Cross-Sector Solidarity amid a Shifting Landscape, Naomi Williams
In 1970’s Racine, Wisconsin, the labor community had success through a strategic use of the city’s labor history, the power of the strike, and the diversity of labor movement. They used these to rally workers in this period of conservative pushback, deindustrialization, and employers’ concession demands. Private industry workers came together and supported public worker strike efforts and helped block austerity measures in public funding. The labor community’s successful collaborations in political and economic battles of the early-1970s set the stage for continued solidarity and political will during the economic crises of the late-1970s and 1980s.
Respondents: Jon Shelton, University of Wisconsin Green Bay & Kathy Oberdeck, The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign