
Barbara Kopple
Director

Chronicles the six-month strike at Hormel in Austin, Minnesota, in 1985-86. The local union, P-9 of the Food and Commercial Workers, overwhelmingly rejects a contract offer with a $2/hour wage cut. They strike and hire a New York consultant to manage a national media campaign against Hormel. Despite support from P-9's rank and file, FCWU's international disagrees with the strategy. In addition to union-company tension, there's union-union in-fighting. Hormel holds firm; scabs, replacement workers, brothers on opposite sides, a union coup d'état, and a new contract materialize. The film asks, was it worth it, or was the strike a long-term disaster for organized labor?
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Barbara Kopple
Director
Cathy Caplan
Director
Thomas Haneke
Director

Jesse Jackson
Self

Dan Rather
Self

Ronald Reagan
Self
Richard Knowlton
Self - President Hormel & CO.
Charles Nyberg
Self - Chief Counsel - Hormel & CO.
Ron Bergstrom
Self
Wayne Goodnature
Self
Jim Guyette
Self - President Local Union P-9

Ray Rogers
Self
William Serrin
Self - NY Times
Lewie Anderson
Self - Chief Negotiator
R.J. Bergstrom
Self