The future of the American labor movement

Hoyt Wheeler, Cambridge University Press, 257 pages, paperback, £15.95

Wages in the USA have been stagnant for 20 years, holidays are short and working hours long. Union density has fallen from 32.5% in 1953 to 13.5% in 2000, and strike figures are at an all-time low.

This has led some to question the future of the American labour movement.

The author attributes this decline to changes in the economy, employers' opposition to unions, government anti-union laws the bureaucratisation of unions and their subordination to the Democrats in politics.

The strength of the book is that the author asks hard questions about the state of the labour movement - questions that might fruitfully be discussed by unions in Britain.

However, the solutions he offers are eclectic - employee ownership, regional economic development and training.

And they are unlikely to capture the imagination of young workers or sustain unions' independent political voice.