Interview footage with the bargaining representatives of General Motors and the United Automobile Workers Union on May 29, 1958.

The film’s opening scene shows General Motors Vice President Louis G. Seaton as he provides remarks to the press concerning GM’s position on its contract with the United Automobile Workers Union set to expire at 11:59pm that evening, May 29, 1958. When questioned what he thinks the chances are that a settlement will be reached by midnight, Seaton responds that he would prefer not to comment, because he’s “always an optimist.” The scene shifts to UAW Union President Walter Reuther as he responds in length to the press concerning the contract’s impending expiration: “They’re not bargaining in there…If we have 120 plants, and they’ve got ten demands in common, right away that makes 1,200 demands. That isn’t the way you bargain. Maybe it makes clever public relations, but it will not solve a problem...What the company is doing is making propaganda when they ought to be bargaining.”