Synopses & Reviews
Review
"A powerful, passionate, and informative blow-by-blow account. . . . This book offers a how-to on building a militant, democratic, and effective organization."--Journal of Illinois History
Review
"A vital contribution to a discussion of how to rebuild the labor movement today."--International Socialist Review
Review
"Staley is a masterful and cautionary account that brilliantly captures the obstacles and dilemmas faced by organized labor at the close of the twentieth century."--The Annals of Iowa
Synopsis
This on-the-ground labor history focuses on the bitterly contested labor conflict in the early 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. Originally family-owned, A. E. Staley was bought out by the multinational conglomerate Tate & Lyle, which immediately launched a full-scale assault on its union workforce. Allied Industrial Workers Local 837 responded by educating and mobilizing its members, organizing strong support from the religious and black communities, building a national and international solidarity movement, and engaging in nonviolent civil disobedience at the plant gates.
Drawing on seventy-five interviews, videotapes of every union meeting, and their own active involvement organizing with the Staley workers, Steven K. Ashby and C. J. Hawking bring the workers' voices to the fore and reveal their innovative tactics, such as work-to-rule and solidarity committees, that inform and strengthen today's labor movement.
Synopsis
A dramatic story of worker resistance in a pivotal labor struggle
About the Author
"A powerful, passionate, and informative blow-by-blow account. . . . This book offers a how-to on building a militant, democratic, and effective organization."--Journal of Illinois History
"A vital contribution to a discussion of how to rebuild the labor movement today."--International Socialist Review "Staley is a masterful and cautionary account that brilliantly captures the obstacles and dilemmas faced by organized labor at the close of the twentieth century."--The Annals of Iowa