About | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline

2 Harv. C.R.-C.L. L. Rev. 237 (1966-1967)
Tenant Unions: An Experiment in Private Law-Making

handle is hein.journals/hcrcl2 and id is 245 raw text is: TENANT UNIONS: AN EXPERIMENT
IN PRIVATE LAW-MAKING*
Gordon J. Davis**
Michael W. Schwartz***
The powerlessness before private and public author-
ities that is the typical experience of the slum tenant
is reminiscent of the situation of blue-collar workers
all through the nineteenth century. Like the work-rs,
tenants are forced by the conditions of modern life
into a condition of substantial dependence on those who
possess great political and economic power; moreover,
the very fact of dependence coupled with an absence of
education and self-confidence makes them unwilling and
unable to stand up for what they need from those in
power. It is familiar history that many of the workers
remedied their condition by banding together and making
* Much of the material discussed in this article is
not readily available. Interested persons may ob-
tain copies of the following items by writing the
Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review:
1) Contracts used by the East Garfield Union to End
Slums, JOIN, TAC and the Englewood Tenant Union; 2)
twenty page rough history of JOIN tenant unions by
Burt Steck; 3) TAC survey of Old Town Gardens; 4)
Condor-Costalis' analysis of the East Garfield
Union's initial contract. The most valuable items
are the contracts. Those wishing to receive any of
these materials will be charged the expense of copy-
ing and postage.
** A.B. Williams College, 1963; Columbia University,
1963-1964; Harvard Law School, 3L.
*** A.B. Harvard College, 1963; Ecole Normale Superieure;
Paris, 1963-1964; Harvard Law School, 3L.
The authors wish to acknowledge the assistance of
the following individuals, without whose cooperation
this article would not have been possible: Irving
Birnbaum, counsel for JOIN; Gilbert Feldman, partner
in the firm of Kleinman, Cornfield & Feldman; Norman
Hill, staff member of the Industrial Union Depart-
ment's Community Union Center (AFL-CIO); Albert
Lincoln, senior in Harvard College and summer
assistant of Irving Birnbaum; James Poling, staff
member of East Garfield Park Union to End Slums;
Harriet Stulman, staff organizer for JOIN; Roger
Warren, a first year law student at the University
of Chicago; the office of Congressman Sidney Yates,
(D. -Ill.).

-237-

What Is HeinOnline?

HeinOnline is a subscription-based resource containing thousands of academic and legal journals from inception; complete coverage of government documents such as U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Reports, and much more. Documents are image-based, fully searchable PDFs with the authority of print combined with the accessibility of a user-friendly and powerful database. For more information, request a quote or trial for your organization below.



Short-term subscription options include 24 hours, 48 hours, or 1 week to HeinOnline.

Contact us for annual subscription options:

Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?

profiles profiles most