Militant labor in the Philippines

To what extent do - or should - labor unions agitate for bread-and-butter issues, and to what extent can they act as social movements, as agents of broad social change? In this detailed account, Lois A. West examines this question through a study of the Kilusang Mayo Uno (the KMU or May First Movement), the most militant contemporary labor movement in the Philippines.

Using extensive interviews and first-hand observations, West traces the KMU's rise and eventual fragmentation in a time of economic and political crisis.