MARC Record from marc_openlibraries_phillipsacademy

LEADER: 04197cam a2200445 a 4500
001 2877134
003 NOBLE
005 20101105032603.0
007 sd |u|gnn|||||
008 090903s2009 maucf b 001 0 eng
010 $a2009034658
020 $a1558497242 (hardcover)
020 $a9781558497245 (hardcover)
020 $a9781558497252 (pbk.)
020 $a1558497250 (pbk.)
035 $a(OCoLC)368048636$z(OCoLC)427320854
040 $aDLC$cDLC$dYDX$dOCLCQ$dCDX$dYDXCP$dNSB
043 $an-us---
049 $aNSBB
050 00 $aHD8072.5$b.J87 2009
082 00 $a306.3/60973$222
100 1 $aJuravich, Tom.
245 10 $aAt the altar of the bottom line :$bthe degradation of work in the 21st century /$cTom Juravich.
260 $aAmherst :$bUniversity of Massachusetts Press,$cc2009.
300 $a236 p., [12] p. of plates :$bports. ;$c24 cm. +$e1 CD (4 3/4 in.)
504 $aIncludes bibliographical references and index.
520 $aThis work is a portrait of the contemporary American workplace. Based on extensive interviews with workers in four different industries, this book takes us behind the statistics of the economic collapse and into the lives of Americans who are struggling to make ends meet and support their families. The author combines oral history with social and economic analysis to provide a vivid account of the multiple challenges presented in today's workplaces. At a Verizon call center in Andover, Massachusetts, customer service reps find themselves overwhelmed by the pace of work and the constant monitoring. They describe a daily routine marked by regimentation, intense pressure to sell, and unrelenting stress. In New Bedford, undocumented Guatemalans in the fish processing industry are fired if they don't work fast enough, cheated out of wages, and mistreated by supervisors. He describes a brutal immigration raid by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement that divided families and forced workers further underground. He then takes us inside the operating rooms at the Boston Medical Center, where hospital consolidation has brought a new bottom line philosophy that has fundamentally altered the way patient care is delivered. Surgery takes place almost non stop, driving some nurses from their chosen profession and leaving those who remain exhausted. The final case study looks at the shuttering of the Jones Beloit plant, an internationally known manufacturer of machinery for the paper industry. Despite the best efforts of highly skilled and productive workers to save their plant, it was abruptly closed and they were abandoned after their CEO recklessly became involved in a shaky foreign investment. The author argues that workers face a series of paradoxes in the contemporary American workplace. They can no longer assume that large established firms create good jobs. The new working conditions often resemble what was traditionally associated with marginal and low wage employers. He concludes that we must bring a discussion about the quality of jobs back into the public discourse and that a good jobs strategy is a fundamental building block to economic recovery. Workers' voices are front and center in this book. It includes striking photographs by Paul Shoul and a CD that presents a series of audio documentaries with excerpts from the interviews, as well as four original songs written and performed by the author.
505 0 $aStressed: customer service representatives at Verizon -- Exploited: cutting fish in New Bedford -- Exhausted: nursing at Boston Medical -- Abandoned: the closing of Jones Beloit.
650 0 $aLabor$xSocial aspects$zUnited States.
650 0 $aWorking class$zUnited States.$0(NOBLE)9413
650 0 $aQuality of work life$zUnited States.
650 0 $aWork environment$zUnited States.
650 0 $aIndustrial sociology$zUnited States.
902 $a120404
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994 $aC0$bNSB
990 $ansbjs 11-05-2010
901 $a2877134$bIII$c2877134$tbiblio
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