Employment Books

I've read all of Bobby Marks adventures and this is his hour of humanity. Bobby's 18 now and finds work at the local laundry service where he thinks his summer will be full of girl's and bar fights. He's hired by Sinclair, the new owner who he believes to be a great guy. Joanie returns from Europe as her family has gotten richer from invetments. Bobby goes to a party at her house and sees Sinclair with a woman who's not his wife. Bobby's summer gets harder when his father begins to grow sicker after an operation. As he's dealing with this, Joanie has him lie for her as to where she is to her parents. As Bobby goes on route with one of the other workers, he sees Sinclair with a girl and kiss her. As the girl turns, Bobby sees that it's Joanie. A week later, Joanie tells him she's pregnant. A day before, Bobby learned that his father is getting worse and the workers of the laundry keep getting hurt by faulty equiptment. Now Bobby has to decide what to do to save his friend and how to lead the local workers.
This book delt with darker elements then the previous two such as adultry and abortion in the 50's but Bobby rises to all the challenges thrown his way showing he has matured from "The Crisco Kid" to "The Summerboy."

Caroline Cooney has done it again! She has created a successful love story with over a million copies sold. She has so much talent and skill. Suntanned is an execellent example of it. I would susggest this book to any one who loves Carolyn B. Cooney's books.

Melanie King has written a well researched and reader-friendly book for those folks who experience bullying in the workplace, and who are looking to make some meaningful changes in their lives. This is not a book for victims, but rather a guide to understanding this common problem in the workplace today and practical advice for ways to deal with it. Particularly helpful was the section on coping strategies. The author sums up the philosohy of the book in the title of the final chapter, "A Slip Not a Fall." I highly recommend this book!

For the last 4 years I've been involved in helping our English graduate students find academic jobs. Hume's book was of immense help in this regard. As the placement chair, I ordered it for our department, but I also encouraged our job seekers to get their own copies. It is simply the best book out there right now covering all the ins and outs of the humanities job market. Hume's advice, always provided in clear and direct language, is deeply rooted in both her own experience as a long-time professor at Penn State who has seen many job candidates come and go and the experience of the many students with whom she successfully worked as Penn State's placement advisor. In addition to excellent insights into the dos and don'ts of writing one's job application materials--letters, c.v.'s, teaching portfolios, follow-up communications, etc.--one of the greatest strengths of the book is its presentation of the feed-back Hume received from "her" job seekers in form of long lists of questions people were asked at MLA interviews or on campus, for instance. Working with "my" graduate students, I frequently staged mock interviews with them based on a sampling of the questions provided in Hume's book. Many of our students commented to me that one of the main reasons they felt they did well at MLA or on campus in terms of handling the various and varying questions they had to engage was that they were never really caught off-guard because Hume's book seems to cover every conceivable question one could possibly be asked. Also of great help are the many sample-documents Hume included in her book--again directly taken from her successful seekers. In short, if you at all wonder about the academic job market--what it is like, how you should prepare for it, how you might want to negotiate its various stages, and even how to handle yourself in case of success (negotiating your job offer, becoming a new faculty member)--you could not do better than get your hands on this book. There might be a question or two that the book doesn't touch on--but I can't think of any right now.

This is a wonderful book. As a former Federal Women's Program Manager, I have personally used and recommended this book and have recommended it to many others who want to make the most of their Federal career. I highly recommend this book.

We have the second edition of this book, and it has been an inspiration. My daughter is taking a "gap year" before college and found a program through the book. So far our contact with the organization Venture Co has been professional and impressive. I strongly recommend this book to anybody contemplating or planning a year off. Every student should take a pause before college and this will guide you in how to do it. It even has fundraising ideas.

Ellen Dannin's new book, Taking Back the Workers' Law: How to Fight the Assault on Labor Rights, is an *easy-to-read tour de force of both labor law analysis and strategy development aimed at getting labor law to do what it was intended to do.

The most important labor law in the United States is the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), passed by Congress in 1935. This law makes certain fundamental guarantees to workers when they act together: the right to bargain collectively, the right to form, join, and assist labor organizations, the right to strike, the right to support other workers, and many others. The law clearly states that, without these rights, workers are at a distinct disadvantage in dealing with their employers, and it further says that the promotion of collective bargaining is the policy of the federal government. The Act outlaws certain employer practices, such as firing or discriminating against workers who do what the law says they can do, and it creates an agency, the National Labor Relations Board, that is ordered to create appropriate remedies for employer violations of worker rights, among other things.

However, since its passage, the federal courts of appeals and the Supreme Court, and even the NLRB itself, have thwarted the will of Congress. They have made numerous rulings that, as Dannin argues in her book, undermine and often completely deny the rights the Act is supposed to guarantee. Today, employers can permanently replace striking workers, even after the employer locks them out in a labor dispute. If there is an impasse in negotiations, the employer can simply put into effect its last contract proposal rather than reach a negotiated settlement. A company can shut down its operations to avoid unionization, and close part of its operations simply to lower labor costs. Whenever there has been a conflict between workers' rights under the NLRA and employer common law (the law made by judges through their decisions) and master and servant rights, judges have invariably come down on the side of common law, refusing even to try to find compromises that would protect both rights. Recent Republican presidents, such as the Bushes and Reagan, have appointed people to the NLRB who have
strong biases against the law they are bound to enforce.

In the face of these legal setbacks, many in organized labor have argued that unions should bypass the NLRB in union organizing campaigns. Some have done just this. AFL-CIO Vice President Richard Trumka has gone so far as to say that Congress might just as well repeal the NLRA and return us to the common law. Dannin argues convincingly that this is an unwise approach. She puts forward several powerful arguments against it. First, The NLRA and the NLRB offer the only real legal protection workers currently have against employer wrongdoing. Using the NLRA and the NLRB offers workers the possibility of getting a job back and backpay when an employer illegally fires them. Refusing to use them simply means that aggrieved workers will get nothing. Using the NLRB in union elections demonstrates public sanction for the collective bargaining relationship and the union's right to represent the employees. Refusing to use it does not.

Second, since the NLRA contains certain core values and purposes that are radical in their implications for how our society should be structured--or example, worker solidarity is to be encouraged, unions are necessary to counter the tremendous power the law gives to corporations; more equal power for workers is necessary for democracy; collective bargaining is the best way to settle industrial disputes; wages should be taken out of competition within and among industries; etc.--what labor needs to do is to educate the courts that these values are in the NLRA and it is their duty to enforce them. It is the duty of unions to pressure the NLRB's attorneys to present evidence and make arguments in their briefs and hearing presentations that put the law's core values and purpose front and center. And if the NLRB will not make these arguments and present this evidence, unions can and must do so themselves.

Dannin offers a large number of concrete examples of how to do this (and she does this in a way that is easily understood by those who are not lawyers). She points out that most judges know little about labor law and they see things through the pro-employer lens of the common law. So labor must educate these judges and present arguments that pressure them to enforce the law's values. Third, many NLRB staffers want to enforce the law and are sympathetic to working persons. In fact, since NLRB staff, themselves, are union employees, the labor movement, ought to fight for better funding of the NLRB and support these workers. Otherwise the enemies of labor get their way in Congress and the NLRB will continue to suffer funding (and staff) cuts.

There is a lot more to this book than can be conveyed in a few paragraphs. Suffice it to say that every union officer and attorney should read it and act upon its recommendations. Every worker should read it too. Dannin takes the legal approach of the civil rights movement as her model for taking back the workers' law. Labor should have an easier time of it. Workers already have a law. It will surely be easier to change the way courts interpret the NLRA than it was to desegregate schools.

As a dad working in corporate America, this book really pulled me in. I could relate to the issues presented about the struggles parents have trying to balance their work responsibilities and their family responsibilities. But it wasn't just a lot of anecdotes. The author provided an analysis that made sense to me, and leaves me feeling less hopeless. Initially, it made me feel more frustrated with the people I deal with every day, as I thought about how our daily lives could be better. I am a very committed worker and a very committed dad. But ultimately, this book made me think about what I'm up against, and maybe some things I could do to change it. A really good read for any parent who is dealing with feeling overworked, and trying to figure out why and what to do about it.

Deborah Barndt offers the best analysis I have read of the philosophical foundations that allowed North Americans to lose our connections with food. She explores how our approach to food represents a larger worldview that believes it is possible to reduce everything down to logical and quantifiable formulas. It also sees nature (and natural food and natural processes) as somewhat dangerous both physically and culturally, so that we feel a need to tame nature and make it work in our favor. She also then ties this analysis to the lives of real people, so that we can see how such an approach actually plays out in our society.
Although the text is dense at times, this is worth the time and thought it might take. EXCELLENT!

This book was great and has a lot of ideas if you want to make some extra money working from home. The price of this is so low to and the author explains everything. You will never get confused.