Part 9: "Against the Tide"
Two bright areas emerge in the 60s and 70s from the crossroads of
labor and civil rights movements. Farmworker organizing soars around
the Delano grape strike of 1965; and California teachers, like other
public sector workers, demand and achieve collective bargaining
laws. But these are bright spots in a darkening picture of automation,
deindustrialization, capital flight, antiunion government policies
and labor's own failure to organize new sectors of the economy.
The struggle of auto workers at GM Van Nuys against a threatened
plant closure typifies this era for industrial workers, their families
and communities. 21 minutes
