Youth At Work

"In this engaging and thought-provoking book, Stuart Tannock poses a startling question: Why shouldn't young workers receive good pay, respectful treatment, and decent working conditions? Giving voice to young people in fast-food and supermarket work, he shows what life on the job is like for these 'stopgap workers'-and how it could be different." -Robin Leidner, Associate Professor of Sociology, University of Pennsylvania, and author of Fast Food, Fast Talk: Service Work and the Routinization of Everyday Life "Powerful and revealing, Youth at Work puts youth workers on the front burner of the nation's policy concerns. Youth offer their own accounts, both wise and compelling, about their investments in work, the challenges in their working lives-and their demands, which we should listen to. A remarkable book for teaching, Youth at Work is Paul Willis's Learning to Labor for the 21st century!" -Carol Stack, Author of All Our Kin and Call to Home "Tannock provides a rare and timely look at today's fast-food and grocery workplaces through the eyes of their young workers. He shows how these working teens are 'real' workers in the low-end service economy, who deserve more respect and need a stronger voice on the job. Youth at Work is required reading for all who care about our youth, the working poor, and the future of the labor movement." -Bill Fletcher, Jr., Assistant to the President, AFL-CIO "Stuart Tannock's study takes us beyond lamentations of exploited youth and frustrated unionization. His investigation challenges a rethink of our understanding of 'youth stopgap workers' and our conception of the potential of unions. This book will certainly appear on the must-read shelf of anyone committed to either youth or the revival of the union movement." -Sam Gidin, Packer Visitor in Social Justice, Political Science, York University, and author of The Canadian Auto Workers: The Birth and Transformation of a Union "Youth at Work is an interesting look at what the author terms 'stopgap youth workers'...the book overall is appealing." -Capital Times, Madison "Youth at Work provides valuable insights into the world of youth employment in the retail and service fields. It has also sounded the alarm over the conditions that prevail in such industries despite the existence of unions, and illustrated the importance of age (and life stage) in studies of non-standard work." -Canadian Journal of Sociology Online

Stuart Tannock is a Lecturer in the Program in Social and Cultural Studies in the Graduate School of Education at the University of California, Berkeley.

CONTENTS Preface Acknowledgments Introduction Part I: Youth and Work 1. Dead Ends 2. On the Front Lines of the Service Sector Part II: Youth in the Workplace 3. Store-Level Solidarities 4. Age in the Grocery Store 5. Stopgap Work Cultures Part III: Youth in the Union 6. Outsiders in the Union 7. The Youth Union 8. Handling Time Conclusion Notes References Index