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A review by readingwitherin
On the Line: A Story of Class, Solidarity, and Two Women's Epic Fight to Build a Union by Daisy Pitkin, Daisy Pitkin
3.0
Thank you to Netgalley and Algonquin for the e-arc in exchange for my honest review.
"This new strike wave will grow. It will spread to new states and other industries. It will grow in part because labor law in this country is broken, and just as in the early 1900s, a strike is workers' only recourse, the only way to force a company to the bargaining table."
Truthfully I struggled while reading this book and I'll get into why that was in the last paragraph. Besides that though I did really enjoy this book and I learned so much from it.
I enjoyed learning about how they organized the union and all the hard work that went into it. Hearing about the long and gruesome fight at times they had to deal with in order for a better and slightly safer work environment at times was disheartening, while at others was heartwarming because of how they all helped one another for the most part. Starting a Union or any type of workplace safety requirement is hard and it takes so much work, but in the end, it benefits everyone and helps in the long run. Seeing how the author Pitkin worked so closely alongside some of the workers and became lifelong friends with them was nice to see as well. I had no idea that laundry workers had to deal with all of this and were exposed to so many different harmful environments and I'm so glad that the vast majority of them appear to have good unions now that are working to continue to better protect them.
But I personally could have done without all of the stuff about Moths. It's the one part of the book that didn't work for me and made me take so long to read and finish the book. I know it was a big part of the author's non-union life, and that was okay, it just took a little bit away from the story of the union itself.
"Anger is the primary emotion that drives people to fight, the only emotion strong enough to overcome fear. And anger is powerful, it's true, but care for one another is, too. And care of one another, unlike anger, is continually renewable- it becomes both an engine for the fight and a destination for it, elemental to the new world the fight demands. Care for one another functions this way mainly because it allows for hope, which is the substance of solidarity."
"This new strike wave will grow. It will spread to new states and other industries. It will grow in part because labor law in this country is broken, and just as in the early 1900s, a strike is workers' only recourse, the only way to force a company to the bargaining table."
Truthfully I struggled while reading this book and I'll get into why that was in the last paragraph. Besides that though I did really enjoy this book and I learned so much from it.
I enjoyed learning about how they organized the union and all the hard work that went into it. Hearing about the long and gruesome fight at times they had to deal with in order for a better and slightly safer work environment at times was disheartening, while at others was heartwarming because of how they all helped one another for the most part. Starting a Union or any type of workplace safety requirement is hard and it takes so much work, but in the end, it benefits everyone and helps in the long run. Seeing how the author Pitkin worked so closely alongside some of the workers and became lifelong friends with them was nice to see as well. I had no idea that laundry workers had to deal with all of this and were exposed to so many different harmful environments and I'm so glad that the vast majority of them appear to have good unions now that are working to continue to better protect them.
But I personally could have done without all of the stuff about Moths. It's the one part of the book that didn't work for me and made me take so long to read and finish the book. I know it was a big part of the author's non-union life, and that was okay, it just took a little bit away from the story of the union itself.
"Anger is the primary emotion that drives people to fight, the only emotion strong enough to overcome fear. And anger is powerful, it's true, but care for one another is, too. And care of one another, unlike anger, is continually renewable- it becomes both an engine for the fight and a destination for it, elemental to the new world the fight demands. Care for one another functions this way mainly because it allows for hope, which is the substance of solidarity."