ABSTRACT
This chapter uses several examples of labor contention to examine how unions and members of the working class and their supporters have adapted, or not adapted, established repertoires of contention to meet the needs of contemporary struggles over workers’ rights. In the post-Fordist, or postindustrial, period (1973–present), workers in labor unions have engaged in struggles over pay, work conditions, workplace safety, benefits, and other issues, utilizing strategies and tactics developed over long periods of contention. Using several contemporary instances of contention in the state of Indiana, this chapter examines why those strategies and tactics have such a powerful attraction as modes of contention, and also asks whether they are still effective means of protecting hard-won rights, and securing new gains. The chapter concludes by reviewing new modes of contention available to workers and unions in their struggle for rights and living standards.
