It is we who push the papers, put the paychecks in the mail;
        It is we who type the letters, mind the office without fail.
        And until we get a contract, it is we who'll shut down Yale, For the union
        makes us strong.
      (To the tune of "John Brown's Body")
      "Must reading for anyone who wants to learn what a revitalized labor
        movement would look like." -- Labor Notes
      "A textbook on solidarity unionism." -- Staughton Lynd
      "One of the very best books on labor in the 1970s and 80s."
        -- Dana Frank, University of California at Santa Cruz
      "There are very few case studies in recent labor history as readable
        and provocative as this one." -- Karen Sawislak, Stanford University
      On Strike for Respect is a lively account of the 1984-85 strike
        by clerical and technical workers at Yale University. Members of Local
        34, with a strong female majority, mobilized themselves and the public,
        breathing new life into the labor movement as they fought for and won
        substantial gains. A short update on current conditions concludes this
        volume.
 

Between 1870 and 1942, successive generations of Asians and Asian Americans—predominantly Chinese, Japanese, and Filipino—formed the predominant body of workers in the Pacific Coast canned-salmon industry.

This study traces the shifts in the ethnic and gender composition of the cannery labor market from its origins through it decline and examines the workers' creation of work cultures and social communities. Resisting the label of cheap laborer, these Asian American workers established formal and informal codes of workplace behavior, negotiated with contractors and recruiters, and formed alliances to organize the workforce.

Whether he is discussing Japanese women workers' sharing of child-care responsibilities or the role of Filipino workers in establishing the Cannery and Field Workers Union, Chris Friday portrays Asian and Asian American workers as people who, while enduring oppressive restrictions, continually attempted to shape their own lives.


In the series Asian American History and Culture, edited by Sucheng Chan, David Palumbo-Liu, Michael Omi, K. Scott Wong, and Linda Trinh Võ.