 " Last Exit to Springfield " is the seventeenth episode of The Simpsons ' fourth season . It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on March 11 , 1993 . It was directed by Mark Kirkland and was the last episode written by Jay Kogen and Wallace Wolodarsky . The episode 's plot revolves around Homer Simpson becoming president of the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant 's trade union and leading the workers of the plant in a strike in order to get their dental plan back . Dr. Joyce Brothers guest stars as herself . 
