refering to the claimed "astronomical" increase in advertising by corporations over 19 years. Klien shows a graph of year versus advertising expense (in billions). It starts at 50 billion (in the mid 70's) and grows to just under 200 billion in the late 1990s' (1996 I think). Anyway any first year finance student with a financial calculator can calculate what kind of increase this is. (ie present value = 50, future value = 195, n= 19 solve for interest) This calculation gives compounding annual percent increase of about 7.5 %. This, dear Naomi, is not by any stretch of imagination, is an "astronomical" rate of increase. It is essentially the rate of inflation. This is what would expect for any company that their expenses would rise with inflation. Note that share price growth rates far outstripped these advertising expenses. Infact looking at her figure (1.1 i think) you see that advertising costs basically followed the economic cycle with less spent in reccessions and more in the good times. You could draw a similar graph for wages expense etc. etc. Unfortunately the arguments constructed on the basis of "astronomical" increases of advertising expenses are therefore wrong as they as based on an incorrect premise.

This glaring bit of ignorance on the authors part causes the reader to question how else other data and information is incorrectly presented or mistakenly interpreted. To be credible the journalist/researcher/Naomi has to take a dispassionate stance and see what the numbers are actually saying rather than what you want them to say. Any thing less, and your fooling yourself and misleading your readers.

I'm not finished the book yet and I hope not to find another howler like this or I won't bother to keep going.

Ps. I'm finding the book interesting, I'm just very dissapointed in such a dreadful error in logic occurring so early in the book.

Still Relevant
Although some of the material presented here is dated, I feel that this book is still very relavent today. Everyone should be aware of the level of infiltration these brands have made in our society and our everyday lives.

There were several ideas that I took away from the book that I felt were very important (and I hadn't really read about in depth before). I particularly liked the discussion of the 'brand and not product focus' idea. I didn't enjoy the discussion of culture jamming nor did I really like the way that she tended to revisit the same events over and over through the book (the McLibel Trial).

Overall, I liked the book and it stirred my interest enough in the subject to do some research of my own into these issues.

A great read, a wonderful find
Superb, powerful impact, well written, hard to put down. A truly important book discussing today's society and the corrosive impact we all knew existed, but couldn't describe. Klein does - extremely well. She has the insider's knowledge, the perspective of one not infected, and the intellectual analysis which lets us mere mortals peek into the steel souls and hearts of today's boardrooms and corporate cabals.

A book worth having. Don't lend it out! it will grow legs and disappear!

A book that should be more widely read
Despite having become modestly dated in its details (a updated edition or follow-up work would be welcomed), Naomi Klein's book No Logo remains an important work about the blurring boundaries between global business and global culture. Since its publication, much of the globalization furor directed at Kathy Lee, McDonald's, Nike, Shell Oil, Pepsi, and others has died down or been redirected at health, local impact (e.g., Wal-Mart stores) and other important but ancillary issues (take, for example, the movie Super Size Me). The fact that the noise has subsided does not, however, mean that the problems Ms. Klein cites have disappeared. More likely, the companies subjected to such scathing public rebuke have better learned how to play the game, managing their PR more effectively and hiding further and further behind layers of subsidiaries, contractors, sub-contractors, and locked factory gates.

No Logo is a significant work, deserving to be much better known than it is. American consumers -- that is, all of us -- need to reach a much better understanding of how brand management has evolved into culture management, how Starbucks and Nike and Gap and The Body Shop and so many other companies are infiltrating our subconscious and controlling our cultural dialogues. No Logo still serves as an eye-opener for those who have been spending so much time at the mall that they have not yet seen what is going on around them.

Sadly, No Logo is not the most approachable of books for the general populace. It is over-long and over-detailed, bogging down in topics that are probably exciting to radical activists (like billboard jamming) but are sleep-inducing to most readers. Like many people who are involved in activism, Klein sometimes loses the forest for the trees, giving us so much insider detail about causes and people we don't know that we lose interest in, and attention to, her real message. My rating of only four stars, while certainly positive, derives from Klein's tendency to preach too much to the converted and spend too little time educating the as-yet unconverted.

The book is divided into four sections: No Space, No Choice, No Jobs, and No Logo. The first two sections, encompassing the first eight chapters, are well worth the price of the book by themselves. Readers will come to a new understanding of how the public spaces around them are being manipulated by mega-corporate messaging, how those corporations hide behind a public face of social consciousness, and how violently they respond when anyone seeks to question their self-proclaimed high moral ground. I would recommend these eight chapters as required reading for every third- or fourth-year high school student in America. Chapter 16, "A Tale of Three Logos," is also a fascinating account of less than admirable behavior on the parts of Nike, Shell, and McDonald's, definitely worth reading.

I can only hope that Ms. Klein will someday revisit her subject matter again, perhaps to publish a more streamlined and updated version that will reach a wider audience. She deserves the audience, and the American public needs to hear her voice. Despite her understandable tendency toward one-sidedness (perhaps necessary in this case to avoid being drowned out by Nike and McDonald's commercials and Starbucks ads), Naomi Klein's No Logo is an important book that all consuming Americans should read. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Don't Negotiate a Labor Contract Without It
"Negotiating a Labor Contract" by Charles S. Loughran is an outstanding how-to book. It breaks down a highly complex subject in an easily understood manner. There is no legal mumbo-jumbo in this book - just a practical, to the point, step-by-step overview of the entire labor contract negotiating process. The book benefits not only the labor relations professional. Operations people will gain a strong understanding of the negotiating process, including the preparation required prior to beginnning bargaining. It will allow management to position themselves to get the best deal possible. The book's appendix includes detailed checklists on, among other items, negotiations and strike contingency preparation. It also includes a succinct overview of the law controlling labor negotiations. The book was indispensable for me as a member of the negotiating team during a protracted nine-month negotiation that included a union reneg, a tie ratification vote, elimination of dues check-off and declaration of impasse. With each twist and turn in the road, there are people who gladly will offer advice. Throughout it all, Charles Loughran was there to keep me pointed in the right direction. I also found the book invaluable when I was assigned to be chief spokesperson for several small bargaining unit negotiations. I recommend the book strongly to anyone who is involved, in any way, in labor contract negotiations. I must include in this group, members of Union negotiating committees. Union reps who read this book would benefit greatly (and so would their members). It has been three years since I read the book, but I refer back to it frequently. I also recommend it to others whenever possible. My hope is that the author is able to keep the book up-to-date. The second edition is now six years old. At least one line of his advice, that "management negotiators should seek to include a 'zipper' clause" (p. 465) appears to be a concept no longer in vogue among labor attorneys. Nevertheless, to me, Charles Loughran's work will always be a classic of business books. Don't negotiate a labor contract without it. ... Read more

Book Description

"Finally, the book we've all been waiting for! With gripping tales of grassroots experiments in social justice unionism from the 1960s to the present, Vanessa Tait cracks wide open our concept of what a labor movement looks like, and shows how it can be part and parcel of movements for racial and gender justice. In the process, she does a stunning job of helping us imagine workers' movements that are creative, democratic, and, above all, build power from below-pointing the way to a vibrant future for labor."-Dana Frank, UC-Santa Cruz; author of Buy American: The Untold Story of Economic Nationalism

"A critical contribution to broadening our understanding of who and what is the labor movement in the USA. . . . Tait captures the dynamism of alternative forms of working class organization that have long been ignored. In formulating a new direction for organized labor in the USA, the history Tait addresses must become a recognized part of our foundation."-Bill Fletcher, Jr., President, TransAfrica Forum and former assistant to AFL-CIO President John Sweeney

"While the AFL-CIO and its affiliated unions desperately try to figure out how to rebuild and energize the labor movement, this exceptional book reveals that poor workers have been showing the way for the past forty years. Utilizing original documents, Tait examines . . . a wide range of movements organized by poor workers to improve their circumstances and build a more just society, including the Revolutionary Union Movement, the National Welfare Rights Organization, ACORN's Unite Labor Unions, workfare unions, and independent workers' centers. She demonstrates that these movements were founded and developed upon principles of rank-and-file control, democracy, community involvement, and solidarity and aimed to improve all aspects of workers' lives. . . . Both labor activists and labor historians will learn much from this book."-Michael Yates, author of Why Unions Matter

Reviews (4)

AN ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY BOOK
Okay, I'm biased. I'm the author of a mystery novel in current release that features a Latino private investigator as the protagonist, and I've been teaching in a rural California high school with a student population over 98% Hispanic for over twenty years. This biography, loaded with photographs and facts, is perfect for today. It clearly proves what an exceptional man Cesar Chavez was and what exceptional accomplishments that man achieved. If you have any interest in the real America, you have to read this book.

Excellent history
This very personal history of the Cesar Chavez and the UFW is a comprehensive account of the farmworkers movement and the difficulties encountered in their fight for justice and fair treatment. Very well written and illustrated.

HUELGA! Gracias Cesar.
Fight in the Fields - without a doubt, a story worthy of a thousand books. This book is simply a comprehensive history of the UFW. The struggle and the suffering must never be forgotten and continue today. A fantastic account of a imensely important movement.

To date, this is the most complete history of the UFW.
I haven't read the softcover revision, but the hardback edition of Fight in the Fields is the most complete history of the farm workers' movement led by Cesar Chavez out there. It is factual and personal. I worked with Cesar 11 years and our friendship spanned three decades. I also recommend With These Hands (Harcourt Brace) by Daniel Rothenberg for the expanded picture of farm labor around the nation. ... Read more

Book Description

ESSENTIALS OF PAYROLL

Full of valuable tips, techniques, illustrative real-world examples, exhibits, and best practices, this handy and concise paperback will help you stay up to date on the newest thinking, strategies, developments, and technologies in payroll.

"Steven has done it again. Payroll seems and is complicated to the average executive who is the decision-maker. In the past, there has not been a source for understanding the technical and practical applications of payroll. Essentials of Payroll covers each area of payroll from the initial forms in the employee file to details about payment options, deposits, and problems such as termination, manual checks, and integration with general ledger. I think this should be required reading for those executives who supervise personnel and payroll functions."
–Gail W. Sevier, CPA
Marrs, Sevier & Company LLC

"Creating effective procedures, maintaining policies, and streamlining operations are more important now than ever before. This is an excellent reference and useful guide for professionals who manage payroll, compensation, and related benefit issues."
–Clint Davies, Partner (Principal)
Berry, Dunn, McNeil & Parker ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Valuable Payroll Resource
I think this is a good beginner-to-intermediate level book about payroll. While I doubt this book can serve as your only source to setting up a payroll system (a claim never made by the author), it can serve as a valuable guide to implementing or reviewing your current payroll internal controls, best practices and payroll policy manual. It may also help you analyze whether you are paying too much money or spending too much time on your job costing system. If you like examples, the author uses many short case studies to clarify his main points.

He keeps the book up-to-date by discussing topics such as payroll information technology, current payment alternatives and Internet references. He discusses other issues in detail, such as fringe benefits, vacation pay, minimum wage laws, payroll calculations, retirement plans, and stock option plans.

Given the popularity of outsourcing the payroll function, I think the book could have went into more detail about how to select the right payroll outsource vendor and how to ensure that the outsource vendor maintains proper internal controls (e.g. obtaining an annual SAS 70 Type II). Also, I felt I could have skipped the payroll tax portion and read IRS publication 15, 15a and 15b and my state's corresponding payroll tax publication. Finally, to help improve the books longevity, the author could have either left out the current year tax rates and limitations altogether or listed Internet references where the current and future rates and limitations could be referenced.

Nevertheless, overall I think this is a good book that I will use from time to time to brush up on my payroll process knowledge. Therefore, I think the book is worth buying, reading and referencing. ... Read more