This book examines why the efforts of Californian reformers in the 1970s and beyond have failed to improve farm worker wages and alleviate poverty in this industry. It examines the history and operation of the California Agricultural Labour Relations Act (ALRA), the key unions, the employers and the changes in immigration policy over the past quarter-century and arrives at a clear and definite analysis of the important factors.... Martin writes in a clear, concise, and engaging manner.... Promise Unfulfilled is recommended to anybody interested in the role of immigrant workers in a Western capitalist economy, industrial relations and its history in the United States and the economics of immigration and industrial relations.

Philip L. Martin writes eloquently about Mexican workers... illegal immigrants who pick the lettuce, grapes, and strawberries that make their way to dining room tables from Salinas to Santa Rosa and Seattle.... Martin does not conceal his sense of disappointment about the current plight of immigrants who toil in the fields.

Promise Unfulfilled covers how the burden of proof shifts from employer to employee as ULP cases develop, the changes in policy for punishing, hiring, or rehiring illegal residents, and the reason farm workers traditionally have relied on boycotts and pickets rather than strikes. And Martin has not forgotten direct action, including 'dirty picking' (harvesting the worst of a crop or just stems, leaves, and roots to jam the works), scab confrontations, and wildcats.