From Mission to Microchip : A History of the California Labor Movement

There is no better time than now to consider the labor history of the Golden State. While other states face declining union enrollment rates and the rollback of workers’ rights, California unions are embracing working immigrants, and voters are protecting core worker rights. What’s the difference? California has held an exceptional place in the imagination of Americans and immigrants since the Gold Rush, which saw the first of many waves of working people moving to the state to find work. __From Mission to Microchip__ unearths the hidden stories of these people throughout California’s history. The difficult task of the state’s labor movement has been to overcome perceived barriers such as race, national origin, and language to unite newcomers and natives in their shared interest. As chronicled in this comprehensive history, workers have creatively used collective bargaining, politics, strikes, and varied organizing strategies to find common ground among California’s diverse communities and achieve a measure of economic fairness and social justice. This is an indispensible book for students and scholars of labor history and history of the West, as well as labor activists and organizers. Cover From Mission to Microchip Title Copyright Dedication CONTENTS List of Illustrations Preface: Why California Labor History? Acknowledgments PART I: BEFORE THE BEGINNING 1 • Where in California Is Its Labor History? 2 • On a Mission: How Work Destroyed Native California PART II: EARLY DAYS 3 • Striking Gold 4 • “All That Is Solid Melts into Air”: Gold Rush San Francisco 5 • Work, Leisure, and the Struggle for the Eight-Hour Day 6 • Sandlots and Silver Kings: The Workingmen’s Party of California 7 • Building Paradise: The Making of the Los Angeles Working Class 8 • Newspapers, Railroads, and the Los Angeles Labor Movement 9 • Land, Machines, and Farm Labor 10 • The Oxnard Sugar Beet Workers Strike PART III: FROM PRIDE OF CRAFT TO INDUSTRIAL UNIONISM 11 • Building San Francisco 12 • Organizing San Francisco 13 • Carmen, Women, and Their Unions 14 • Otistown: Los Angeles at the Turn of the Century 15 • Almost Mayor: Bombs, Ballots, and Fusion Politics 16 • Open Shop: California Workers in the Jazz Age PART IV: DIVISIONS IN THE GROWING HOUSE OF LABOR 17 • Radical Responses to the Great Depression 18 • The San Francisco General Strike 19 • The CIO: Civil War and Civil Rights 20 • Arsenal of Democracy: Integrating Industrial California during World War II 21 • “We Called It a Work Holiday”: The Oakland General Strike 22 • Hollywood to Bakersfield: Poverty in the Valley of Plenty PART V: THE ERA OF BUSINESS UNIONISM 23 • Cold War Prosperity: Labor Becomes “Middle Class” 24 • Labor and Politics 25 • “Sí Se Puede”: The United Farm Workers 26 • The Rise of Public Sector Unionism 27 • Creating the Conditions for Teaching and Learning to Happen 28 • Feminist Collective Bargaining Meets the Civil Service PART VI: REINVENTING CALIFORNIA LABOR 29 • The Decline of Manufacturing Unionism 30 • Justice for Janitors: Organizing Immigrant Workers 31 • Teachers, Nurses, and Firefighters: The Alliance for a Better California 32 • Labor and the Community: Reclaiming California’s Future Afterword: A Place in the Sun List of Labor Organizations and Acronyms Bibliographic Note Sources Index "There is no better time than now to consider the labor history of the Golden State. While other states face declining union enrollment rates and the rollback of workers' rights, California unions are embracing working immigrants, and voters are protecting core worker rights. What's the difference? California has held an exceptional place in the imagination of Americans and immigrants since the Gold Rush, which saw the first of many waves of working people moving to the state to find work. From Mission to Microchip unearths the hidden stories of these people throughout California's history. The difficult task of the state's labor movement has been to overcome perceived barriers such as race, national origin, and language to unite newcomers and natives in their shared interest. As chronicled in this comprehensive history, workers have creatively used collective bargaining, politics, strikes, and varied organizing strategies to find common ground among California's diverse communities and achieve a measure of economic fairness and social justice. This is an indispensable book for students and scholars of labor history and history of the West, as well as labor activists and organizers." -- Provided by publisher "There is no better time than now to consider the labor history of the Golden State. While other states face declining union enrollment rates and the rollback of workers' rights, California unions are embracing working immigrants, and voters are protecting core worker rights. What's the difference? California has held an exceptional place in the imagination of Americans and immigrants since the Gold Rush, which saw the first of many waves of working people moving to the state to find work. From Mission to Microchip unearths the hidden stories of these people throughout California's history. The difficult task of the state's labor movement has been to overcome perceived barriers such as race, national origin, and language to unite newcomers and natives in their shared interest. As chronicled in this comprehensive history, workers have creatively used collective bargaining, politics, strikes, and varied organizing strategies to find common ground among California's diverse communities and achieve a measure of economic fairness and social justice. This is an indispensable book for students and scholars of labor history and history of the West, as well as labor activists and organizers."--Résumé de l'éditeur