| Book Review | The Journal of American History, 92.4

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| Book Review | The Journal of American History, 92.4 | The History Cooperative

Book Review

Public Workers: Government Employee Unions, the Law, and the State, 1900–1962. By Joseph E. Slater. (Ithaca: ILR, 2004. x, 260 pp. $39.95, ISBN 0-8014-4012-2.)
Joseph E. Slater places public workers in the mainstream of American labor history. He asks why labor historians continue to focus narrowly on workers and unions in the private sector. For Slater, the history of public sector unionism is equally important. This well-researched, well-argued book is his timely contribution to righting the balance.	1
Slater starts with the Boston police strike (1919), which ended in disastrous defeat. Then he examines Seattle public school teachers attempting to organize (1929–1932); Chicago janitors in public schools trying to bargain (1930s); and New York subway workers fighting to regain the union power they lost when their subway lines—originally privately owned—were taken over by New York City (1940s). He ends with the drive by Wisconsin public sector unions for bargaining rights (1951–1962). The Wisconsin struggle ended in a breakthrough victory, opening the way to union rights for public workers in a majority of states.	. . .

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