Earlier. He called them the turbulent years. The years that gave rise to the cio and all of the organizing and mieverything we saw then. They werent years of upheaval, organization and progress so much as a big turnabout. A way in which the american working class suddenly took a turn to a different stage in its existence where we could say that from the 30s to the 70s was an experience of almost unbroken progress and expanding rights for workers. But in the years between 1968 and 1988, a lot of that turned around. So turnabout years. I want to start with three stories that help locate whats going on in this period. Then talk a bit about whats happening to the economy. Talk about Public Sector workers in the period and the physical austerity they faced and conclude with barometers of whats happening to working class america by the end of this period. So to begin, let me start with three stories. Im going to locate these in 1977. So roughly about halfway into the period that were talking
Wrote about the 1930s. He called them the turbulent years. The years of militancy and organizing we saw. These years were equally important to shaping 20th century working america, but in a different way. They were not years of upheaval, organization, and progress, so much as a big turnabout. A way in which the working american class took a turn to a different stage in its existence. We could say that from the 1930s to the 1970s was an experience of unbroken promise and expanding rights for workers. In the years between 1968 and 1988, a lot of that turned around. So, turnabout years. I want to start with three stories that help locate what is going on in this period, and talk about whats going on with the economy. Talking about publicsector workers in the period, what they faced, and then conclude with some barometers of whats happening to workingclass america by the end of this period. To begin, let me start with three stories. I am going to locate these in 1977. Roughly about halfway