Welfare, the working poor, and labor / edited by Louise Simmons.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Simmons, Louise B., 1949-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Working poor--United States.

Working poor.

Working poor--Government policy--United States.

Labor policy--United States.

Labor policy.

Working poor--Government policy.

United States.

Public welfare--United States.

Public welfare.

Physical Description:

xix, 172 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Armonk, N.Y. : M. E. Sharpe, [2004]

Summary:

Since the enactment of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act, it has become clear that the issues associated with welfare are now inextricably woven into the problems of low-wage work. This volume analyzes poverty and welfare reform within a context of low-wage work and the contours of the labor market that welfare recipients are entering. Given the new welfare regime of time limits and work requirements, problems of welfare cannot be separated from problems of work, politics, organizing, and other questions of social and economic policy. Although there have been many volumes on welfare reform, the unique contribution of this volume is that it brings labor into the discussion and creates a bridge between the domains of labor and welfare.

Contents:

I. Working Poor and the Contours of Welfare Reform

1. Discipline and Seduction: The Campaign to Regulate American Workers / Frances Fox Piven 3

2. The Mirage of Welfare Reform / Max B. Sawicky 11

3. The Long Economic Downturn of the New Century / Heather Boushey, Robert Cherry 24

II. Workers and Workforce Issues

4. A Report from the Front Lines of Welfare Reform / Fran Bernstein, Cecilia Perry 45

5. Privatization, Labor-Management Relations, and Working Conditions for Lower-Skilled Employees / Immanuel Ness, Roland Zullo 59

6. The Workforce Investment Act and the Labor Movement / Helena Worthen 76

7. Revolving Doors: Temp Agencies as Accelerators of Churning in Low-Wage Labor Markets / Chirag Mehta, Nik Theodore 90

III. Labor and the Struggles over Social Welfare and Work

8. Evaluating the Living-Wage Strategy: Prospects, Problems, and Possibilities / David J. Olson, Erich Steinman 107

9. Labor-Welfare Linkages and the Imperative of Organizing Low-Wage Women Workers / Louise Simmons 132

10. Urban Poverty, Social Welfare, and Human Rights / James Jennings 146.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

076561300X

OCLC:

52937478