Staley: The Fight for a New American Labor Movement

The Working Class in American History

by Steven K. Ashby, C. J. Hawking

This on-the-ground labor history chronicles the bitterly contested labor conflict in the mid 1990s at the A. E. Staley corn processing plant in Decatur, Illinois, where workers waged one of the most hard-fought struggles in recent labor history. When the company launched a full-scale assault on its workers, Allied Industrial Workers Local 837 responded by educating and mobilizing its members, organizing strong support from the religious and African American communities, building a nationwide solidarity movement, and engaging in nonviolent civil disobedience at the plant gates. Through scores of interviews and videotapes of every union meeting, the authors bring the workers' voices to the fore and reveal their innovative tactics that inform and strengthen today's labor movement.

Genres: Labor

384 pages, Paperback

First published March 13, 2009

Reviews

[Sean Daniel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Inspiring and ultimately heartbreaking, Ashby's work is a fantastic grassroots account of one of the great fights of labor during the late 20th century. In particular, the internal dynamics are fascinating in how the experience of fighting strengthened and the Staley workers and engaged them with the history and vision of labor struggle.