| Book Review | The Journal of American History, 89.2

You have not been recognized as a subscriber to JAH online. About 266 words from this article are provided below; about 420 words remain.

If you are a individual member of the Organization of American Historians, you may:: • login here if you have already registered for online access.; • Or if you're already logged in register your subscription.
• Set up your online account for the first time.
If you are not a member of the Organization of American Historians, you can:: • Join the OAH and receive many member benefits including print and electronic issues of the Journal of American History.
• Purchase a research pass to gain two-hour access to the entire History Cooperative web site. You will have full access to current issues of the Journal of American History (86.1-present). Note: the Research Pass does not provide access to JSTOR's holdings of the Journal of American History.
Instititutions can:: • Subscribe to this journal and receive print and electronic issues.
• Activate your existing subscription so that we recognize your IP number ranges.

| Book Review | The Journal of American History, 89.2 | The History Cooperative

Book Review

Immigration and American Unionism. By Vernon M. Briggs Jr. (Ithaca: ILR, 2001. xii, 213 pp. Cloth, $37.50, ISBN 0-8014-3870-5. Paper, $16.95, ISBN 0-8014-8710-2.)

Vernon M. Briggs Jr.'s previous books studied labor market formation in the context of fluctuating immigration levels. Immigration and American Unionism continues to explore this relationship but in a more systematic way than before. The thesis is that "unions thrive [membership grows] when immigration is low; [and] unions falter [membership declines] during periods when immigration is high." According to the author, this proposition has a kind of axiomatic quality. Thus, as the nation enters the twenty-first century, a high level of immigration coupled to a low level of union membership reminds us of the situation that prevailed a century ago. In addition, he suggests, the majority of new migrants continue to be low-skilled, minimally educated, and willing to take low-paying jobs. 1

The book's seven chapters are organized to marshal facts and figures proving this quasi-automatic relationship. Briggs recognizes that a combination of elements come into play that all affect the rate of unionization: the state of the nation's economy, the labor force demand and employment patterns, the ebb and flow of immigration, the internal policy of labor unions, and, finally, the interaction of these forces on union membership. While he admits that other factors influence the level of union membership, Briggs's point is that "the skein of insight that consistently runs from the past to the present is that the state of American unions (the percentage of labor force that is unionized) is inversely related to prevailing immigration trends." . . .

There are about 420 more words in this article. Please log in (or, if you are not yet an authorized user, please go to the User Setup page) to gain full access rights. Or if you're already logged in register your subscription.