Sunshine was never enough : Los Angeles workers, 1880-2010 / John H.M. Laslett.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Laslett, John H. M.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Working class--California--Los Angeles--History.

Working class.

Labor--California--Los Angeles--History.

Labor.

Labor movement--California--Los Angeles--History.

Labor movement.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (457 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Berkeley : University of California Press, c2012.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Delving beneath Southern California's popular image as a sunny frontier of leisure and ease, this book tells the dynamic story of the life and labor of Los Angeles's large working class. In a sweeping narrative that takes into account more than a century of labor history, John H. M. Laslett acknowledges the advantages Southern California's climate, open spaces, and bucolic character offered to generations of newcomers. At the same time, he demonstrates that-in terms of wages, hours, and conditions of work-L.A. differed very little from America's other industrial cities. Both fast-paced and sophisticated, Sunshine Was Never Enough shows how labor in all its guises-blue and white collar, industrial, agricultural, and high tech-shaped the neighborhoods, economic policies, racial attitudes, and class perceptions of the City of Angels. Laslett explains how, until the 1930's, many of L.A.'s workers were under the thumb of the Merchants and Manufacturers Association. This conservative organization kept wages low, suppressed trade unions, and made L.A. into the open shop capital of America. By contrast now, at a time when the AFL-CIO is at its lowest ebb-a young generation of Mexican and African American organizers has infused the L.A. movement with renewed strength. These stories of the men and women who pumped oil, loaded ships in San Pedro harbor, built movie sets, assembled aircraft, and in more recent times cleaned hotels and washed cars is a little-known but vital part of Los Angeles history.

Contents:

Front matter

CONTENTS

List of Illustrations

Preface and Acknowledgments

Introduction: Scope and Purpose

Part One: Under the Thumb of the Open Shop

Part Two: Organized Labor comes into its own

Part Three: Cultural Change and the Emergence of a new Industrial Order

Conclusion: Comparative Reflections

Notes

Primary Sources

Index

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9781283584098

1283584093

9780520953871

0520953878

OCLC:

811563670