Resources for Scholars Who Support Workers’ Rights

The following resources may be useful to scholars who wish to do research or writing in support of workers’ freedom to unionize and bargain collectively:

  • Organizing Research Network: multi-disciplinary research network in formation. For further information, contact Fred Feinstein,ff31@umail.umd.edu, or Larry Mishel, lmishel@epinet.org.
  • University of California Institute for Labor and Employment (ILE): awards research grants to California-based scholars and their non-California research partners. See ILE’s web site, http://www.ucop.edu/ile/, for further information.
  • AFL-CIO/ Michigan State University Conference: October 2002 research conference on workers’ rights, especially the freedom to unionize and bargain collectively. See the conference web site, http://www.lir.msu.edu/event/worker-rights/, for more information.
  • Industrial Relations Research Association (IRRA): has a Labor Unions/Labor Research interest section. For further information, contact section conveners Jill Kriesky, ikriesky@wvu.edu, or Gordon Pavy, gpavy@aflcio.org.
  • American Sociological Association: has a newly formed Labor and Labor Movements section.
  • Labor and Working Class History Association (LAWCHA): an organization of scholars, union members, students and citizens promoting a wider understanding of the history of working class people, their communities, and their organizations in the United States. See LAWCHA’s web site,http://www.lawcha.org/, for more information.
  • United Association for Labor Education (UALE): national organization of university and union-based labor educators; publishes the Labor Studies Journal. For more information, see UALE’s web site, http://www.uale.org.
  • Society for the Promotion of Human Rights in Employment (SPHRE) for information.
  • Human Rights Watch: last year, Human Rights Watch, one of the world’s leading human rights organizations, published a major report on the status of workers’ freedom to unionize, bargain collectively and strike in the United States. The report, entitled UNFAIR ADVANTAGE: Workers’ Freedom of Association in the United States under International Human Rights Standards, is available on-line atwww.hrw.org/reports/2000/uslabor/.