1 00:00:02,440 --> 00:00:07,000 Speaker 1: Happy Saturday, everybody. We have an upcoming episode about organized 2 00:00:07,040 --> 00:00:10,080 Speaker 1: labor in the nineteen forties in the US, and it's 3 00:00:10,119 --> 00:00:13,119 Speaker 1: got some connections to the National Labor Relations Act of 4 00:00:13,200 --> 00:00:17,360 Speaker 1: nineteen thirty five, also known as the Wagner Act. We 5 00:00:17,440 --> 00:00:20,440 Speaker 1: talked about the Wagner Act and how it related to workers' 6 00:00:20,480 --> 00:00:23,599 Speaker 1: rights to unionize and strike in our episode on the 7 00:00:23,680 --> 00:00:27,600 Speaker 1: Flint sit Down Strike, so we are replaying that episode 8 00:00:27,640 --> 00:00:31,800 Speaker 1: as Today's Saturday Classic. This one originally came out on 9 00:00:31,840 --> 00:00:38,440 Speaker 1: December sixth, twenty twenty one. Enjoy Welcome to Stuff You 10 00:00:38,479 --> 00:00:48,600 Speaker 1: Missed in History Class, a production of iHeartRadio. Hello, and 11 00:00:48,720 --> 00:00:51,639 Speaker 1: welcome to the podcast. I'm Tracy V. Wilson and I'm 12 00:00:51,680 --> 00:00:55,600 Speaker 1: Holly Frye. The eighty fifth anniversary of the Flint sit 13 00:00:55,680 --> 00:00:58,200 Speaker 1: Down Strike is this month. That's marked as starting on 14 00:00:58,280 --> 00:01:02,200 Speaker 1: December thirtieth of nineteen thirty six, but that name and 15 00:01:02,280 --> 00:01:08,040 Speaker 1: date don't quite capture the whole of the strike. Flint, 16 00:01:08,120 --> 00:01:12,280 Speaker 1: Michigan was absolutely at the heart of auto manufacturing for 17 00:01:12,360 --> 00:01:16,679 Speaker 1: General Motors, and the strike was largely centered around Flint, 18 00:01:17,000 --> 00:01:20,399 Speaker 1: but this strike also involved workers at GM factories all 19 00:01:20,440 --> 00:01:24,319 Speaker 1: over the United States, and while the major strike activity 20 00:01:24,440 --> 00:01:28,360 Speaker 1: in Flint started on December thirtieth. It also followed earlier 21 00:01:28,440 --> 00:01:32,080 Speaker 1: strikes in other parts of Michigan and in other states. 22 00:01:32,319 --> 00:01:35,240 Speaker 1: So this name and date, as they're commonly known, it's 23 00:01:35,319 --> 00:01:38,200 Speaker 1: really a little bit broader than that. We have talked 24 00:01:38,240 --> 00:01:41,640 Speaker 1: about several strikes on the show before, including strikes in 25 00:01:41,680 --> 00:01:45,360 Speaker 1: the United States, Canada, England, and Ireland. But this one 26 00:01:45,400 --> 00:01:48,320 Speaker 1: in particular has been cited as one of the most 27 00:01:48,400 --> 00:01:53,280 Speaker 1: significant and influential strikes in United States labor history, and 28 00:01:53,360 --> 00:01:55,680 Speaker 1: this strike took place while the world was still trying 29 00:01:55,720 --> 00:01:59,640 Speaker 1: to recover from the Great Depression. This economic catastrophe had, 30 00:01:59,680 --> 00:02:03,400 Speaker 1: of course been devastating to people all over the globe. 31 00:02:03,520 --> 00:02:06,520 Speaker 1: General Motors in particular had cut nearly half of its 32 00:02:06,600 --> 00:02:11,640 Speaker 1: staff while also increasing requirements for workers productivity and implementing 33 00:02:11,680 --> 00:02:15,680 Speaker 1: seasonal layoffs. Although the company would loan money to laid 34 00:02:15,680 --> 00:02:18,080 Speaker 1: off workers, they had to pay it back out of 35 00:02:18,080 --> 00:02:21,280 Speaker 1: their wages once they were back on the job. But 36 00:02:21,480 --> 00:02:24,760 Speaker 1: even people who had steady work at GM during the 37 00:02:24,800 --> 00:02:27,840 Speaker 1: Great Depression didn't really have a sense of job security. 38 00:02:28,440 --> 00:02:31,200 Speaker 1: There were so many people who were out of work 39 00:02:31,240 --> 00:02:34,280 Speaker 1: and just desperate for jobs that the company knew it 40 00:02:34,280 --> 00:02:37,760 Speaker 1: could fire anyone for essentially any reason, and have a 41 00:02:37,840 --> 00:02:43,200 Speaker 1: replacement waiting immediately. It was especially true in places like Flint, 42 00:02:43,240 --> 00:02:47,079 Speaker 1: where GM was by far the biggest employer. The US 43 00:02:47,200 --> 00:02:50,240 Speaker 1: government took various steps to try to bolster the nation's 44 00:02:50,280 --> 00:02:54,760 Speaker 1: economy during the depression. One was the National Industrial Recovery 45 00:02:54,800 --> 00:02:58,080 Speaker 1: Act of nineteen thirty three. This was part of President 46 00:02:58,120 --> 00:03:01,160 Speaker 1: Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal, and he signed it into 47 00:03:01,240 --> 00:03:04,480 Speaker 1: law during his first one hundred days in office. This 48 00:03:04,680 --> 00:03:08,680 Speaker 1: was an act quote to encourage national Industrial recovery, to 49 00:03:08,800 --> 00:03:12,600 Speaker 1: foster fair competition, to provide for the construction of certain 50 00:03:12,680 --> 00:03:17,359 Speaker 1: useful public works, and for other purposes. The National Industrial 51 00:03:17,440 --> 00:03:21,560 Speaker 1: Recovery Act suspended a lot of the antitrust legislation that 52 00:03:21,600 --> 00:03:26,040 Speaker 1: we talked about recently in our episodes on Ida Tarbell. Instead, 53 00:03:26,160 --> 00:03:30,240 Speaker 1: this Act encouraged businesses to form alliances and to establish 54 00:03:30,360 --> 00:03:34,800 Speaker 1: codes of fair competition. These codes were meant to apply 55 00:03:34,960 --> 00:03:39,840 Speaker 1: across whole industries, setting standards for things like consumer protections, 56 00:03:39,960 --> 00:03:44,240 Speaker 1: fair wages, and prices for goods. The idea was that 57 00:03:44,280 --> 00:03:48,080 Speaker 1: these codes would reduce unfair business practices that were making 58 00:03:48,120 --> 00:03:52,200 Speaker 1: it harder for struggling businesses to stay afloat during the crisis, 59 00:03:52,280 --> 00:03:56,360 Speaker 1: so things like undercutting competitors' prices to the point that 60 00:03:56,440 --> 00:04:00,240 Speaker 1: they just could not go that low. Section se an 61 00:04:00,240 --> 00:04:04,080 Speaker 1: A of the Act read quote, Every code of fair competition, agreement, 62 00:04:04,160 --> 00:04:08,400 Speaker 1: and license, approved, prescribed, or issued under this Title shall 63 00:04:08,400 --> 00:04:12,520 Speaker 1: contain the following conditions. One that employees shall have the 64 00:04:12,600 --> 00:04:16,040 Speaker 1: right to organize and bargain collectively through representatives of their 65 00:04:16,080 --> 00:04:19,600 Speaker 1: own choosing, and shall be free from the interference, restraint, 66 00:04:19,680 --> 00:04:22,919 Speaker 1: or coercion of employers of labor or their agents in 67 00:04:22,960 --> 00:04:26,839 Speaker 1: the designation of such representatives or in self organization or 68 00:04:26,880 --> 00:04:30,280 Speaker 1: in other concerted activities for the purpose of collective bargaining 69 00:04:30,600 --> 00:04:34,760 Speaker 1: or other mutual aid or protection. Two that no employee 70 00:04:34,800 --> 00:04:37,719 Speaker 1: and no one seeking employment, shall be required, as a 71 00:04:37,760 --> 00:04:41,240 Speaker 1: condition of employment, to join any company union, or to 72 00:04:41,360 --> 00:04:45,680 Speaker 1: refrain from joining, organizing, or assisting a labor organization of 73 00:04:45,720 --> 00:04:50,279 Speaker 1: his own choosing. And three that employers shall comply with 74 00:04:50,360 --> 00:04:53,640 Speaker 1: the maximum hours of labor, minimum rates of pay, and 75 00:04:53,760 --> 00:04:58,000 Speaker 1: other conditions of employment approved or prescribed by the President. 76 00:04:58,920 --> 00:05:02,599 Speaker 1: This Act contain lots of provisions that we haven't gotten 77 00:05:02,640 --> 00:05:06,880 Speaker 1: into here, including authorizing the President to establish a federal 78 00:05:06,920 --> 00:05:11,080 Speaker 1: emergency Administration of public works. But in terms of the 79 00:05:11,120 --> 00:05:15,480 Speaker 1: Flint sit down strike, Section seven A was key. It 80 00:05:15,560 --> 00:05:20,359 Speaker 1: protected employee's right to organize and bargain collectively, and this 81 00:05:20,520 --> 00:05:23,680 Speaker 1: was a huge deal. Although the term collective bargaining had 82 00:05:23,720 --> 00:05:27,360 Speaker 1: been coined by British social reformer Beatrice web in eighteen 83 00:05:27,400 --> 00:05:30,400 Speaker 1: ninety one, workers had been trying to work together to 84 00:05:30,400 --> 00:05:34,359 Speaker 1: secure better pay in working conditions for centuries, and in 85 00:05:34,400 --> 00:05:38,000 Speaker 1: the US, trade unions and other efforts to collectively bargain 86 00:05:38,080 --> 00:05:42,600 Speaker 1: had been illegal. They were treated as criminal conspiracies. The 87 00:05:42,720 --> 00:05:47,120 Speaker 1: National Industrial Recovery Act was the first federal law legalizing 88 00:05:47,240 --> 00:05:52,480 Speaker 1: union membership and collective bargaining, but in general employers were 89 00:05:52,520 --> 00:05:56,720 Speaker 1: reluctant to comply with various provisions of the Act. There 90 00:05:56,720 --> 00:05:59,720 Speaker 1: were also questions about whether the Supreme Court would find 91 00:05:59,720 --> 00:06:04,520 Speaker 1: it to be unconstitutional. Some employers used this uncertainty to 92 00:06:04,839 --> 00:06:08,400 Speaker 1: justify their non compliance with the law, and they kept 93 00:06:08,480 --> 00:06:13,280 Speaker 1: working directly against their employees' legal right to unionize. As 94 00:06:13,360 --> 00:06:17,800 Speaker 1: a result, labor disputes, including strikes, surged as workers and 95 00:06:17,839 --> 00:06:20,680 Speaker 1: their unions fought for the kinds of rights and protections 96 00:06:20,720 --> 00:06:24,200 Speaker 1: they were legally entitled to, and some of these disputes 97 00:06:24,279 --> 00:06:28,240 Speaker 1: led to violence. In August of nineteen thirty three, Roosevelt 98 00:06:28,320 --> 00:06:31,560 Speaker 1: established the National Labor Board, chaired by Senator Robert F. 99 00:06:31,640 --> 00:06:34,560 Speaker 1: Wagner of New York, to try to mediate between the 100 00:06:34,640 --> 00:06:38,840 Speaker 1: growing labor movement and industry leaders. In addition to Wagner, 101 00:06:38,880 --> 00:06:43,120 Speaker 1: the Board had six members, three each representing labor and industry. 102 00:06:43,960 --> 00:06:48,600 Speaker 1: But the board really didn't have much enforcement power. Companies 103 00:06:48,600 --> 00:06:51,040 Speaker 1: that were operating under one of the codes that had 104 00:06:51,040 --> 00:06:54,359 Speaker 1: been established under the new law were allowed to display 105 00:06:54,400 --> 00:06:57,919 Speaker 1: an emblem of a blue eagle, and all that the 106 00:06:58,040 --> 00:07:01,400 Speaker 1: NLB could really do when companies stopped following the rules 107 00:07:01,480 --> 00:07:04,400 Speaker 1: was to make them take their eagle down. In May 108 00:07:04,400 --> 00:07:07,200 Speaker 1: of nineteen thirty five, the Supreme Court issued its decision 109 00:07:07,320 --> 00:07:11,120 Speaker 1: in Scheckter Poultry Corps versus United States, which did indeed 110 00:07:11,200 --> 00:07:15,920 Speaker 1: find the National Industrial Recovery Act to be unconstitutional. At 111 00:07:15,960 --> 00:07:19,400 Speaker 1: the same time, though the act's industrial provisions were supposed 112 00:07:19,440 --> 00:07:22,880 Speaker 1: to expire after two years or sooner if the President 113 00:07:23,000 --> 00:07:26,920 Speaker 1: or Congress decided they were no longer needed, this decision 114 00:07:27,080 --> 00:07:31,120 Speaker 1: came just a few weeks before that expiration date. A 115 00:07:31,160 --> 00:07:35,320 Speaker 1: big reason behind that decision was that this act delegated 116 00:07:35,320 --> 00:07:38,240 Speaker 1: a lot of legislative power to the president without really 117 00:07:38,320 --> 00:07:41,680 Speaker 1: setting guidelines on how the president could use that power. 118 00:07:43,160 --> 00:07:45,640 Speaker 1: That was not the whole decision, obviously, but that's sort 119 00:07:45,640 --> 00:07:50,160 Speaker 1: of the crux. People were divided as to whether or 120 00:07:50,160 --> 00:07:53,160 Speaker 1: to what extent this Act had been effective at what 121 00:07:53,240 --> 00:07:56,160 Speaker 1: it set out to do. It was supposed to quote, 122 00:07:56,200 --> 00:08:00,520 Speaker 1: remove obstructions to the free flow of interstate and foreign commerce. 123 00:08:01,160 --> 00:08:04,120 Speaker 1: It was supposed to do that by reducing labor disputes, 124 00:08:04,200 --> 00:08:08,520 Speaker 1: reducing unfair competitive practices, and making sure industries were working 125 00:08:08,560 --> 00:08:12,960 Speaker 1: at full capacity. It had generally improved workers pay and 126 00:08:13,040 --> 00:08:15,520 Speaker 1: working conditions, and it had cut down on some of 127 00:08:15,560 --> 00:08:19,480 Speaker 1: the competitive practices that were undermining the economic recovery, but 128 00:08:19,520 --> 00:08:22,320 Speaker 1: it was also blamed for things like making various goods 129 00:08:22,360 --> 00:08:26,720 Speaker 1: more expensive and slowing the pace of production. The government 130 00:08:26,800 --> 00:08:29,880 Speaker 1: still had a vested interest in this idea of removing 131 00:08:29,920 --> 00:08:35,280 Speaker 1: obstructions to interstate commerce, including obstructions that stemmed from labor disputes, 132 00:08:35,880 --> 00:08:39,000 Speaker 1: and labor activists were advocating for the protections that had 133 00:08:39,040 --> 00:08:42,559 Speaker 1: been part of the National Industrial Recovery Act to be restored. 134 00:08:43,400 --> 00:08:46,480 Speaker 1: This led to the National Labor Relations Act, introduced by 135 00:08:46,480 --> 00:08:49,800 Speaker 1: Senator Wagner and also called the Wagner Act, which was 136 00:08:49,840 --> 00:08:53,880 Speaker 1: signed into law on July sixth, nineteen thirty five. This 137 00:08:54,040 --> 00:08:56,600 Speaker 1: was an act to quote diminish the causes of labor 138 00:08:56,640 --> 00:09:01,120 Speaker 1: disputes burdening or obstructing interstate and foreign commerce, to create 139 00:09:01,200 --> 00:09:05,640 Speaker 1: a National Labor Relations Board, and for other purposes. The 140 00:09:05,720 --> 00:09:09,360 Speaker 1: Act applied to all employers involved in interstate commerce, with 141 00:09:09,520 --> 00:09:14,840 Speaker 1: the exception of airlines, railroads, agriculture, and the government. It 142 00:09:15,000 --> 00:09:19,640 Speaker 1: framed employer's refusal to respect their employee's right to unionize 143 00:09:19,840 --> 00:09:23,920 Speaker 1: or to accept collective bargaining as the cause of industrial 144 00:09:23,960 --> 00:09:28,760 Speaker 1: strife leading to strikes another unrest. The Act also noted 145 00:09:28,800 --> 00:09:31,319 Speaker 1: that companies have a lot more of power than their 146 00:09:31,320 --> 00:09:35,440 Speaker 1: employees do, especially when those employees aren't protected by a 147 00:09:35,480 --> 00:09:40,080 Speaker 1: fair contract or allowed to collectively bargain. It once again 148 00:09:40,360 --> 00:09:45,440 Speaker 1: legalized employee's right to organize and outlawed employer's interference with 149 00:09:45,520 --> 00:09:49,120 Speaker 1: that right, and it also empowered the National Labor Relations 150 00:09:49,120 --> 00:09:53,160 Speaker 1: Board to oversee this whole process and mediate disputes. But 151 00:09:53,320 --> 00:09:57,360 Speaker 1: since the Supreme Court had overturned the National Industrial Recovery Act, 152 00:09:57,800 --> 00:10:00,880 Speaker 1: many employers expected the National Labor Relations Act to be 153 00:10:00,920 --> 00:10:04,439 Speaker 1: struck down as well. Even though the law barred employers 154 00:10:04,480 --> 00:10:08,760 Speaker 1: from interfering with employees' right to unionize. Many employers kept 155 00:10:08,760 --> 00:10:13,839 Speaker 1: doing exactly that, things like hiring detectives to investigate, spy 156 00:10:13,960 --> 00:10:19,120 Speaker 1: on and harass union organizers and members, establishing company unions 157 00:10:19,200 --> 00:10:21,800 Speaker 1: that really represented the interest of the business rather than 158 00:10:21,840 --> 00:10:26,000 Speaker 1: its employees, and firing or demoting people who were suspected 159 00:10:26,040 --> 00:10:29,800 Speaker 1: of organizing or joining a union. So this brings us 160 00:10:29,840 --> 00:10:34,040 Speaker 1: to the US automotive industry and specifically to Flint, Michigan, 161 00:10:34,160 --> 00:10:46,240 Speaker 1: which we will get to after a sponsor break. The 162 00:10:46,280 --> 00:10:50,120 Speaker 1: American Federation of Labor was established in the late nineteenth 163 00:10:50,120 --> 00:10:54,360 Speaker 1: century to bring craft and trade unions together under one umbrella. 164 00:10:55,080 --> 00:10:59,760 Speaker 1: Its first member unions represented people like tailors, iron molders, 165 00:10:59,800 --> 00:11:03,080 Speaker 1: and carpenters, and in its early years, the AFL did 166 00:11:03,080 --> 00:11:08,439 Speaker 1: not work with industrial unions at all. Craft unions representing 167 00:11:08,520 --> 00:11:13,600 Speaker 1: people like carpenters were considered to represent skilled workers, while 168 00:11:13,720 --> 00:11:18,280 Speaker 1: industrial workers so people who worked on factory assembly lines 169 00:11:18,400 --> 00:11:21,760 Speaker 1: were thought of as unskilled. But around the time the 170 00:11:21,800 --> 00:11:25,800 Speaker 1: Wagner Act was passed, the AFL established a Committee for 171 00:11:25,960 --> 00:11:32,199 Speaker 1: Industrial Organization. This committee soon split off from the AFL 172 00:11:32,559 --> 00:11:36,240 Speaker 1: and it re established itself as its own organization, which 173 00:11:36,320 --> 00:11:41,200 Speaker 1: was the Congress of Industrial Organizations United Auto Workers, was 174 00:11:41,280 --> 00:11:44,880 Speaker 1: established in Detroit, Michigan, in nineteen thirty five, and at 175 00:11:44,880 --> 00:11:48,520 Speaker 1: first it became part of the AFL, and like the AFL, 176 00:11:48,559 --> 00:11:52,560 Speaker 1: its initial focus was mainly on the automotive industry skilled workers, 177 00:11:53,080 --> 00:11:56,080 Speaker 1: not the people who worked on assembly lines in factories. 178 00:11:56,840 --> 00:11:59,400 Speaker 1: But when the CIO split off from the AFL, the 179 00:11:59,559 --> 00:12:04,160 Speaker 1: United Autoworkers went too soon. The UAW was trying to 180 00:12:04,240 --> 00:12:09,040 Speaker 1: organize factory workers, especially at the Big three automakers, GM, 181 00:12:09,200 --> 00:12:13,480 Speaker 1: Ford and Chrysler. GM was the largest auto manufacturer in 182 00:12:13,480 --> 00:12:15,880 Speaker 1: the world at the time, with sixty nine plants in 183 00:12:15,960 --> 00:12:20,760 Speaker 1: thirty five cities, many in the Midwest. Initially, the UAW 184 00:12:20,840 --> 00:12:24,680 Speaker 1: focused more on GM and Chrysler because Henry Ford was 185 00:12:24,840 --> 00:12:30,800 Speaker 1: vehemently anti union. GM actively worked against these unionization efforts. 186 00:12:31,240 --> 00:12:35,400 Speaker 1: According to information unearthed and Senate committee hearings, between nineteen 187 00:12:35,480 --> 00:12:38,640 Speaker 1: thirty four and nineteen thirty six, GM spent more than 188 00:12:38,720 --> 00:12:43,600 Speaker 1: eight hundred thirty nine thousand dollars on labor detective services, 189 00:12:44,160 --> 00:12:46,920 Speaker 1: more than half of it paid to the Pinkertons. This 190 00:12:47,280 --> 00:12:52,920 Speaker 1: detective work involved everything from investigating union organizers to planting 191 00:12:53,080 --> 00:12:58,400 Speaker 1: spies within the union to harassing and threatening workers. This 192 00:12:58,520 --> 00:13:03,000 Speaker 1: Congressional committee described GM's spy work as quote a monument 193 00:13:03,080 --> 00:13:07,040 Speaker 1: to the most colossal supersystem of spies yet devised in 194 00:13:07,120 --> 00:13:12,560 Speaker 1: any American corporation. There are also reports that GM conscripted 195 00:13:12,600 --> 00:13:16,280 Speaker 1: an organization known as the Black Legion to intimidate and 196 00:13:16,440 --> 00:13:20,080 Speaker 1: threaten its employees. The Black Legion was compared to the 197 00:13:20,160 --> 00:13:25,360 Speaker 1: KKK and was aggressively anti union, and this went beyond 198 00:13:25,600 --> 00:13:28,880 Speaker 1: targeting the union itself and the workers at the factories. 199 00:13:29,600 --> 00:13:33,440 Speaker 1: Part of GM's union busting effort involved telling male workers' 200 00:13:33,480 --> 00:13:36,800 Speaker 1: wives that their husband's union activities were going to get 201 00:13:36,800 --> 00:13:40,040 Speaker 1: them fired, as well as convincing women that their husbands 202 00:13:40,040 --> 00:13:43,160 Speaker 1: were up to no good, suggesting that they were out 203 00:13:43,240 --> 00:13:46,319 Speaker 1: late partying or soliciting sex workers, or that they were 204 00:13:46,400 --> 00:13:49,160 Speaker 1: lying about the union and that they were really spending 205 00:13:49,200 --> 00:13:55,480 Speaker 1: their afterwork time having extramarital affairs. As UAW organizers tried 206 00:13:55,480 --> 00:13:59,560 Speaker 1: to unionize GM's factories, they were working against all of this, 207 00:14:00,200 --> 00:14:03,800 Speaker 1: and they were finding common themes among the workers' gravances 208 00:14:03,840 --> 00:14:06,520 Speaker 1: from plants a plant. A lot of it was in 209 00:14:06,520 --> 00:14:10,040 Speaker 1: line with what we already discussed, like firings that seemed 210 00:14:10,240 --> 00:14:15,040 Speaker 1: arbitrary or retaliatory. The factories were also poorly ventilated, and 211 00:14:15,120 --> 00:14:18,760 Speaker 1: during periods of hot weather, workers passed out or even 212 00:14:18,960 --> 00:14:23,680 Speaker 1: died from overheating, with their coworkers expected to keep working 213 00:14:23,800 --> 00:14:26,880 Speaker 1: until someone came to remove the body. Many of the 214 00:14:26,960 --> 00:14:30,960 Speaker 1: jobs were dangerous, including working around dangerous substances with no 215 00:14:31,160 --> 00:14:36,080 Speaker 1: ventilation or protective equipment. There was also an immense focus 216 00:14:36,120 --> 00:14:38,960 Speaker 1: on speed, to the point that workers on the assembly 217 00:14:39,000 --> 00:14:41,359 Speaker 1: line did not have time to go to the bathroom. 218 00:14:42,000 --> 00:14:44,280 Speaker 1: There was also nobody who could cover for a person 219 00:14:44,320 --> 00:14:47,880 Speaker 1: who became ill or injured on the job. Workers talked 220 00:14:47,880 --> 00:14:50,560 Speaker 1: about people who got sick during the day and kept 221 00:14:50,680 --> 00:14:53,560 Speaker 1: working on the assembly line even though they were vomiting. 222 00:14:54,280 --> 00:14:57,600 Speaker 1: There was also speed up during peak production times, with 223 00:14:57,680 --> 00:15:01,400 Speaker 1: workers expected to complete their tasks on the assembly line 224 00:15:01,480 --> 00:15:05,800 Speaker 1: at seemingly superhuman speeds. If a factory was in danger 225 00:15:05,880 --> 00:15:09,040 Speaker 1: of missing its daily quota, speed up would start near 226 00:15:09,080 --> 00:15:12,120 Speaker 1: the end of people's shifts, when they were already exhausted. 227 00:15:12,680 --> 00:15:16,440 Speaker 1: For many workers, take home pay was not the biggest issue, 228 00:15:16,840 --> 00:15:20,360 Speaker 1: but the way wages were calculated was a problem. Many 229 00:15:20,400 --> 00:15:23,480 Speaker 1: workers on the line weren't paid an hourly or a 230 00:15:23,560 --> 00:15:26,560 Speaker 1: daily rate. They were paid by the peace, and the 231 00:15:26,680 --> 00:15:30,240 Speaker 1: rate for each piece didn't necessarily stay the same. It 232 00:15:30,280 --> 00:15:32,760 Speaker 1: was often set at a higher amount at the start 233 00:15:32,800 --> 00:15:34,960 Speaker 1: of a pay period to encourage the workers to go 234 00:15:35,040 --> 00:15:37,840 Speaker 1: as quickly as possible, but then it would drop as 235 00:15:37,960 --> 00:15:42,239 Speaker 1: payday approached. People wound up making less than they expected, 236 00:15:42,280 --> 00:15:45,000 Speaker 1: and this whole shifting pay rate felt like a bait 237 00:15:45,040 --> 00:15:48,840 Speaker 1: and switch. Women working at the GM factories faced an 238 00:15:48,880 --> 00:15:53,480 Speaker 1: additional layer of hostility. Some reported being sexually harassed and 239 00:15:53,560 --> 00:15:57,160 Speaker 1: even assaulted by their supervisors, who would then use the 240 00:15:57,200 --> 00:16:00,800 Speaker 1: assault as leverage to try to guarantee the women compliance 241 00:16:00,880 --> 00:16:04,720 Speaker 1: at work. All of these factors fed into the sit 242 00:16:04,800 --> 00:16:08,080 Speaker 1: down strike. Most of the strikes that had taken place 243 00:16:08,160 --> 00:16:11,359 Speaker 1: in the United States before this point had involved workers 244 00:16:11,480 --> 00:16:17,960 Speaker 1: leaving their job sites and organizing things like picket lines, demonstrations, protests, pamphleteering, 245 00:16:18,040 --> 00:16:21,520 Speaker 1: and speeches. While the strike at GM in nineteen thirty 246 00:16:21,520 --> 00:16:24,920 Speaker 1: six and thirty seven still involved things like picket lines 247 00:16:24,960 --> 00:16:28,520 Speaker 1: and other activities outside the building, those were primarily the 248 00:16:28,560 --> 00:16:31,920 Speaker 1: work of the striking workers' supporters, because in a sit 249 00:16:31,960 --> 00:16:36,920 Speaker 1: down strike, employees stayed inside the factory, physically occupying it. 250 00:16:37,640 --> 00:16:41,440 Speaker 1: This strategy had some advantages for the striking workers. A 251 00:16:41,480 --> 00:16:44,640 Speaker 1: typical strike could only be effective if the vast majority 252 00:16:44,680 --> 00:16:48,160 Speaker 1: of the workers participated. If only a few people walked out, 253 00:16:48,200 --> 00:16:51,680 Speaker 1: the company could just redistribute their work among their coworkers 254 00:16:52,120 --> 00:16:55,440 Speaker 1: or higher replacements without too much trouble. But a sit 255 00:16:55,520 --> 00:16:58,240 Speaker 1: down strike allowed a smaller number of people to take 256 00:16:58,280 --> 00:17:02,760 Speaker 1: control of the whole workplace. Employers also couldn't simply hire 257 00:17:02,800 --> 00:17:06,320 Speaker 1: replacement workers to take over, since the striking workers had 258 00:17:06,320 --> 00:17:10,400 Speaker 1: control of the building. Remaining inside the workplace also gave 259 00:17:10,440 --> 00:17:14,560 Speaker 1: the workers more protection from violence. Employers were reluctant to 260 00:17:14,600 --> 00:17:17,800 Speaker 1: remove workers by force due to the risk of damaging 261 00:17:17,880 --> 00:17:22,560 Speaker 1: expensive machinery and equipment, but there were also some downsides. 262 00:17:23,119 --> 00:17:26,080 Speaker 1: Striking workers had to be separated from their families and 263 00:17:26,119 --> 00:17:29,560 Speaker 1: their friends who didn't work with them, depending on where 264 00:17:29,640 --> 00:17:33,120 Speaker 1: the strike was taking place. Striking workers didn't have access 265 00:17:33,119 --> 00:17:37,400 Speaker 1: to things like bathing facilities or adequate sleeping spaces, although 266 00:17:37,880 --> 00:17:40,960 Speaker 1: some of the GM strikers were able to make reasonably 267 00:17:41,000 --> 00:17:43,440 Speaker 1: comfortable beds with the padding that was used to make 268 00:17:43,520 --> 00:17:48,480 Speaker 1: car seats. Sit down strikes were also questionably legal at best, 269 00:17:48,640 --> 00:17:52,920 Speaker 1: since strikers were essentially trespassing. The idea that a few 270 00:17:53,000 --> 00:17:55,880 Speaker 1: workers could decide to go on strike and take over 271 00:17:55,920 --> 00:17:58,840 Speaker 1: the whole building also ran against the spirit of the 272 00:17:58,920 --> 00:18:01,879 Speaker 1: National Labor Relation Act, which was really focused on the 273 00:18:01,920 --> 00:18:06,200 Speaker 1: idea of a majority of employees forming a union em bargaining, 274 00:18:06,880 --> 00:18:10,159 Speaker 1: not on a smaller number of employees forcing the issue 275 00:18:10,160 --> 00:18:13,960 Speaker 1: by occupying the building. In the US, the first sit 276 00:18:14,000 --> 00:18:17,000 Speaker 1: down strike is generally noted as having happened in nineteen 277 00:18:17,040 --> 00:18:19,879 Speaker 1: oh six, when members of the Industrial Workers of the 278 00:18:19,920 --> 00:18:23,080 Speaker 1: World stopped working but stayed at their stations at a 279 00:18:23,119 --> 00:18:27,480 Speaker 1: General Electric factory in Schenectady, New York. Workers in Europe 280 00:18:27,480 --> 00:18:31,560 Speaker 1: started occupying their workplaces after World War One, including roughly 281 00:18:31,640 --> 00:18:34,000 Speaker 1: half of the metal workers in Paris in the spring 282 00:18:34,040 --> 00:18:37,240 Speaker 1: of nineteen thirty six, and that led to sweeping labor 283 00:18:37,240 --> 00:18:40,919 Speaker 1: reforms in France. In the US, workers at a rubber 284 00:18:40,960 --> 00:18:44,359 Speaker 1: plant in Akron, Ohio, sat down in early nineteen thirty 285 00:18:44,400 --> 00:18:48,640 Speaker 1: six as well. Fisher Body was a division of GM 286 00:18:49,040 --> 00:18:52,080 Speaker 1: and Fisher Body workers in Atlanta sat down at two 287 00:18:52,119 --> 00:18:55,600 Speaker 1: different points in October and November of nineteen thirty six, 288 00:18:55,960 --> 00:18:58,720 Speaker 1: with the November strike spreading to other plants in the 289 00:18:58,760 --> 00:19:02,639 Speaker 1: Atlanta area as well. Well. Workers at Bendix Products in 290 00:19:02,760 --> 00:19:06,840 Speaker 1: South Bend, Indiana sat down. In mid November and mid December, 291 00:19:06,920 --> 00:19:10,639 Speaker 1: workers sat down at two GM plants in Kansas City, Missouri, 292 00:19:10,960 --> 00:19:13,920 Speaker 1: and then at a body stamping plant in Cleveland, Ohio, 293 00:19:14,080 --> 00:19:17,760 Speaker 1: as well as the Kelsey Hayes wheel plant in Detroit, Michigan. 294 00:19:18,119 --> 00:19:22,640 Speaker 1: All of these were either divisions of or suppliers of GM. 295 00:19:23,040 --> 00:19:26,560 Speaker 1: On December sixteenth, nineteen thirty six, the UAW asked for 296 00:19:26,560 --> 00:19:30,480 Speaker 1: a meeting with GM upper management, but GM refused, maintaining 297 00:19:30,520 --> 00:19:33,399 Speaker 1: that any collective bargaining would have to happen at the 298 00:19:33,440 --> 00:19:37,200 Speaker 1: local level, from plant to plant. But the UAW argued 299 00:19:37,200 --> 00:19:39,800 Speaker 1: that the issues that it wanted to discuss, things like 300 00:19:39,960 --> 00:19:44,400 Speaker 1: recognizing the union for collective bargaining, a seniority system for workers, 301 00:19:44,480 --> 00:19:47,720 Speaker 1: and the tremendous speeds expected of workers on the line, 302 00:19:48,040 --> 00:19:51,280 Speaker 1: were things that applied for every GM factory in the nation. 303 00:19:52,520 --> 00:19:56,600 Speaker 1: Late December also wasn't ideal for the UAW to be 304 00:19:56,640 --> 00:20:01,080 Speaker 1: planning a huge strike. Most of GM's workers celebrated Christmas, 305 00:20:01,119 --> 00:20:03,280 Speaker 1: so this was just not a great time for people 306 00:20:03,320 --> 00:20:06,440 Speaker 1: to lose their wages or to be separated from their families. 307 00:20:07,040 --> 00:20:10,600 Speaker 1: Since many of GM's factories were clustered together, in the Midwest, 308 00:20:10,920 --> 00:20:13,840 Speaker 1: the weather at the end of the year would probably 309 00:20:13,880 --> 00:20:16,280 Speaker 1: not be all that conducive to things like the pickets 310 00:20:16,280 --> 00:20:18,560 Speaker 1: and the protests that were needed to support the strike. 311 00:20:19,280 --> 00:20:23,480 Speaker 1: And Michigan had elected a new governor, Frank Murphy, who 312 00:20:23,560 --> 00:20:27,040 Speaker 1: was expected to be far more sympathetic to organize labor 313 00:20:27,040 --> 00:20:30,000 Speaker 1: than his predecessor had been, but he was not going 314 00:20:30,040 --> 00:20:35,160 Speaker 1: to take office until January first. However, workers themselves took 315 00:20:35,200 --> 00:20:38,000 Speaker 1: this decision out of the uaw's hands, and we're going 316 00:20:38,080 --> 00:20:40,600 Speaker 1: to get to that after we pause for a sponsor break. 317 00:20:50,080 --> 00:20:54,200 Speaker 1: As the UAW tried to organize GM workers in Flint, Michigan, 318 00:20:54,520 --> 00:20:57,399 Speaker 1: GM tried to reduce its risk in the event of 319 00:20:57,440 --> 00:21:01,120 Speaker 1: a strike. On December twenty ninth, nineteenth six, the company 320 00:21:01,160 --> 00:21:05,600 Speaker 1: transferred union members out of its Chevrolet body stamping plant 321 00:21:05,680 --> 00:21:09,840 Speaker 1: in Flint that was known as Fisher Body Number two. Then, 322 00:21:09,880 --> 00:21:13,600 Speaker 1: on December thirtieth, the company started removing the dies that 323 00:21:13,640 --> 00:21:17,240 Speaker 1: were used to stamp out body parts from another Flint plant, 324 00:21:17,280 --> 00:21:20,879 Speaker 1: which was Fisher Body Number one. This was one of 325 00:21:20,920 --> 00:21:24,280 Speaker 1: only two sets of dyes that GM was using to 326 00:21:24,440 --> 00:21:27,800 Speaker 1: stamp out auto bodies, and their removal from the plant 327 00:21:27,880 --> 00:21:30,720 Speaker 1: represented not only a loss of jobs because the people 328 00:21:30,760 --> 00:21:32,880 Speaker 1: who did that work would not have work to do anymore, 329 00:21:33,280 --> 00:21:37,320 Speaker 1: but also a loss of leverage. If the workers took 330 00:21:37,440 --> 00:21:40,840 Speaker 1: over the plant with the dies still in it, that 331 00:21:40,920 --> 00:21:45,240 Speaker 1: would stop production on multiple models of GM cars. So 332 00:21:45,320 --> 00:21:48,800 Speaker 1: when the workers at Fisher I realized what was happening 333 00:21:48,800 --> 00:21:52,760 Speaker 1: with the dies, they immediately started a strike, taking over 334 00:21:52,800 --> 00:21:55,840 Speaker 1: the building and workers at Fisher iiO started striking on 335 00:21:55,880 --> 00:22:00,639 Speaker 1: the same day. There are also oral history testimony suggesting 336 00:22:00,680 --> 00:22:03,800 Speaker 1: that another factor might have been at work here as well. 337 00:22:04,440 --> 00:22:07,399 Speaker 1: Flat glass workers had also gone on strike and that 338 00:22:07,600 --> 00:22:11,200 Speaker 1: was leading to a potential glass shortage for car manufacturing. 339 00:22:11,840 --> 00:22:15,000 Speaker 1: If the factories in Flint ran out of glass, production 340 00:22:15,000 --> 00:22:18,720 Speaker 1: would shut down anyway, so workers decided to strike before 341 00:22:18,760 --> 00:22:23,520 Speaker 1: that could happen. The strike's organizers decided that only men 342 00:22:23,680 --> 00:22:27,200 Speaker 1: could occupy the plants during the strike, so while there 343 00:22:27,280 --> 00:22:30,560 Speaker 1: were women working at GM, they could not be part 344 00:22:30,560 --> 00:22:34,520 Speaker 1: of the sit down, but women's participation in other aspects 345 00:22:34,520 --> 00:22:38,760 Speaker 1: of the strike was absolutely critical. The Women's Auxiliary, which 346 00:22:38,840 --> 00:22:41,960 Speaker 1: was organized by twenty three year old Genora Johnson who 347 00:22:42,040 --> 00:22:45,639 Speaker 1: was later Genora Johnson Dollinger, set up a strike kitchen 348 00:22:45,720 --> 00:22:49,200 Speaker 1: to feed the striking workers and their families. They delivered 349 00:22:49,240 --> 00:22:52,880 Speaker 1: food directly to the factories. The Women's Auxiliary also did 350 00:22:52,880 --> 00:22:55,720 Speaker 1: the striker's laundry, and about three weeks into the strike, 351 00:22:55,720 --> 00:22:59,199 Speaker 1: they started a daycare for the striking workers' children. They 352 00:22:59,240 --> 00:23:02,920 Speaker 1: also brought to the factories to visit their family members, 353 00:23:03,040 --> 00:23:05,600 Speaker 1: and they picketed and did other work in support of 354 00:23:05,640 --> 00:23:08,359 Speaker 1: the strike. It took some time for some of these 355 00:23:08,400 --> 00:23:10,879 Speaker 1: efforts to get off the ground, in part because the 356 00:23:10,920 --> 00:23:14,919 Speaker 1: company had put so much effort into sowing distrust of 357 00:23:14,960 --> 00:23:18,600 Speaker 1: the union among the workers wives who support the Women's 358 00:23:18,640 --> 00:23:22,920 Speaker 1: Auxiliary needed. In oral histories recorded in the nineteen eighties 359 00:23:22,960 --> 00:23:26,439 Speaker 1: and nineties, women described going to the factories after the 360 00:23:26,440 --> 00:23:29,639 Speaker 1: strike started expecting to drag their husbands out of some 361 00:23:29,720 --> 00:23:33,360 Speaker 1: kind of debauchery or a radical communist frenzy, but then 362 00:23:33,440 --> 00:23:35,960 Speaker 1: staying to help make food once they realized what was 363 00:23:36,000 --> 00:23:39,399 Speaker 1: actually going on. Whether they worked at GM or not, 364 00:23:39,840 --> 00:23:43,360 Speaker 1: the women involved in the auxiliary faced hostility from company 365 00:23:43,359 --> 00:23:48,159 Speaker 1: supporters and the strike's critics, including people questioning their morality 366 00:23:48,240 --> 00:23:52,080 Speaker 1: and implying that they were sex workers. We should note 367 00:23:52,119 --> 00:23:57,760 Speaker 1: that while there was not like a stereotypical, screaming radical 368 00:23:58,840 --> 00:24:03,920 Speaker 1: conspiracy of communism happening in the strike. There were definitely 369 00:24:03,960 --> 00:24:07,320 Speaker 1: communists and socialists among the strikers and within the labor 370 00:24:07,359 --> 00:24:11,800 Speaker 1: movement in general. Both communism and socialism had and have 371 00:24:12,080 --> 00:24:14,479 Speaker 1: a focus on fair treatment of workers. This is not 372 00:24:14,520 --> 00:24:18,400 Speaker 1: really that surprising. Genora Johnson Dollinger, for example, had become 373 00:24:18,440 --> 00:24:21,120 Speaker 1: a socialist at the age of sixteen. She was one 374 00:24:21,160 --> 00:24:23,879 Speaker 1: of the more radical people involved with the strike, though 375 00:24:23,960 --> 00:24:28,080 Speaker 1: many others had a general interest in communist or socialist 376 00:24:28,119 --> 00:24:31,879 Speaker 1: ideals while not formally being a member of either party. 377 00:24:32,680 --> 00:24:34,520 Speaker 1: And we should also take a moment to note that, 378 00:24:34,600 --> 00:24:37,320 Speaker 1: at least as far as we know, all the women 379 00:24:37,400 --> 00:24:41,240 Speaker 1: in the auxiliary in Flint were white. Although GM did 380 00:24:41,320 --> 00:24:44,479 Speaker 1: employ black people in its factories, they were only hired 381 00:24:44,520 --> 00:24:48,359 Speaker 1: in janitorial rules or to work in the foundry. Only 382 00:24:48,440 --> 00:24:51,879 Speaker 1: one black employee, Roscoe van Zandt, is known to have 383 00:24:51,960 --> 00:24:55,360 Speaker 1: sat down in Flint during this strike. During the sit 384 00:24:55,480 --> 00:24:59,600 Speaker 1: down strike, workers inside the plants established rules for behavior, 385 00:25:00,000 --> 00:25:05,320 Speaker 1: including maintaining order, keeping things clean and organized, and mediating disputes. 386 00:25:05,359 --> 00:25:08,600 Speaker 1: As people were cooped up together for weeks, workers held 387 00:25:08,720 --> 00:25:12,160 Speaker 1: lectures and classes for one another. They read and played games, 388 00:25:12,160 --> 00:25:14,680 Speaker 1: and sang songs in order to keep their spirits up. 389 00:25:15,200 --> 00:25:18,960 Speaker 1: Songs included a union anthem called Solidarity Forever that was 390 00:25:19,080 --> 00:25:21,320 Speaker 1: sung to the theme of the Battle Hymn of the Republic, 391 00:25:21,960 --> 00:25:25,919 Speaker 1: and at first GM's response was mostly not to engage. 392 00:25:26,600 --> 00:25:30,040 Speaker 1: GM President Alfred P. Sloan stated quote, we will not 393 00:25:30,240 --> 00:25:33,840 Speaker 1: negotiate with a union while its agents forcibly hold possession 394 00:25:33,840 --> 00:25:37,680 Speaker 1: of our property, and Executive vice president William S. Knudsen 395 00:25:37,800 --> 00:25:41,280 Speaker 1: called the striking workers trespassers and violators of the law 396 00:25:41,320 --> 00:25:45,400 Speaker 1: of the land. GM also argued that the union's bargaining 397 00:25:45,440 --> 00:25:48,680 Speaker 1: efforts were not legal under the National Labor Relations Act 398 00:25:49,000 --> 00:25:51,879 Speaker 1: since fewer than half of the employees had joined the union. 399 00:25:52,680 --> 00:25:56,560 Speaker 1: The UAW countered that GM had illegally interfered with its 400 00:25:56,600 --> 00:25:59,680 Speaker 1: effort to get workers to join, preventing it from getting 401 00:25:59,680 --> 00:26:03,679 Speaker 1: a large your membership. On January second, GM got a 402 00:26:03,760 --> 00:26:07,440 Speaker 1: court order to have the striking workers removed from the factories, 403 00:26:07,480 --> 00:26:11,320 Speaker 1: but the workers refused to go. Then it became public 404 00:26:11,440 --> 00:26:14,919 Speaker 1: knowledge that the judge who issued this injunction, which was 405 00:26:15,119 --> 00:26:18,200 Speaker 1: Edward D. Black, owned a whole bunch of stock in GM. 406 00:26:18,960 --> 00:26:22,320 Speaker 1: It's the clear conflict of interest. People pretty much dropped 407 00:26:22,359 --> 00:26:26,399 Speaker 1: the subject of trying to get this injunction enforced. On 408 00:26:26,520 --> 00:26:31,000 Speaker 1: January fourth, the UAW submitted a list of demands, including 409 00:26:31,040 --> 00:26:34,520 Speaker 1: that the UAW be given exclusive recognition as the bargaining 410 00:26:34,560 --> 00:26:38,439 Speaker 1: agency for workers at GM, abolishing the piece work system, 411 00:26:38,880 --> 00:26:41,240 Speaker 1: a thirty hour work week with time and a half 412 00:26:41,240 --> 00:26:45,440 Speaker 1: for overtime, minimum pay rates, the reinstatement of people who 413 00:26:45,440 --> 00:26:49,439 Speaker 1: had been fired unfairly, a seniority system, and a speed 414 00:26:49,440 --> 00:26:52,880 Speaker 1: of production that was mutually agreed upon by managers and 415 00:26:52,920 --> 00:26:57,000 Speaker 1: a committee from the union. But GM continued to refuse 416 00:26:57,040 --> 00:27:02,040 Speaker 1: to negotiate. On January eleventh, nineteen thirty seven, GM turned 417 00:27:02,080 --> 00:27:05,480 Speaker 1: off the heat and electricity at Fisher II, even though 418 00:27:05,520 --> 00:27:08,760 Speaker 1: the temperature that day was only sixteen degrees fahrenheit or 419 00:27:08,800 --> 00:27:12,840 Speaker 1: almost negative nine celsius. They also locked the factory gate 420 00:27:12,960 --> 00:27:16,960 Speaker 1: to stop the women's auxiliary from delivering food. Workers and 421 00:27:17,000 --> 00:27:20,760 Speaker 1: their supporters broke the gate open, and that escalated into 422 00:27:20,800 --> 00:27:24,720 Speaker 1: a fight between law enforcement and the workers and their supporters. 423 00:27:25,359 --> 00:27:28,800 Speaker 1: The police used tear gas and they fired upon the workers, 424 00:27:29,200 --> 00:27:32,760 Speaker 1: and the workers defended themselves with things like fire hoses 425 00:27:32,800 --> 00:27:36,760 Speaker 1: and thrown door hinges. Women who were outside the plant 426 00:27:36,760 --> 00:27:38,960 Speaker 1: were also part of this fighting. They were armed with 427 00:27:39,000 --> 00:27:42,240 Speaker 1: things like homemade blackjacks and bars of soap stuffed down 428 00:27:42,280 --> 00:27:46,240 Speaker 1: in the toes of socks. At least sixteen workers and 429 00:27:46,320 --> 00:27:49,800 Speaker 1: eleven police were injured, with most of the worker injuries 430 00:27:49,880 --> 00:27:54,040 Speaker 1: coming from gunshot wounds. In a later oral history interview, 431 00:27:54,119 --> 00:27:57,480 Speaker 1: Genora Johnson Dollinger said of this moment, quote, I was frightened, 432 00:27:57,560 --> 00:27:59,800 Speaker 1: and you first lose all your power of thinking for 433 00:28:00,160 --> 00:28:03,040 Speaker 1: just a matter of moments, and then you become terribly, 434 00:28:03,320 --> 00:28:07,600 Speaker 1: terribly angry that armed policemen are shooting into unarmed men. 435 00:28:08,560 --> 00:28:11,760 Speaker 1: She used the uaw's loudspeaker car to call for women 436 00:28:11,800 --> 00:28:13,880 Speaker 1: to come to the factory and stand with the men, 437 00:28:14,359 --> 00:28:16,800 Speaker 1: banking on the idea that police should be reluctant to 438 00:28:16,840 --> 00:28:20,800 Speaker 1: shoot at a group of unarmed women. The striking workers 439 00:28:20,920 --> 00:28:24,680 Speaker 1: nicknamed this incident the Battle of the Running Bulls or 440 00:28:24,720 --> 00:28:27,800 Speaker 1: the Battle of bulls run with bulls being a slang 441 00:28:27,880 --> 00:28:31,080 Speaker 1: term for police, and some of the more radical women 442 00:28:31,160 --> 00:28:35,040 Speaker 1: in the women's auxiliary, including Genora Johnson Dollenger, decided to 443 00:28:35,080 --> 00:28:39,880 Speaker 1: form a new organization afterward, that being the Emergency Brigade. 444 00:28:40,280 --> 00:28:43,440 Speaker 1: Their job was to handle any emergency that arose during 445 00:28:43,440 --> 00:28:47,760 Speaker 1: the strike. This included using their own bodies to shield 446 00:28:47,840 --> 00:28:50,640 Speaker 1: the striking workers from the police, as they had done 447 00:28:50,680 --> 00:28:54,200 Speaker 1: on January eleventh, but it included other things too. For 448 00:28:54,280 --> 00:28:57,000 Speaker 1: the remainder of the strike, including at one point helping 449 00:28:57,040 --> 00:29:00,360 Speaker 1: a striking worker's wife give birth to a baby. The 450 00:29:00,400 --> 00:29:04,320 Speaker 1: Emergency Brigade were red berets and armbands with the letters EB, 451 00:29:05,000 --> 00:29:08,280 Speaker 1: and some members kept working with the Women's Auxiliary while 452 00:29:08,360 --> 00:29:12,240 Speaker 1: also working with the Emergency Brigade. After the violence on 453 00:29:12,320 --> 00:29:16,600 Speaker 1: January eleventh, the UAW and GM reached a tentative agreement. 454 00:29:17,120 --> 00:29:20,080 Speaker 1: The striking workers would leave the plants and GM would 455 00:29:20,120 --> 00:29:24,440 Speaker 1: start good faith negotiations, with the union not restarting production 456 00:29:24,600 --> 00:29:28,920 Speaker 1: until those negotiations were complete. Workers who had been striking 457 00:29:28,920 --> 00:29:32,480 Speaker 1: in other cities, including Cleveland and Detroit, left their plants, 458 00:29:33,240 --> 00:29:36,040 Speaker 1: but in Flint, the union heard that GM had also 459 00:29:36,080 --> 00:29:40,160 Speaker 1: agreed to meet with another organization called the Flint Alliance, 460 00:29:40,280 --> 00:29:44,240 Speaker 1: which the CIO and the UAW viewed as a company union. 461 00:29:44,800 --> 00:29:47,880 Speaker 1: So workers in Flint refused to leave the factories, and 462 00:29:48,000 --> 00:29:51,720 Speaker 1: GM asked Governor Frank Murphy to call out the National Guard. 463 00:29:52,720 --> 00:29:55,800 Speaker 1: There's also some suggestion that GM it looked like GM 464 00:29:55,920 --> 00:29:58,000 Speaker 1: wasn't going to abide by the promise to not restart 465 00:29:58,040 --> 00:30:02,800 Speaker 1: production until the negotiations were done. So after they contacted 466 00:30:02,880 --> 00:30:07,080 Speaker 1: the governor, Murphy did not act the way that many 467 00:30:07,120 --> 00:30:11,280 Speaker 1: people would expect the governor to act during such an incident. 468 00:30:11,720 --> 00:30:15,480 Speaker 1: He actually supported the worker's legal right to unionize them 469 00:30:15,560 --> 00:30:18,280 Speaker 1: to strike, and he was really afraid that using National 470 00:30:18,280 --> 00:30:21,720 Speaker 1: Guard troops to physically remove them would just lead to 471 00:30:21,760 --> 00:30:25,160 Speaker 1: people getting killed. So while Murphy did call out the 472 00:30:25,280 --> 00:30:29,160 Speaker 1: National Guard, their task was to keep a buffer between 473 00:30:29,200 --> 00:30:33,680 Speaker 1: the workers on one side and gm GM security guards 474 00:30:33,680 --> 00:30:37,440 Speaker 1: and police on the other. About twelve hundred National guardsmen 475 00:30:37,560 --> 00:30:42,160 Speaker 1: arrived in Flint on January twelfth. On February first, UAW 476 00:30:42,200 --> 00:30:46,560 Speaker 1: striker strategically took control of the Chevrolet Engine number four factory. 477 00:30:47,320 --> 00:30:50,560 Speaker 1: To do this, they staged a diversion, telling a company 478 00:30:50,560 --> 00:30:53,960 Speaker 1: stool pigeon that a strike was being planned at another factory, 479 00:30:54,200 --> 00:30:58,560 Speaker 1: Chevy nine. Police and security guards from other plants, including 480 00:30:58,680 --> 00:31:02,479 Speaker 1: Chevy four, converged on Chevy nine after hearing this rumor. 481 00:31:03,080 --> 00:31:06,240 Speaker 1: Police threw tear gas grenades into the plant and women 482 00:31:06,280 --> 00:31:10,600 Speaker 1: outside broke the windows to try to clear the air. Meanwhile, 483 00:31:10,920 --> 00:31:13,840 Speaker 1: workers took over the real target of Chevy Flour and 484 00:31:13,920 --> 00:31:17,400 Speaker 1: another group from the Emergency Brigade locked arms across the 485 00:31:17,480 --> 00:31:20,880 Speaker 1: gate and stood guard. The governor called in an additional 486 00:31:20,960 --> 00:31:24,600 Speaker 1: twenty two hundred National Guard troops, which surrounded Chevy four 487 00:31:24,760 --> 00:31:29,200 Speaker 1: and nearby Chevy two, once again establishing a barrier around 488 00:31:29,200 --> 00:31:31,960 Speaker 1: the striking workers and separating them from a force that 489 00:31:32,040 --> 00:31:36,560 Speaker 1: now included police, private security guards, sheriffs, deputies, and civilians 490 00:31:36,560 --> 00:31:40,240 Speaker 1: who had been deputized for this purpose. Chevy four built 491 00:31:40,240 --> 00:31:44,440 Speaker 1: the engines for all Chevrolet vehicles, so this effectively stopped 492 00:31:44,480 --> 00:31:48,680 Speaker 1: Chevrolet production throughout the company. At this point, the strike 493 00:31:48,840 --> 00:31:53,360 Speaker 1: was seriously affecting GM's production. In December of nineteen thirty six, 494 00:31:53,400 --> 00:31:57,480 Speaker 1: the company had built about fifty thousand cars. In February 495 00:31:57,480 --> 00:32:00,600 Speaker 1: of nineteen thirty seven, that number was only one hundred 496 00:32:00,680 --> 00:32:04,840 Speaker 1: twenty five. The strike grew to involving about one hundred 497 00:32:04,880 --> 00:32:08,440 Speaker 1: thirty five thousand workers in plants from thirty five cities 498 00:32:08,800 --> 00:32:14,040 Speaker 1: in fourteen states. President Franklin D. Roosevelt urged GM to 499 00:32:14,120 --> 00:32:19,360 Speaker 1: start seriously negotiating. On February second, another judge, Paul Godola, 500 00:32:19,440 --> 00:32:21,360 Speaker 1: who did not have a bunch of stock in GM, 501 00:32:21,560 --> 00:32:24,640 Speaker 1: issued another injunction, this one to take effect in twenty 502 00:32:24,680 --> 00:32:29,200 Speaker 1: four hours, again ordering the striking workers to leave the factories. 503 00:32:29,720 --> 00:32:33,960 Speaker 1: He also fined the union fifteen million dollars. Thousands of 504 00:32:34,040 --> 00:32:38,040 Speaker 1: supporters started gathering outside the occupied factories out of fear 505 00:32:38,080 --> 00:32:42,280 Speaker 1: that this injunction would inspire vigilantes or hired security to 506 00:32:42,320 --> 00:32:45,440 Speaker 1: try to remove the striking workers by force. It is 507 00:32:45,440 --> 00:32:48,880 Speaker 1: a random side note the governor actually did own stock 508 00:32:48,920 --> 00:32:51,840 Speaker 1: in GM as all this was happening, although that was 509 00:32:51,880 --> 00:32:54,520 Speaker 1: not known at the time, and since he was generally 510 00:32:54,560 --> 00:32:56,880 Speaker 1: on the striker's side, it wouldn't have had the same 511 00:32:56,920 --> 00:33:00,560 Speaker 1: connotations as Judge Black stock ownership even if it had 512 00:33:00,600 --> 00:33:04,520 Speaker 1: been known. This new injunction put the governor in a 513 00:33:04,560 --> 00:33:08,800 Speaker 1: pretty precarious position. He was required by law to honor it, 514 00:33:09,240 --> 00:33:12,560 Speaker 1: but he still really feared that doing so would lead 515 00:33:12,640 --> 00:33:16,800 Speaker 1: to a loss of life. This was not an unreasonable fear, 516 00:33:17,760 --> 00:33:21,080 Speaker 1: similarly to how businesses had thought the Supreme Court might 517 00:33:21,200 --> 00:33:24,760 Speaker 1: overturn the National Labor Relations Act. He also noted that 518 00:33:24,800 --> 00:33:27,760 Speaker 1: the Court had not weighed in on the legality of 519 00:33:27,800 --> 00:33:31,520 Speaker 1: sit down strikes, so he tried to delay. He made 520 00:33:31,560 --> 00:33:35,720 Speaker 1: some public statements calling the strike an unlawful seizure of property, 521 00:33:35,800 --> 00:33:40,080 Speaker 1: but he still didn't take steps to actually clear the factories. Instead, 522 00:33:40,080 --> 00:33:44,160 Speaker 1: he contacted the President again, encouraging Roosevelt to order GM 523 00:33:44,240 --> 00:33:48,840 Speaker 1: to the bargaining table. Alfred P. Sloan delegated GMS, negotiating 524 00:33:48,920 --> 00:33:52,760 Speaker 1: to Executive Vice President William Knudsen, along with representatives from 525 00:33:52,800 --> 00:33:56,920 Speaker 1: the company's finance and legal departments. On the workers side 526 00:33:57,000 --> 00:34:01,480 Speaker 1: was CIO President John L. Lewis, previously of United Mine Workers, 527 00:34:01,840 --> 00:34:06,320 Speaker 1: and UAW Vice President Wyndam Mortimer. The negotiations were held 528 00:34:06,320 --> 00:34:09,200 Speaker 1: in the office and jury room of Judge George Murphy, 529 00:34:09,280 --> 00:34:13,239 Speaker 1: brother of Governor Murphy, and Governor Murphy acted as a mediator. 530 00:34:14,040 --> 00:34:17,920 Speaker 1: Murphy kept both President Roosevelt and Secretary of Labor Francis 531 00:34:18,000 --> 00:34:22,640 Speaker 1: Perkins updated on their progress. Although Murphy tried to get 532 00:34:22,719 --> 00:34:26,239 Speaker 1: Judge Godola to delay the removal of the workers. On 533 00:34:26,360 --> 00:34:30,160 Speaker 1: February fifth, the judge issued a writ of attachment which 534 00:34:30,320 --> 00:34:33,480 Speaker 1: ordered the sheriff to arrest all the workers that were 535 00:34:33,520 --> 00:34:36,759 Speaker 1: occupying GM buildings and to bring them into court to 536 00:34:36,800 --> 00:34:41,080 Speaker 1: face charges of contempt. But, like the governor, Sheriff Thomas 537 00:34:41,080 --> 00:34:44,680 Speaker 1: Walcott had some serious reservations about doing this and he 538 00:34:44,719 --> 00:34:47,720 Speaker 1: would only agree to do it if he were explicitly 539 00:34:48,000 --> 00:34:51,440 Speaker 1: ordered to do so by the governor. He asked Murphy 540 00:34:51,480 --> 00:34:54,640 Speaker 1: for National Guard support. Murphy, of course, was not going 541 00:34:54,680 --> 00:34:56,719 Speaker 1: to directly order him to do this. He thought it 542 00:34:56,760 --> 00:35:00,799 Speaker 1: was going to get people killed. So Murphy informed the 543 00:35:00,960 --> 00:35:04,040 Speaker 1: judge that he thought they were really close to an agreement. 544 00:35:04,640 --> 00:35:07,080 Speaker 1: This was on a Friday, and the governor tried to 545 00:35:07,080 --> 00:35:09,880 Speaker 1: get everybody to just hold tight till after the weekend, 546 00:35:10,400 --> 00:35:14,040 Speaker 1: But by Monday, February eighth, GM and the UAW still 547 00:35:14,160 --> 00:35:17,800 Speaker 1: had not reached an agreement. Murphy kept trying to reassure 548 00:35:17,800 --> 00:35:20,520 Speaker 1: everyone that one was imminent, and he was later quoted 549 00:35:20,560 --> 00:35:23,319 Speaker 1: as saying, if I sent those soldiers right in on 550 00:35:23,400 --> 00:35:25,960 Speaker 1: the men, there'd be no telling how many would be killed. 551 00:35:26,360 --> 00:35:29,320 Speaker 1: It would be inconsistent with everything I have ever stood 552 00:35:29,360 --> 00:35:33,680 Speaker 1: for in my whole political life. An agreement between GM 553 00:35:33,800 --> 00:35:38,439 Speaker 1: and the UAW finally came on February eleventh, nineteen thirty seven, 554 00:35:38,600 --> 00:35:41,319 Speaker 1: forty four days after the start of the strike and 555 00:35:41,400 --> 00:35:45,399 Speaker 1: after zero people getting killed. Under the terms of this deal, 556 00:35:45,440 --> 00:35:48,000 Speaker 1: the strike would end and the striking workers would stop 557 00:35:48,040 --> 00:35:53,200 Speaker 1: occupying the plants. Those plants would resume operation. GM agreed 558 00:35:53,280 --> 00:35:56,720 Speaker 1: not to discriminate or retaliate against the employees for joining 559 00:35:56,760 --> 00:36:00,840 Speaker 1: a union or for having participated in the strike. GM 560 00:36:00,920 --> 00:36:05,719 Speaker 1: also agreed to start collective bargaining on February sixteenth, and 561 00:36:05,880 --> 00:36:08,680 Speaker 1: that bargaining was meant to address the grievances that the 562 00:36:08,800 --> 00:36:12,160 Speaker 1: union had presented to the company back in January. The 563 00:36:12,360 --> 00:36:15,479 Speaker 1: union agreed not to implement any more strikes or work 564 00:36:15,520 --> 00:36:19,680 Speaker 1: stoppages while that negotiation was taking place, although it was 565 00:36:19,760 --> 00:36:23,000 Speaker 1: not officially part of the agreement. GM also announced a 566 00:36:23,040 --> 00:36:26,040 Speaker 1: pay increase of five cents an hour, and in a 567 00:36:26,080 --> 00:36:29,040 Speaker 1: separate letter, Nudsen informed Murphy that for a period of 568 00:36:29,080 --> 00:36:33,520 Speaker 1: six months, GM would negotiate only with UAW, not with 569 00:36:33,600 --> 00:36:37,680 Speaker 1: any other union. Strikers in Chevrolet Plant number four voted 570 00:36:37,719 --> 00:36:40,440 Speaker 1: to have Roscoe van Zandt lead them out of the building, 571 00:36:41,040 --> 00:36:43,120 Speaker 1: trying to track down whether that five cents an hour 572 00:36:43,239 --> 00:36:46,680 Speaker 1: pay increase affected people who were being paid by the PEACE. 573 00:36:47,400 --> 00:36:50,839 Speaker 1: And I don't know, but there were people that were 574 00:36:50,840 --> 00:36:53,520 Speaker 1: not paid by the PEACE a lot of times not 575 00:36:53,760 --> 00:36:57,400 Speaker 1: working directly on the assembly line. So this first agreement 576 00:36:57,600 --> 00:37:00,520 Speaker 1: between GM and the UAW was not one that addressed 577 00:37:00,560 --> 00:37:04,320 Speaker 1: all those demands that the UAW had submitted back in January. 578 00:37:04,920 --> 00:37:07,960 Speaker 1: Some of those demands later became part of federal law, 579 00:37:08,200 --> 00:37:11,040 Speaker 1: including the Fair Labor Standards Act that was first passed 580 00:37:11,040 --> 00:37:14,799 Speaker 1: in nineteen thirty eight. Others were demands that the UAW 581 00:37:15,040 --> 00:37:18,920 Speaker 1: kept working toward at GM and at other auto manufacturers 582 00:37:18,920 --> 00:37:22,080 Speaker 1: for years. They weren't things that were just quickly wrapped 583 00:37:22,120 --> 00:37:24,480 Speaker 1: up in a round of collective bargaining that started on 584 00:37:24,520 --> 00:37:28,800 Speaker 1: February sixteenth, after the strike was over. Instead, this agreement's 585 00:37:28,880 --> 00:37:32,719 Speaker 1: major accomplishment was GM's recognition of the union and its 586 00:37:32,760 --> 00:37:36,799 Speaker 1: promise to participate in collective bargaining, and in that it 587 00:37:36,880 --> 00:37:41,080 Speaker 1: was enormously influential. It established the UAW as a legitimate 588 00:37:41,200 --> 00:37:44,359 Speaker 1: union in the auto industry, and its membership grew from 589 00:37:44,360 --> 00:37:47,759 Speaker 1: about ninety eight thousand to nearly four hundred thousand in 590 00:37:47,880 --> 00:37:52,360 Speaker 1: nineteen thirty seven alone, UAW started bargaining for workers for 591 00:37:52,480 --> 00:37:58,080 Speaker 1: many other US auto manufacturers, including Studebaker, Hudson, Packard, and Chrysler, 592 00:37:58,520 --> 00:38:01,280 Speaker 1: and four years after the fleet at strike at Ford, 593 00:38:02,040 --> 00:38:05,680 Speaker 1: the success in Flint also sparked an enormous increase in 594 00:38:05,840 --> 00:38:09,000 Speaker 1: union membership overall and a wave of sit down strikes 595 00:38:09,000 --> 00:38:11,920 Speaker 1: as people tried to get better pay and working conditions 596 00:38:12,239 --> 00:38:15,200 Speaker 1: There were one hundred and fifty sit down strikes in 597 00:38:15,280 --> 00:38:19,000 Speaker 1: the United States in nineteen thirty seven alone, about one 598 00:38:19,080 --> 00:38:23,000 Speaker 1: hundred of them in the area around Detroit, Michigan. About 599 00:38:23,120 --> 00:38:26,320 Speaker 1: half a million workers across the country went on strike, 600 00:38:26,360 --> 00:38:29,479 Speaker 1: and about two million joined a union between nineteen thirty 601 00:38:29,520 --> 00:38:32,719 Speaker 1: seven and nineteen thirty eight. These were not confined to 602 00:38:32,760 --> 00:38:37,040 Speaker 1: the auto industry or two industrial jobs. On February twenty seventh, 603 00:38:37,120 --> 00:38:40,759 Speaker 1: nineteen thirty seven, clerks at Woolworth stopped working and took 604 00:38:40,800 --> 00:38:44,000 Speaker 1: over stores for a week, winning a twenty percent pay 605 00:38:44,080 --> 00:38:48,960 Speaker 1: increase and union involvement in hiring decisions. In March, workers 606 00:38:49,000 --> 00:38:52,200 Speaker 1: at four locations of the hl Green department store chain 607 00:38:52,520 --> 00:38:57,520 Speaker 1: in New York City implemented sit down strikes. Incarcerated people 608 00:38:57,600 --> 00:39:01,160 Speaker 1: in Illinois and Pennsylvania went on strike as well, although 609 00:39:01,440 --> 00:39:05,440 Speaker 1: these strikers' demands were not met. In April of nineteen 610 00:39:05,520 --> 00:39:09,480 Speaker 1: thirty seven, the Supreme Court issued a ruling in National 611 00:39:09,560 --> 00:39:13,920 Speaker 1: Labor Relations Board versus Jones and Lachlan Steel Corporation, which 612 00:39:14,080 --> 00:39:18,000 Speaker 1: upheld the National Labor Relations Act. But over the course 613 00:39:18,040 --> 00:39:21,799 Speaker 1: of the year, public sentiment really turned against the proliferation 614 00:39:21,920 --> 00:39:24,440 Speaker 1: of sit down strikes. I mean the public had not 615 00:39:24,719 --> 00:39:27,719 Speaker 1: overwhelmingly supported sit down strikes in the first place, but 616 00:39:27,960 --> 00:39:30,560 Speaker 1: became a lot more critical. In the words of the 617 00:39:30,560 --> 00:39:34,520 Speaker 1: Detroit News, quote, sitting down has replaced baseball as a 618 00:39:34,600 --> 00:39:39,560 Speaker 1: national pastime, and citter downers clutter the landscape in every direction. 619 00:39:40,480 --> 00:39:43,239 Speaker 1: In late nineteen thirty seven, a Gallup poll found that 620 00:39:43,280 --> 00:39:47,719 Speaker 1: about seventy percent of Americans disapproved of sit down strikes. 621 00:39:48,440 --> 00:39:51,600 Speaker 1: Then in nineteen thirty nine, the US Supreme Court issued 622 00:39:51,640 --> 00:39:56,040 Speaker 1: a ruling in NLRB versus fan Steel Metallurgical Corp. Which 623 00:39:56,080 --> 00:39:59,160 Speaker 1: found that fan Steel had violated the Wagner Act, but 624 00:39:59,280 --> 00:40:01,360 Speaker 1: also that the the practice of the sit down strike 625 00:40:01,520 --> 00:40:05,439 Speaker 1: was quote a high handed proceeding without shadow of illegal right. 626 00:40:06,200 --> 00:40:10,000 Speaker 1: So labor organizers largely moved away from sit down strikes, 627 00:40:10,000 --> 00:40:12,759 Speaker 1: but they have been cited as an inspiration for sit 628 00:40:12,880 --> 00:40:16,600 Speaker 1: ins during movements for equal rights. Yeah, when we did 629 00:40:16,600 --> 00:40:20,240 Speaker 1: that episode, that sort of rounded up like the sip 630 00:40:20,280 --> 00:40:22,080 Speaker 1: In movement and the fish In movement and all of 631 00:40:22,080 --> 00:40:23,680 Speaker 1: those things. The first one that we talked about was 632 00:40:23,719 --> 00:40:27,560 Speaker 1: the Alexandria Public Library sit in, which was originally called 633 00:40:27,560 --> 00:40:30,160 Speaker 1: a sit down strike. Also, we are not going to 634 00:40:30,200 --> 00:40:32,759 Speaker 1: try to recap Then the next eighty five years of 635 00:40:32,840 --> 00:40:36,880 Speaker 1: labor history. Well, there are lots of stories within it 636 00:40:36,920 --> 00:40:39,880 Speaker 1: that we can tell at later times, and I mean 637 00:40:40,000 --> 00:40:43,200 Speaker 1: stuff that's been in the headlines within the last year 638 00:40:43,880 --> 00:40:48,719 Speaker 1: about everything from workers' rights to organize to like a 639 00:40:48,719 --> 00:40:51,800 Speaker 1: big corruption scandal at the UAW. All of that is 640 00:40:51,840 --> 00:40:59,600 Speaker 1: out of the scope of this podcast. Thanks so much 641 00:40:59,600 --> 00:41:02,400 Speaker 1: for joy us on this Saturday. If you'd like to 642 00:41:02,440 --> 00:41:05,640 Speaker 1: send us a note, our email addresses History Podcast at 643 00:41:05,719 --> 00:41:09,440 Speaker 1: iHeartRadio dot com, and you can subscribe to the show 644 00:41:09,480 --> 00:41:12,880 Speaker 1: on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen 645 00:41:12,920 --> 00:41:14,080 Speaker 1: to your favorite shows.