Foster Business Library


Labor Resources


Foster Business Library research guides are aimed at University of Washington students, faculty, and staff, highlighting resources available to them; users not currently affiliated with the university may be unable to access some of these resources.
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Foster Business Library Databases:

The Foster Business Library offers an extensive collection of over fifty databases on its homepage; see under Databases. For a complete list of Foster databases, see the List of All Business Databases. Access to these databases from off campus requires that you first go to the Off-Campus Access button, in the upper right of all library webpages. These resources may not be accessed from off campus except by those with a valid UW Net ID and password. For more information on Foster business databases, click Databases, A-Z. For information on which Foster business databases to use, see the Database Index. For information on accessing Foster databases from off campus, see Database Access. For guidelines on responsible database usage, see Database Usage.

  • America History and Life:   This index to journals and dissertations on the history and culture of the United States and Canada from prehistoric times to the present may be found by clicking on List of All Business Databases at the top of the list of databases on the Foster Business Library homepage

    A search in this database for Labor Unions retrieved a list of nearly 5,000 citations.

  • Associations Unlimited:   This database of national, state, regional and international trade and professional organizations and non-profit membership organizations is a good source for information about specific labor organizations and unions. It may be found in the alphabetical list of Business Databases on the Foster Business Library homepage. Print versions of the information in this database are available in the Foster Business Library Reference Collection; see the Encyclopedia of Associations, call numbers AS2 .E53 and AS22 .E5.

    Searching within the pulldown menu Subject category Labor Unions, Associations, and Federations retrieved records for over 200 organizations.

  • Hoovers Online:   Under Business Databases on the Foster Business Library homepage. Hoovers Online offers information about 14,000 public and private companies worldwide, with links to company homepages and annual reports, charts, company capsule, competitors, divisions, earnings, financials, Fortune and Forbes rankings, history, industry information, insider trading, mission statements, news links, press releases, officers, patents, products, SEC filings, splits, subsidiaries, etc.

    See the Company Fact Sheet for the AFL-CIO as well as the longer Company Overview. See also the list of other organizations in the Membership Organizations industry, including the Teamsters.

  • Lexis Nexis Statistical:   Statistical Universe is an index to statistical data in commercial, international and U.S. government publications. Try the Power Tables for quick access to tables of data in GIF format. (Available from off-campus.)

    For example, a search in this database for the keyword labor unions produced a list of over 160 tables, 57 of which can be downloaded as Excel spreadsheets.

  • Sociological Abstracts:   This database provides access to the world's sociological literature and to sociological aspects of many disciplines, with abstracts of articles from over 2,500 periodicals, as well as from conference meetings, dissertations, and book reviews. This database is produced by Cambridge Scientific Abstracts.

    A search for the term Labor Unions retrieved records for over 770 references. An advanced search for the descriptor Unions retrieved over 160 references.

    Web Resources:

    Unlike library databases, Web resources are available wherever you have web access; they do not require that you access them via the Off-Campus Access button, in the upper right of all library webpages. When using web resources, be sure to evaluate the credibility of these resources. For a subject index to web resources, see Business Resources on the Web on the Foster Business Library homepage.

  • Business Full Coverage (Yahoo! Daily News):   Yahoo! Daily News for business includes Business Full Coverage webpages for four dozen important business topics of high interest, including many industries. These full coverage reports collect articles, webpages, and links to relevant organizations, audio, video, and recent news stories. See their Business Full Coverage page for Labor and Workplace News.

  • Center for Labor Research and Education (UCLA):   This center "serves as an important source of information about unions and workers to interested scholars and students. Through its extensive connections with unions and workers, the Labor Center also provides labor with important and clearly defined access to UCLA's resources and programs." See their Publications.

  • Center for Labor Studies (University of Washington):   This University of Washington departmental site provides access to publications, research, and other materials on labor history and its story in the Pacific Northwest, with links to other labor websites. Also at the University of Washington:   see the Pacific Northwest Labor History Projects.

  • Center for Union Facts:   This nonprofit organization has "gathered a wealth of information about the size, scope, political activities, and criminal activity of the labor movement in the United States of America." See their Political Money section and their union information for Washington state. See also a third party review of this organization by SourceWatch.

  • Columbia Encyclopedia:   For background information on any topic, this online encyclopedia is a good starting point. See the links to nearly 800 entries on Labor subjects.

  • EconoMagic:   This free website offers economic data, with more than 200,000 time series for which data and custom charts can be produced; included are employment, GDP, stock market and exchange data, real estate, economic forecasts, and more.

  • Foreign Labor Trends:   This U.S. Department of Labor "Foreign Labor Trends (FLT) report series is designed to be an informative and authoritative source of information on labor institutions, practices, and recent key developments in the countries reported." Just 22 countries are covered, with reports available in HTML and PDF formats, in about thirty pages, on the labor scene in the country, foreign investment potential, law law, workers rights, and labor contacts.

  • Guide to Labor Oriented Internet Resources:   This site, from the Institute of Industrial Relations Library, at the University of California, Berkeley, provides an extensive collection of links to internet information from government, international, labor education, labor libraries, labor unions and other sources. See also their Berkeley Labor Guides Index ("bibliographies of books, journals, newspapers, and Internet resources that focus on various issues of working life").

  • International Labour Organization:   The ILO is a United Nations agency "which seeks the promotion of social justice and internationally recognized human and labour rights." The ILO formulates international labor standards in the form of Conventions and Recommendations setting minimum standards of basic labor rights. The agency website provides a large amount of information on labor topics around the world, with their Library a good starting point. See their labor Subject List, Featured Topics and Labour Statistics.

  • Labor Links:   This site, from the Program in Labor Studies, at George Washington University, provides an extensive collection of links to resources on labor and labor economics, affirmative action, living wages and minimum wages, population economics, and a labor link of the week feature.

  • National Labor Committee:   "The mission of the National Labor Committee is to help defend the human rights of workers in the global economy. The NLC investigates and exposes human and labor rights abuses committed by U.S. companies producing goods in the developing world." See their Newsroom and, in the right menu, their categories of companies (over 700 articles) and countries (over 400 articles); as an example, see their articles on Costa Rica.

  • National Labor Relations Board:   "The National Labor Relations Board is an independent federal agency created by Congress in 1935 to administer the National Labor Relations Act, the primary law governing relations between unions and employers in the private sector. The statute guarantees the right of employees to organize and to bargain ollectively with their employers or to refrain from all such activity. Generally applying to all employers involved in interstate commerce--other than airlines, railroads, agriculture, and government--the Act implements the national labor policy of assuring free choice and encouraging collective bargaining as a means of maintaining industrial peace." The agency website provides access to its rules and regulations, decisions, publications (including a publications search engine) and other material.

  • National Legal and Policy Center:   This organization "was founded in late 1991 following the release of the Senate Ethics Committee report whitewashing the Keating Five. The report made reference to the Code of Ethics for Government, but not by name, presumably for fear of giving it greater standing. NLPC was founded to promote ethics, and to give the Code the visibility it deserves." "In 1997, NLPC launched the Organized Labor Accountability Project, becoming the nation's only clearing house on union corruption." See their Organized Labor Accountability Project.

  • Reference Sources on Labor in the United States:   This site, from the Bobst Library, at New York University, provides an extensive collection of links to sources of information on labor, including handbooks, guides, and encyclopedias and webpages--and more.

  • Upjohn Institute:   The Upjohn Institute is "an independent, nonprofit research organization devoted to finding, evaluating, and promoting solutions to employment-related problems." See their Publications which include books, working papers, a newsletter, and technical reports.

  • U.S. Department of Labor:   The U.S. Department of Labor was created by Congress in 1913 "to foster, promote and develop the welfare of working people, to improve their working conditions, and to enhance their opportunities for profitable employment." The department website is a good source for information on the topic of labor in the United States. See the A to Z Site Index. See also U.S. Economy At A Glance, for data on the U.S. unemployment rate, change in payroll employment, average hourly earnings, employment cost index, and productivity, with both recent and historical data; this site also provides similar data for each U.S. state, for U.S. regions, and for U.S. industries. See also their data on Labor Unions and their OLMS Internet Public Disclosure Room, with information on financial reports filed by labor unions, including union officer salaries.

  • Workforce Explorer Washington:   This Washington state government site is a good portal to current state economic conditions, occupation and wage information, and other labor-related information. See their Data.

    Foster Business Library Reference Collection:

    The Foster Business Library Reference Collection consists of business handbooks, encyclopedias, dictionaries, and other quick reference tools. It is located behind the Reference Desk in Foster, arranged by call number. Reference materials cannot be checked out; they may only be used in the library.

  • Encyclopedia of associations, international organizations.
    This annual multi-volume provides information about 19,000 international nonprofit membership organizations, with brief information about members, headquarters, publications, etc. The information in these volumes is also available in the Foster Business Library database Associations Unlimited.
    Foster Business Library Reference, CALL NUMBER: AS2 .E53

    See volume one in the year 2000 edition, starting on page 1737, for Labor unions, associations, and federations.

  • Encyclopedia of associations.
    This annual multi-volume provides information on 23,000 nonprofit national and international membership organizations. The information in these volumes is also available in the Foster Business Library database Associations Unlimited.
    Foster Business Library Reference, CALL NUMBER: AS22 .E5

    See volume one in the year 2000 edition, starting on page 2345, for Labor unions, associations, and federations.

  • Global, Inc.: an atlas of the multinational corporation.
    This large heavily-illustrated, map-rich paperback covers the foundations of globalization, the history of multinational corporations, global corporations by industry, the impacts of multinational corporations on employment and wages, taxes, technology, capital, culture, environment, and standards, and the governance of multinational corporations.
    Foster Business Library Reference, CALL NUMBER: G1046 .Q1 .G3 2003.

  • Datapedia of the United States, 1790-2005.
    This one-volume work covers United States population, vital statistics and health, migration, labor, national income and wealth, consumer income and expenditures, social statistics, land--water--climate, agriculture, forestry--fisheries, minerals, construction--housing, manufacturing, transportation, communications, energy, distribution--services, international trade, business enterprises, productivity--technological development, financial markets--institutions, and government.
    Foster Business Library Reference, CALL NUMBER: HA202 .K87 2001.

    See the chapter on Labor on pages 80 to 95.

  • Statistical abstract of the United States.
    This annual volume offers a wealth of demographic information for both the U.S. and other countries; check the index at the back of the volume for references to tables. The sources for each table are often a valuable source of additional information.
    Foster Business Library Reference, CALL NUMBER: HA202 .U56

    See index pages 973 to 974 for many tables on labor force, labor organizations, and labor strikes.

  • Great events from history II: business and commerce series.
    This five-volume chronological encyclopedia is devoted to the history of business and economic events of the twentieth century worlwide, starting with the first publication of the Dow Jones Industrial Average in 1897 and continuing up to the effective date of NAFTA in 1994. This set includes indexes by chronology, an alphabetic list of events, a subject-keyword index, a category index, a geographic index, and an index by person.
    Foster Business Library Reference, CALL NUMBER: HC55 .G68 1994.

    See volume V, index pages XCVI to XCVII, for many references to Labor topics throughout the five volumes in this set.

  • World economic outlook.
    This twice-yearly International Monetary Fund publication "presents the IMF staff's analysis and projections of economic developments at the global level, in major country groups (classified by region, stage of development, etc.), and in many individual countries. It focuses on major economic policy issues as well as on the analysis of economic developments and prospects."
    Foster Business Library Reference, CALL NUMBER: HC59 .I52 (Twice yearly)
    (Also available Online)

    See chapter five, on the Globalization of Labor in the April 2007 edition, on pages 161 to 192; this publication is also available online.

  • Gale encyclopedia of U.S. economic history.
    This two-volume encyclopedia covers economic history from Paleolithic times to the present of 1999, with just over 1,000 articles on the major terms, overviews, issues, biographies, events and companies of America's economic history. There is a single extensive index in the back of the second volume.
    Foster Business Library Reference, CALL NUMBER: HC102 .G35 1999.

    See index pages 1197 and 1198 in volume two for many references to numerous Labor topics.

  • Employment, hours, and earnings: states and areas.
    This compilation of data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics is the first to use the NAICS codes for employment data, for the U.S., the fifty states, and the country's largest metropolitan areas. See Washington state, and Seattle, Spokane, and Tacoma, on pages 1099 to 1118.
    Foster Business Library Reference, CALL NUMBER: HD5723 .A26 2005.

  • Yearbook of labor statistics.
    This huge annual two-volume work, published by the International Labour Organization, provides a copious amount of data and information about worldwide labor force numbers, employment and unemployment, working hours, wages, labor costs, occupational injuries, and strikes and lockouts.
    Foster Business Library Reference, CALL NUMBER: HD4826 .I63. 2006.

  • Union membership and earnings data book.
    This annual publication from the Bureau of National Affairs provides data on union membership and earnings from 1973 to 1998.
    Foster Business Library Reference, CALL NUMBER: HD6500 .U63.

  • Directory of U.S. labor organizations.
    This annual publication, also published by the Bureau of National Affairs, covers 32,000 local, state, national and international labor organizations, with union rankings and membership information.
    Foster Business Library Reference, CALL NUMBER: HD6504 .D64 2006.

  • Handbook of U.S. labor statistics.
    This annual publication of the Bureau of Labor Statistics covers many aspects of the American (and international) workforce, with data on employment, unemployment, earnings, prices, productivity and other labor data.
    Foster Business Library Reference, CALL NUMBER: HD8051 .A63.

    For information about organized labor, see part nine for Labor Management Relations, with data on work stoppages, union affiliations, membership, etc.

  • Biographical dictionary of American labor.
    Biographical sketches of some 750 American union and labor officials, from the nineteenth to the twentieth century, with an extensive index and some statistical data.
    Foster Business Library Reference, CALL NUMBER: HD8073.A1 B56 1984.

    For instance, see Harry Bridges on pages 126 and 127.

  • The IMD world competitiveness yearbook.
    This heavy yearbook, published by the International Institute for Management Development in Switzerland, provides ranking information in many competitiveness categories for 46 major countries. Among the many categories are international trade, employment, prices, business legislation, labor markets, management practices, impact of globalization, corruption. There is an index to criteria at the end of the volume.
    Foster Business Library Reference, CALL NUMBER: HF1414 .W67 2003.

    See pages 620 to 626 for Labor Market.

  • Encyclopedia of business ethics and society.
    This five-volume reference work includes 900 essays by scholars, arranged alphabetically by topic, on all aspects of business ethics.
    Foster Business Library Reference, CALL NUMBER: HF5387 .E53 2008.

    See Labor Unions in volume three, on pages 1249 to 1257.

    Foster Business Library Books:

    The Foster Business Library maintains a collection of over 70,000 books on all business topics. To search for materials on all three campuses of the University of Washington, go to the UW Libraries Catalog, in the upper left corner of the Foster Business Library homepage. Search by keyword, title, author, series, etc.

    To limit the results of your search just to materials in the Foster Business Library collection, use the Modify or Limit options at the top of the search results and change the library location to Foster Business Library. Availablity is indicated on the right of each online catalog record. First, note in which collection, within Foster, your materials are in, since the library has ten different Collections, each in a different location and often with differing arrangements. "Available" indicates that the book should be on the shelves under that call number and available for you to check out. "Due" and a date indicates that the book is already checked out to someone and is due back on the date indicated; you can have the "Request/Place Hold" feature to recall the book for your use.

    If the material you want is not in the collections of the University of Washington, you can use the "Search Summit" feature to repeat your search in the combined holdings of over thirty cooperating libraries in Washington and Oregon. Use the "Request This Item" feature in Summit to have books in those library sent here to Foster for you to check out.

    The Foster general stacks collection is located south of the main part of the Foster Business Library, through the two pass-throughs into the basement of Balmer. The arrangement is by call number, from A (at the east end, near the Copy Center) to Z (at the far west end).

    A keyword search for the general term Labor, limited to the location Foster Business Library, retrieved about 2,000 records. Click here to launch this search. A search for the keyword Trade Unions, limited to the Foster Business Library, retrieved over fifty records.

    Relevant subject terms, with searches limited to the Foster Business Library, include:

    Examples of titles in the Foster Business Library collections, from searches above, include:

     Foster Business Library Periodicals:

    Foster Business Library Articles:

    Articles in academic journals, magazines, trade periodicals, and newspapers are one of the best sources for any kind of research. While the Foster Business Library offers a large periodicals print collection, comprising over 800 titles, articles are most easily accessed online, 24/7, in such fulltext article databases as EBSCO Business Source Premier, Factiva, LexisNexis Academic, Newsbank Infoweb, and ProQuest Databases. These article databases are available in the library or from off-campus, and provide access to over 10,000 periodicals and millions of articles.

    Library access to most ProQuest databases will terminate at the end of spring quarter 2008, except for ProQuest NewsStand, ProQuest Dissertations and Theses, Historical New York Times, and the Historical Wall Street Journal. For more about this change, see UW Libraries Providing New Databases. After this change, comprehensive article searches should be performed in EBSCO Business Source Premier, Newsbank Infoweb, and ProQuest NewsStand. Also, after this change, links to the articles below will be broken.

    ProQuest Databases:

    This database--actually, a family of over two dozen databases--offers full text articles for over 10,000 publications, including scholarly journals, magazines, trade and industry periodicals, newspapers, and reports on a very wide range of topics. To find articles on specific topics, search by word or phrase by keying your search phrase into the search box--or search for your topic in the Topic Guide.

    Your search terms will be highlighted in red in each article.

    For instance, a search for the phrase Labor Unions, in all databases, retrieved over 52,000 articles. A subject search for SUB(Labor), in Topic Guide, retrieved numerous related subjects, from Labor Contracts (with over 7,000 articles) to Labor Unions (with over 41,000 articles). For many of these subjects, there are also related narrowing terms where you can link the main subject term with related subjects for a more targeted search. For Labor Unions, for instance, there are 216 narrowing terms, from Academic Achievement (26 articles) to Writers Guild of America (67 articles).

    Examples of articles, from the searches above, include:

    Foster Business Library Help:

    4 May 2001; updated 8 May 2008.   Peter Stevens, Business Librarian, stevens@u.washington.edu