From an account of the early SLAC history from an old
AFL-CIO student organizing handbook:
"In February 1994, undergraduates in a sociology
course at the University of Wisconsin-Madison saw
the video "Deadly Corn" in their class and were
angered by what they learned. The video
documented the lockout of more than 700 workers
at A.E. Staley, a sweetener company in Decatur,
Ill., and the workers' struggle there for safe,
decent jobs. By writing a group research paper on
the struggle, these students became aware of the
problems that face workers.
Along with some dedicated members of the Teaching
Assistants Association (TAA), the Staley
Solidarity Action Coalition met weekly to discuss
the situation at Staley and planned a trip to
Decatur to support the locked-out workers. On
that trip, the students walked their first picket
line. The trip to Decatur took Madison
undergraduates from the campus to the "front
lines" of the war on American workers.
After a semester of succesful work for the Staley
struggle, the group changed its name to the
Student Labor Action Coalition (SLAC), ready to
help worker struggles anywhere, not just in
Illinois. In October 1994, students from the
University of Michigan-Ann Arbor got interested
in the Staley lock-out and met with Madison
SLACers at a rally in Decatur. Motivated by
Madison SLAC, students returned to ANN Arbor
ready to do their own labor support work. The
Michigan SLAC hosted a very succesful young labor
activists conference in spring 1995. It was there
that Madison and Ann Arbor SLACers realized their
story was getting out. Student activists from
eight different campuses came to the event and
planned nationwide coordinated actions. SLAC
groups now exist on campuses across the Midwest
and the Northeast."