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The Big Squeeze: Tough Times for the American Worker (Borzoi Books) | 
| Author: Steven Greenhouse
Publisher: Knopf
Category: Book
List Price: $25.95
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Avg. Customer Rating:  5 reviews
Sales Rank: 8423
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 384
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.5
Dimensions (in): 9.4 x 6.7 x 1.3
ISBN: 1400044898
Dewey Decimal Number: 331.0973
EAN: 9781400044894
ASIN: 1400044898
Publication Date: April 15, 2008 (New: Last 30 Days)
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Product Description
The Big Squeeze takes a fresh, probing, and often shocking look at the stresses and strains faced by tens of millions of American workers as wages have stagnated, health and pension benefits have grown stingier, and job security has shriveled.
Going behind the scenes, Steven Greenhouse tells the stories of software engineers in Seattle, hotel housekeepers in Chicago, call center workers in New York, and janitors in Houston, as he explores why, in the world’s most affluent nation, so many corporations are intent on squeezing their workers dry. We meet all kinds of workers: white collar and blue collar, high tech and low tech, middle income and low income; employees who stock shelves during a hurricane while locked inside their store, get fired after suffering debilitating injuries on the job, face egregious sexual harassment, and get laid off when their companies move high-tech operations abroad. We also meet young workers having a hard time starting out and seventy-year-old workers with too little money saved up to retire.
The book explains how economic, business, political, and social trends—among them globalization, the influx of immigrants, and the Wal-Mart effect—have fueled the squeeze. We see how the social contract between employers and employees, guaranteeing steady work and good pensions, has eroded over the last three decades, damaged by massive layoffs of factory and office workers and Wall Street’s demands for ever-higher profits. In short, the post–World War II social contract that helped build the world’s largest and most prosperous middle class has been replaced by a startling contradiction: corporate profits, economic growth, and worker productivity have grown strongly while worker pay has languished and Americans face ever-greater pressures to work harder and longer.
Greenhouse also examines companies that are generous to their workers and can serve as models for all of corporate America: Costco, Patagonia, and the casino-hotels of Las Vegas among them. Finally, he presents a series of pragmatic, ready-to-be-implemented suggestions on what government, business, and labor should do to alleviate the squeeze.
A balanced, consistently revealing exploration of a major American crisis.
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| Customer Reviews:
 Corporate power and arbitrariness harm American workers (3.5 *s) May 3, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
The book is both an overview of the deteriorated state of affairs for American workers as well as a few up close and personal looks at some of those so affected. For one brief generation after WWII, American workers empowered through union contracts, achieved a somewhat harmonious status with their employers, which included good wages and benefits and expectations of job security. And the government provided support as well, especially for veterans. But that's not the way things are now.
As the author so well examines, employees are now viewed as mere factors of production and can be subjected to egregious capriciousness. They now can be fired arbitrarily, forced to work off the clock, have their time sheets altered, forced to work as so-called independent contractors or part-time, etc. Employee wages have been flat for over thirty years, despite increasing productivity over those years, while CEO pay has skyrocketed. The labor movement is a mere shell of its former self with private sector union membership being at the same density as one hundred years ago. Advances in computers and telecommunications have facilitated shipping even high tech jobs overseas; trade agreements have enabled establishing production off shore for intra-corporate trade; and immigration is having profound impacts on jobs and wages domestically. Those left behind after downsizing have to redouble their efforts with apparently little appreciation by many employers. The traditional way to advancement, education, is increasingly becoming out of reach for many because of the costs. American workers have truly become an afterthought or invisible.
There really is nothing in this book that has not been discussed repeatedly in the electronic media, books, and newspapers over the last several years. The Wal-Mart model has become pervasive. Occasionally an organization will come along like Costco that demonstrates that workers can be treated well despite the demands of the retail world, but they are an exception.
US corporations are ascendant; they have a great deal of control over media content, they dominate the political process, and they hide behind the mantra of competitiveness to squeeze American workers for higher and higher profits. The author, more hopefully than convincingly, calls for a return to kinder times. But there will be no voluntary relinquishment of power. There has to be a realization on the part of American workers on the realities of excessive corporate power and a willingness to assert political power to transform the process in favor of workers. This book clearly shows that American workers are now being squeezed almost beyond imagination with no end in sight.
Thought provoking and readable April 30, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Mr. Greenhouse provides a thought provoking look into the changes taking place in the American workplace. While much of the research appears to have been used in New York Times (NYT) articles over the last several years, having it all in one place as a sort of "one stop shop" of Mr. Greenhouse's findings is rather nice. This aspect of the book was the biggest disappointment for me as a regular reader of the NYT. However, the use of real people to flesh out the statistics provided was a wonderful touch that really drives home the main points Mr. Greenhouse is making. This style also keeps the book readable and engaging.
Radio interview available April 29, 2008
1 out of 5 found this review helpful
Came to Amazon.com to order the book after listening to a riveting interview with the author on [...] (April 28, 2008). I was born in 1952 and these workplace trends are like climate change: slow paced but catastrophic. The comparisons between conditions for American workers versus European workers really shook me up. The presidential primaries suggest we may be seeing a tipping point towards economic populism. If so, this book maps the issues and causes undermining workers of all generations. (My 4-star rating is based on the author interview; I have not yet read the book.)
 A Story That Needed To Be Told April 29, 2008
3 out of 5 found this review helpful
A well-researched, well-written, gripping documentation of the deteriorating status of the American worker at all levels of the economy, by a veteran New York Times reporter who certainly knows the turf. Many readers will relate to the human stories recounted in this book. Those who don't will have their eyes opened and their thinking changed. Kudos to this author, who has done a good deed by telling this story.
A Great Reminder Of What America Was and Is All About April 28, 2008
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
I enjoyed reading this book so much. People might think this book would be all about statistics and chastising the American way of life. Well, you can take rest it is not that type of book.
This book is very personal and emotional that tells a very human tale about the American way of living in our lifetime. The author, Steven Greenhouse, gives justice to the ordinary and average American workers who are being mistreated and exploited here in the U.S. The book contains several stories about the personal struggles of individuals who were all just searching for a better treatment at work.
What I gained reading from this book is that this is The United States of America the nation that ended child labor, gave women the right to vote, equality to all, and a bright future for everyone. So, why can't we maintain all of those and strive to better our work environment/salary/life? It is very apparent that our wages are not raising along with the expenses we incur in our livelihood. It is time for the corporation to raise wages and stop messing with our healthcare plans because these are the very things that made the USA the greatest and wealthiest nation around the world from the 1950s onward to the 1990s.
Well, I encourage people especially in Business Ethics courses in college to read this book. Also, I'm looking at you UCF Cornerstone course if you want your students to learn more about how to manage workers in business then this is one of those books students should read about in their classes.
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