Labor Under Fire

<p>From the Reagan years to the present the labor movement has faced a profoundly hostile climate. As America’s largest labor federation the AFL-CIO was forced to reckon with severe political and economic headwinds. Yet the AFL-CIO survived consistently fighting for programs that benefited millions of Americans including social security unemployment insurance the minimum wage and universal health care. With a membership of more than 13 million it was also able to launch the largest labor march in American history — 1981’s Solidarity Day — and to play an important role in politics.<br/><br/>In a history that spans from 1979 to the present Timothy J. Minchin tells a sweeping national story of how the AFL-CIO sustained itself and remained a significant voice in spite of its powerful enemies and internal constraints. Full of details characters and never-before-told stories drawn from unexamined restricted and untapped archives as well as interviews with crucial figures involved with the organization this book tells the definitive history of the modern AFL-CIO.</p>