Three Strikes: Labor's Heartland Losses and What They Mean for Working Americans

This eloquently written book chronicles the massive, protracted strikes waged against three large corporations in Decatur, Illinois, in the 1990s. Veteran journalist Stephen Franklin shows how labor disputes at Bridgestone/ Firestone, Caterpillar, and A. E. Staley left lasting scars on this town and its citizens--and marked a turning point in American labor history. When workers went on strike to retain such basic rights as job security and the 8-hour day, the corporations hit back with unprecedented hardline tactics. Through the moving stories of individual workers and union activists, Franklin illuminates the hardships and disillusionment left in the wake of the strikes, and the powerful forces that caught an unprepared labor leadership off guard. He vividly portrays how the balance of labor-management power was shifted by corporate globalization, cutthroat labor practices, the outdated responses of national unions and government regulators, and an apathetic public. Reflecting on the hard-won lessons of Decatur, the book describes how the quality of work and life are now threatened - not just for blue-collar workers, but for all Americans - and what it will take to safeguard them.

Table of Contents:
Introduction: On Work, Writing about Work, and the Workers in Decatur. Part I: They Lead the Way. Destined to Do Right: Larry Solomon, Union Man, versus Caterpillar. Searching for a Strategy: Staley, a Small-Town Family Business, Goes Global. Labor's Savior?: Ray Rogers, Slayer of Corporate Battle Plans. A Leader for the New World Business Order: Don Fites Remakes Caterpillar's Ambitions. An Honest-to-Goodness Hard-Liner: Bill Casstevens, Career UAW Man. Part II: A Blue-Collar Legacy: Working in History's Wake. On the Prairie's Terms. Factory Town USA. The Great Industrial Slide and Washout: A Storm Cloud in American History? The Scab Ascendancy: How Weakened Unions Got Even Weaker. Part III: A Call to Arms. Sizing Up the Enemy. The New Paladins: Guardians at the Gates. Collapse and Surrender. A Historical Question: What If . . . ? Forming a Second Front: The Staley Workers Join the Fray. A Third Flank: The Tire Workers Go on Strike and the Beginning of the End of a Longtime Union. Part IV: Skirmishes and Sieges. Living amid Fear and Hatred: The Strikebreakers. The New Law of a Larger Land: The Gladiator Companies. No Help Here: The Trade Union Workers. Lost in a Maze: The NLRB. Part V: Rallying. Hit and Run at Caterpillar. Desperately Seeking Solutions. The Ballot Box Rebellion. The Road Warriors Meet the Labor Mandarins. Part VI: Surrender and Retreat. Slumbering into Oblivion. Still Waiting for Victory--Or Something. A Sad Armistice: The Staley Workers Lose Out. All Things Fall Apart: The Caterpillar Workers Suffer Defeat Too. An Unexpected Good-Bye: The Bridgestone/Firestone Workers Lose Some of Their History. Part VII: Heartfelt Losses. Unhealing Wounds. Leave No Bodies Behind: The Autoworkers Live Up to Their Word. Strategic Instincts: The Steelworkers Think Globally. Lost on Eldorado. Epilogue: Heartbreak in the Heartland.

About the Author :
Stephen Franklin has been a labor writer for the Chicago Tribune for nearly a decade. Before joining the Tribune, he worked for newspapers in Detroit, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, and Miami.

Review :
'Stephen Franklin, in eloquence and heartbreak, has sprung forth three great dramas. It happened not in ancient Athens, but in America's heartland, Decatur, Illinois. The unsung heroes are our working men and women, who lost three grueling strikes to three faceless forces: Caterpillar, Firestone, and Staley, avatars of the 'New Economy.' Yet this superb report from the front is not a dirge--it is a call to arms. This is labor reportage at its best.' - Studs Terkel, author of Working and Hard Times 'In these three Illinois strikes, the humble and the mighty fought a battle that would shape the future of America's middle class. Franklin's book is as satisfying to read as a great novel. Filled with character and incident, it illuminates the intersection of private lives and the forces of history.' - Thomas H. Geoghegan, author of Which Side Are You On? 'Compelling and compassionate, this chronicle of three strikes reflects the collision of global corporate interests with the interests of labor unions, government regulatory agencies, and, not least of all, workers themselves.... The book is distinguished by its attention to the constellation of individual biographies, historical events, and institutional actors that generated the strikes, and by its poignant depiction of the human consequences of labor-management conflict.' - Dan Cornfield, Vanderbilt University, editor of Work and Occupations quarterly 'Three Strikes offers a heartwrenching portrait of the experiences of American blue-collar workers struggling with the realities of corporate restructuring and de-unionization.... This is ideal supplementary reading for courses in contemporary labor history, industrial relations, the sociology of work, and organizational change.' - Richard W. Hurd, Cornell University of School of Industrial and Labor Relations