Overview

John Dunlop assumed the office of secretary of labor with a stern warning about the creeping menace of over-regulation. A mounting tide of red tape was breeding backlash among the people who were on the receiving end of all of these rules, breeding a climate of hostility that would make it all but impossible to solve the nation’s most pressing problems. Dunlop’s cautionary words, delivered nearly five decades ago, seem eerily prescient today as resentment against elites fuels a right-wing populist rebellion in the US and beyond. Yet even as he feared for the future, Dunlop was intent on demonstrating that it was possible to craft lasting solutions to seemingly intractable problems: soaring health-care costs; racial inequity in the workplace and higher education; the lack of basic labor protections for whole categories of workers; and the loss of manufacturing jobs to globalization and automation. Whatever the specific problem he was called upon to help solve, Dunlop began with the view that no matter the intensity of the divide, getting people talking was absolutely key to crafting an enduring solution. In our own era of discord and fracture, Dunlop’s insights into the vital importance of talking, listening and persuading as a means of working through complicated social issues are more relevant than ever. Drawing on Dunlop’s personal diary and extensive interviews with his colleagues and co-workers, including former Harvard University President Derek Bok; legendary farm worker organizer Baldemar Velasquez; and David Weil, former Administrator of the Department of Labor’s wage and hour division, this volume reconstructs key examples of Dunlop’s problem-solving work. A portrayal of his work and legacy, the book functions as a how-to guide for applying Dunlop’s approach to problem solving to the urgent challenges that confront us today.

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9780761871125

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Reviews

More Worlds to Negotiate beautifully illustrates John Dunlop's approach to problem solving through a series of fascinating accounts of the complicated social challenges he helped navigate in his long and storied life. Jennifer Berkshire deftly chronicles Dunlop's ongoing search to engage people with strongly opposing views to create multi-party mechanisms that addressed what often seemed intractable dilemmas. Dunlop's approach offers a hopeful message and guidance to facing the social policy problems of our own fraught times. -- David Weil, Dean and Professor, Heller School for Social Policy and Management, Brandeis University and former Obama administration Wage and Hour Administrator, US Department of Labor Jennifer Berkshire captures John Dunlop as the modern man he was: his sweeping curiosity, his habit of listening to previously unheard voices, his ability to bring parties together of different races, genders, socioeconomic classes and cultures. This book is a history, but also a relevant manual for those interested in solving entrenched and thorny problems today. -- Kris Rondeau, Director, AFSCME New England Organizing Project John Dunlop was a master facilitator and an astute problem solver whose techniques offer a roadmap for addressing today's most intractable policy issues. -- Karen Ignagni, President/CEO EmblemHealth This book about John Dunlop couldn't come at a more critical time. El profesor, as Dunlop came to be affectionately known to the farm workers, helped navigate the competing financial interests in agricultural supply chains and created a win/win agreement. The establishment of the Dunlop Agricultural Commission, which extended labor rights to more than 10,000 migrant workers on some 600 farms, and exists to this day, stands as a testament to his ability to find long-term solutions to seemingly unsolvable problems. -- Baldemar Velasquez, Founder and President, Farm Labor Organizing Committee

"More Worlds to Negotiate beautifully illustrates John Dunlop’s approach to problem solving through a series of fascinating accounts of the complicated social challenges he helped navigate in his long and storied life. Jennifer Berkshire deftly chronicles Dunlop’s ongoing search to engage people with strongly opposing views to create multi-party “mechanisms” that addressed what often seemed intractable dilemmas. Dunlop’s approach offers a hopeful message and guidance to facing the social policy problems of our own fraught times. -- David Weil, Dean and Professor, Heller School for Social Policy and Management, Brandeis University and former Obama administration Wage and Hour Administrator, US Department of Labor Jennifer Berkshire captures John Dunlop as the modern man he was: his sweeping curiosity, his habit of listening to previously unheard voices, his ability to bring parties together of different races, genders, socioeconomic classes and cultures. This book is a history, but also a relevant manual for those interested in solving entrenched and thorny problems today. -- Kris Rondeau, Director, AFSCME New England Organizing Project John Dunlop was a master facilitator and an astute problem solver whose techniques offer a roadmap for addressing today’s most intractable policy issues. -- Karen Ignagni, President/CEO EmblemHealth This book about John Dunlop couldn’t come at a more critical time. ""El profesor,"" as Dunlop came to be affectionately known to the farm workers, helped navigate the competing financial interests in agricultural supply chains and created a ""win/win"" agreement. The establishment of the Dunlop Agricultural Commission, which extended labor rights to more than 10,000 migrant workers on some 600 farms, and exists to this day, stands as a testament to his ability to find long-term solutions to seemingly unsolvable problems. -- Baldemar Velásquez, Founder and President, Farm Labor Organizing Committee"

Author Information

Jennifer C. Berkshire teaches journalism at Boston College and at the Labor Center at UMass Amherst.

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