No Retreat, No Surrender: Labor's War at Hormel

By Dave Hage and Paul Klauda

Book Overview

When Hormel, a profitable company, demanded deep wage cuts, local P-9 dug in its heels. Their story is one of no retreat, no surrender. The Austin, Minnesota, strike became a national symbol of labor's battle to reverse the declining standard of living for working-class families. 16 pages of photos.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0688077455
• ISBN13: 9780688077457
• Release Date: January 1989
• Publisher: William Morrow & Co
• Length: 398 Pages
• Weight: 1.75 lbs.

Customer Reviews

How to become unemployed by following Guyette.

I remember this labor dispute quite well. I was living in northern Wisconsin and belonged to a labor union. Their attitude and P-9s were similar. They felt they had to fight management on all issues, even though economic and other matters were not on their side. They didn't want to give up on the hourly wage issue, even though they were the highest wage earners in the county. They sypathized with P-9 union, and even adopted a family from P-9. The authors do a great job in portraying the issues from both the union and Hormel management. They also give the reasons why the union ultimately was broken because of this issue. Guyette and his supporters stuck to a hard line, and forced the company to adapt a hard line. When the battle lines were drawn, there was no compromise. P-9 supporters could not weather the long unemployment and this was the issue which broke the union back. It is sad that so many were so misguided as to put their faith in Guyette and Ray Rogers. Many of these people had their lives destroyed because of these guy's actions. This is a nice book about a labor confrontation. As I am from the Midwest, there was a lot of publicity about this labor battle. It was good to read a book with no taint on issues. The authors are neutral in the description of the confrontation.