Tom Juravich

Tom Juravich is a public sociologist who studies work, workers, and the labor movement.

 As an ethnographer, he has focused on the labor process, beginning with his participant observation as a machine mechanic in a New England wire mill and continuing with research on nurses, call center representatives, industrial workers, and undocumented workers. He just completed a book manuscript, If These Walls Could Talk: How a New Business Model in Residential Construction Exploits Undocumented Workers, Cheats Taxpayers, and Delivers Massive Profits to Developers. He is currently finishing a book of case studies exploring the impact of artificial intelligence and computer-based technology on work and how unions have been responding.

Juravich also studies union strategic corporate research and campaigns and has done extensive teaching on how to utilize this approach.  His new book (with Olvia Geho and Andrew Gorry), What the Boss Doesn’t Want You to Know: Discovering Power and Winning Campaigns, is the first primer in this area. He is also the founder and webmaster of https://strategiccorporateresearch.org/, a comprehensive website for conducting corporate research in the U.S., Canada, and the U.K. 

Juravich serves on the editorial boards of the New Labor Forum and the Labor Studies Journal. A singer and songwriter, his latest recordings include Altar of the Bottom Line and Tangled in Our Dreams.

Education

Ph.D., Sociology, University of Massachusetts–Amherst, 1983

Research Areas

Labor Movements, Strategic Corporate Research and Campaigns, Work and the Labor Process, Ethnographic Research, Immigration, and Working Class and Union Culture

Selected Publications

Books:

Juravich, Tom, Olivia Geho and Andrew Gorry. 2025. What the Boss Doesn’t Want Us to Know: Discovering Power and Winning Campaigns. Oakland, CA: PM Press.

Kerrissey, Jasmine, Eve Weinbaum, Clare Hammonds, Tom Juravich and Dan Clawson (equal contributions). 2019. Labor in the Time of Trump. Ithaca, NY: ILR/Cornell University Press.

Juravich, Tom. 2009. At the Altar of the Bottom Line: The Degradation of Work in the Twentieth Century. Amherst, MA: University of Massachusetts Press.

Juravich, Tom (ed.). 2007. The Future of Work in Massachusetts. Amherst, MA: University of Massachusetts Press.

Juravich, Tom and Kate Bronfenbrenner. 1999. Ravenswood: The Steelworkers’ Victory and the Revival of American Labor. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.

Juravich, Tom, William F. Hartford, and James R. Green. 1996. Commonwealth of Toil: Chapters in the History of Massachusetts Workers and Their Unions. Amherst, MA: University of Massachusetts Press.

Juravich, Tom. 1985. Chaos on the Shop Floor: A Worker's View of Quality, Productivity and Management. Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press.

Articles and Book Chapters

Juravich, Tom. 2020. “Bread and Roses: The Evolution of a Song, Labor Songbooks, and Union Culture,” Labor: Studies in Working-Class History, Vol. 17 (2), 81-99.

Juravich, Tom. 2018. “Constituting Challenges in Differing Arenas of Power: Workers’ Centers, the Fight for $15 and Union Organizing,” Labor Studies Journal, Vol. 43 (2), 104-117.

Juravich, Tom. 2017. “Fight for $15: The Limits of Symbolic Power,” Labor Studies Journal, Vol. 42(4), 394-398.

Juravich, Tom. 2017. “Artifacts of Workers’ Knowledge: Finding Skill in the Closing and Restructuring of a Furniture Manufacturer,” Ethnography, Vol 18 (4), 493-514.

Juravich, Tom. 2016. “Reviewing Labor Highlights and Lowlights,” New Labor Forum, Vol. 2 (May), 80-87.

Juravich, Tom, Dan Dashnaw, Andrea Greenberg, and Nate Johnson.  2014. “How a Strike Was Won: Rebuilding Union Capacity and Strategic Leverage in a Utility Workers Local,” Labor Studies Journal, Vol. 39, No. 3 (September), 202-222.

Juravich, Tom. 2013. “Tacit Skills,” in Vicki Smith (ed.), Sociology of Work: An Encyclopedia. New York: Sage.

Juravich, Tom, and Corinn Williams. 2011. “After the Immigration Raid: Evaluating the Campaign to Support Undocumented Workers in New Bedford, Massachusetts,” Working USA, Vol. 14, No 2 (June), 201–224.

Juravich, Tom. 2011. “Representing Labor: Labor Posters and the American Labor Movement,” Work and Occupations, Vol. 38, No. 2 (March), 143–148.

Juravich, Tom. 2007. “Beating Global Capital: A Framework and Method for Union Strategic Corporate Research and Campaigns,” in Kate Bronfenbrenner (ed.), Global Unions: Challenging Global Capital through Cross-Border Campaigns. Ithaca, NY: ILR/Cornell University Press, 16–39.

Juravich, Tom, and Kate Bronfenbrenner. 2006. “Significant Victories: An Analysis of First Contracts in Public and Private Sectors,” in Richard Block et al. (eds.), Justice on the Job: Perspectives on the Erosion of Collective Bargaining in the United States. Kalamazoo, MI: Upjohn, 87–115.

Juravich, Tom and Kate Bronfenbrenner. 2005. “Bring the Study of Work Back to Labor Studies” (guest editor), Labor Studies Journal, Vol. 30, No.1, Spring, i-vii.

Juravich, Tom, and Kate Bronfenbrenner. 2003. "Out of the Ashes: The Steelworkers' Global Campaign at Bridgestone/Firestone," in William N. Cooke (ed.), Multinational Companies and Transnational Workplace Issues. Westport, CT: Quorum Books, 249–268.

Juravich, Tom, and Kate Bronfenbrenner. 1998. “Preparing for the Worst: Organizing and Staying Organized in a Changing Public Sector Climate,” in Kate Bronfenbrenner et. al. (eds.), Organizing to Win, Ithaca, NY: ILR/Cornell University Press, 261–282.

Bronfenbrenner, Kate, and Tom Juravich. 1998. “It Takes More Than House Calls: Organizing to Win with a Comprehensive Union-Building Strategy” in Kate Bronfenbrenner et. al. (eds.), Organizing to Win, Ithaca, NY: ILR/Cornell University Press, 19–36.

Juravich, Tom and Jeff Hilgert. 1999. “UNITE’s Victory at Richmark: Community-Based Union Organizing in Communities of Color,” Labor Studies Journal, Vol. 24, No. 1, Spring.

Juravich, Tom. 1998. “Employee Involvement, Work Reorganization, and the New Labor Movement: Toward a Radical Integration,” New Labor Forum, No. 2, Spring.

Juravich, Tom and Peter R. Shergold. 1998. “The Impact of Unions Upon the Voting Behavior of Their Members,” Industrial and Labor Relations Review, Vol. 41, April, 374-385.

Books:
Kerrissey, Jasmine, Eve Weinbaum, Clare Hammonds, Tom Juravich and Dan Clawson (equal contributions). 2019. Labor in the Time of Trump. Ithaca, NY: ILR/Cornell University Press.
Juravich, Tom. 2009. At the Altar of the Bottom Line: The Degradation of Work in the Twentieth Century. Amherst, MA: University of Massachusetts Press.
Juravich, Tom (ed.). 2007. The Future of Work in Massachusetts. Amherst, MA: University of Massachusetts Press.
Juravich, Tom and Kate Bronfenbrenner. 1999. Ravenswood: The Steelworkers’ Victory and the Revival of American Labor. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.
Juravich, Tom, William F. Hartford, and James R. Green. 1996. Commonwealth of Toil: Chapters in the History of Massachusetts Workers and Their Unions. Amherst, MA: University of Massachusetts Press.
Juravich, Tom. 1985. Chaos on the Shop Floor: A Worker's View of Quality, Productivity and Management. Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press. 

Articles and Book Chapters:
Juravich, Tom. 2020. “Bread and Roses: The Evolution of a Song, Labor Songbooks, and Union Culture,” Labor: Studies in Working-Class History, Vol. 17 (2), 81-99. 
Juravich, Tom. 2018. “Constituting Challenges in Differing Arenas of Power: Workers’ Centers, the Fight for $15 and Union Organizing,” Labor Studies Journal, Vol. 43 (2), 104-117.
Juravich, Tom. 2017. “Fight for $15: The Limits of Symbolic Power,” Labor Studies Journal, Vol. 42(4), 394-398.
Juravich, Tom. 2017. “Artifacts of Workers’ Knowledge: Finding Skill in the Closing and Restructuring of a Furniture Manufacturer,” Ethnography, Vol 18 (4), 493-514.
Juravich, Tom. 2016. “Reviewing Labor Highlights and Lowlights,” New Labor Forum, Vol. 2 (May), 80-87.
Juravich, Tom, Dan Dashnaw, Andrea Greenberg, and Nate Johnson.  2014. “How a Strike Was Won: Rebuilding Union Capacity and Strategic Leverage in a Utility Workers Local,” Labor Studies Journal, Vol. 39, No. 3 (September), 202-222.
Juravich, Tom. 2013. “Tacit Skills,” in Vicki Smith (ed.), Sociology of Work: An Encyclopedia. New York: Sage. 
Juravich, Tom, and Corinn Williams. 2011. “After the Immigration Raid: Evaluating the Campaign to Support Undocumented Workers in New Bedford, Massachusetts,” Working USA, Vol. 14, No 2 (June), 201–224.
Juravich, Tom. 2011. “Representing Labor: Labor Posters and the American Labor Movement,” Work and Occupations, Vol. 38, No. 2 (March), 143–148.
Juravich, Tom. 2007. “Beating Global Capital: A Framework and Method for Union Strategic Corporate Research and Campaigns,” in Kate Bronfenbrenner (ed.), Global Unions: Challenging Global Capital through Cross-Border Campaigns. Ithaca, NY: ILR/Cornell University Press, 16–39.
Juravich, Tom, and Kate Bronfenbrenner. 2006. “Significant Victories: An Analysis of First Contracts in Public and Private Sectors,” in Richard Block et al. (eds.), Justice on the Job: Perspectives on the Erosion of Collective Bargaining in the United States. Kalamazoo, MI: Upjohn, 87–115.
Juravich, Tom, and Kate Bronfenbrenner. 2003. "Out of the Ashes: The Steelworkers' Global Campaign at Bridgestone/Firestone," in William N. Cooke (ed.), Multinational Companies and Transnational Workplace Issues. Westport, CT: Quorum Books, 249–268.
Juravich, Tom, and Kate Bronfenbrenner. 1998. “Preparing for the Worst: Organizing and Staying Organized in a Changing Public Sector Climate,” in Kate Bronfenbrenner et. al. (eds.), Organizing to Win, Ithaca, NY: ILR/Cornell University Press, 261–282.
Bronfenbrenner, Kate, and Tom Juravich. 1998. “It Takes More Than House Calls: Organizing to Win with a Comprehensive Union-Building Strategy” in Kate Bronfenbrenner et. al. (eds.), Organizing to Win, Ithaca, NY: ILR/Cornell University Press, 19–36.

Beverly Woolfe, Andrew Lan, Shlomo Ziberstein, Tom Juravich and Ina Ganguli. “A Framework for Diagnosis, Recommendation and Training in Continuous Workforce Development,” National Science Foundation, September 2019 – present, $980.000
Tom Juravich.  “Wage Theft in Residential Construction,” North Atlantic Council of Carpenters. September 2019 - present, $35,000.