Fred Glass "California Labor: Yesterday & Today"

What makes California different from other states? The cultural template stamped in the Gold Rush has remained in place ever since: “Come Here, Get Rich”, a dream and location where anything is possible. Or so goes the myth. The reality is more complex. Yes, there was gold, wheat, oil, Hollywood, aerospace, Silicon Valley—recurrent gold rushes still happening today, still making some people rich. But this talk explores the path taken by the vast majority of newcomers—immigrant workers—who perpetually recompose the state’s working class and generate the wealth of the lucky few who grab California’s golden ring. The lens of California labor provides an alternative view of history, the kind that occurs when workers engage in collective action—through unions, politics, strikes, and a variety of organizing strategies seeking common ground among diverse communities to achieve economic fairness and social justice. In the current national resurgence of labor California is once again taking pride of place, with teachers, Hollywood unions, hotel workers and graduate students leading the way. Why did it happen before, and why is it happening now?

Fred Glass served as the communications director for the California Federation of Teachers for nearly thirty years. He taught night classes in labor history at City College of San Francisco until spring 2023. He wrote and directed Golden Lands, Working Hands, a ten-part video series on the history of the California labor movement, shown on public television stations in California and distributed to every public high school in the state. His book, From Mission to Microchip: A History of the California Labor Movement, was published by the University of California Press in 2016. A short animated cartoon he wrote and directed, with the voice of Ed Asner, Tax the Rich: An Animated Fairy Tale, received a million YouTube views in 2012 and was the subject of unhappy Fox News commentary. His most recent video is We Mean to Make Things Over: A History of May Day. Fred is a member of AFT Local 2121 and serves on the State Committee of California DSA.