Indeed, that year marked the end of Ford's resistance. Workers, angered over the firing of eight of their brethren, marched out of the Rouge plant in Dearborn on April 2. Ford, the last union holdout, capitulated. Detroit had truly become a union town. Organized labor's brothers, from left, Roy, Victor and Walter Reuther.
Labor unions grow Other labor unions flourished.
Notably, James R. Hoffa rose from a local union on Detroit's west side to begin a checkered career as president of the Teamsters Union. Japanese automakers filled the gap with high-quality small cars, the forerunners of a growing world economy. Loss of market was an immense challenge for the union, but another was a change in the character of its membership. They want more from life than to be treated like a piece of machinery, so they expect their union to be with them. Slowly, unions and bosses realized that the old adversarial relationships had become a competitive liability.