The Long Argument: Capital vs. Labor · Episode 8 of 12 · 21 min
The Accord: The Treaty of Detroit and Who Was Left Out
Between 1948 and 1973 American capitalism shared: a GM-UAW contract with pensions, health insurance and cost-of-living wages set a pattern, union density reached one worker in three, and the gap between rich and poor narrowed. Fortune called it the Treaty of Detroit. The episode celebrates what it delivered, then reads the fine print about who was left out.
Who's who
- Walter Reuther+1 more episodeUAW president who negotiated a private welfare state company by company
- Charles E. Wilson+1 more episodeGeneral Motors president who helped design the 1948 cost-of-living formula
- George MeanyFirst president of the merged AFL-CIO
- Larry Itliong+2 more episodesFilipino-American organizer who led the first Delano grape walkout in 1965
- Cesar Chavez+3 more episodesCo-founder of the National Farm Workers Association
- Dolores Huerta+3 more episodesCo-founder of the farmworkers' union who negotiated the 1970 contracts
- T. O. JonesMemphis sanitation worker who led AFSCME Local 1733
- Claudia Goldin+2 more episodesEconomist who co-named the Great Compression
Where it happens
- Detroit, Michigan+7 more episodesHome of the GM-UAW contract called the Treaty of Detroit
- Delano, California+2 more episodesSite of the 1965 grape strike
- Memphis, Tennessee+1 more episodeSite of the 1968 sanitation strike
Timeline
- 1946Operation Dixie, the CIO's drive to organize the South, collapses
- May 1948GM-UAW contract introduces the cost-of-living escalator and annual improvement factor
- May 23, 1950Treaty of Detroit: GM and the UAW sign a five-year contract
- December 1955AFL and CIO merge under George Meany
- September 1965Delano grape strike begins with Itliong's walkout
- February 1, 1968Two Memphis sanitation workers are crushed, triggering the strike
Still debated
Skeptics say the accord was a productivity deal that traded away labor's voice and contained its own expiration date, while defenders note a generation of compounding gains. Some historians question whether an accord existed at all, and the Wagner Act's exclusions are read as a racial bargain or administrative convenience.
← PreviousThe Deal: Wagner, Flint, and Taft-HartleyNext →The Great Reversal: PATCO and the Productivity-Pay Split
Connected episodes in other series
Blood and Wine: Grapes, Delano, and a MovementThe Politics of Produce · Episode 12Also features Cesar Chavez, Dolores Huerta
Conduct UnbecomingWho Taught the Teachers · Episode 6Also features Claudia Goldin
The Highway Lobby: Buying the FutureWho Tore Up the Tracks? · Episode 7Also features Charles E. Wilson