Collision Course

Labor Management Relations in America

This film traces the dramatic rise and fall of workplace cooperation at Eastern Airlines. In so doing, the film uncovers the deep-seated assumptions which underlie our culture of industrial relations and prevent us from breaking out of our industrial impasse.

COLLISION COURSE begins in 1983 with Eastern hurtling towards bankruptcy, beset by years of labor-management hostility, high wage cuts, and a poor service record. An informative history traces this adversarial relationship back to the dawn of the wage system and the rise of scientific management. Eastern's rise and fall provides a vital case study of the do's, don'ts, and maybe's of workplace cooperation.

"Collision Course is an eloquent statement and sadly accurate portrayal of labor-management relations in America. I can't think of anyone who wouldn't profit enormously from seeing it - production workers, managers, citizens. If it were up to me, I'd project it on a mountainside and have the audio boom over valley and stream." - Robert Reich, Former U.S. Secretary of Labor

"This dramatic, eye-opening study of a crucial experiment in labor-management cooperation provides unions and management vital insights into why they work apart and how they can work together." - Robert McKersie, Sloan School of Management, M.I.T