The United Auto Workers union first sit-down strike

The United Auto Workers union first sit-down strike.

December 30, 1936

The United Auto Workers (UAW) was only recently formed in 1935 and decided it needed to make a larger impact than staging smaller strikes. Their idea was to strike at the "biggest and badest" firms that could get far more national attention and at the same time affect the production of automobiles.

At that time the "biggest and badest" was GM's production complex in Flint, Michigan. GM controlled city politics and was weary of outsiders, the factories also had many spies. Wyndham Mortimer, a UAW officer, recalled in 1936 that he received a call shortly after checking into his hotel telling him to leave unless he didn't "want to be carried out in a wooden box".

Sit-down strikers guarding window entrance to Fisher body plant number three. Photo by Sheldon Dick, 1937.

The sit-down strike was different than the conventional method of picketing outside of a company's facility. Workers would literally sit on machines or other assets owned by the company. They would occupy the plant so that management could not replace them with other non-union workers and begin production once again.

There were other strikes at GM during the 1936-37 period in Kansas City and Cleveland, but the Flint strike was the most devastating to GM.  Flint contained one of just two sets of the auto body dies that GM used to stamp out almost every one of its 1937 cars.

Young striker off sentry duty sleeping on assembly line of auto seats

 GM and the bought city, through the police, fought back.  On January 11, 1937, the police entered the Fisher Body 2 plant armed with guns and tear gas. According to Wikipedia:

"The strikers inside the plant pelted them with hinges, bottles, and bolts, led by Bob Travis and Rob Reather. They were able to withstand several waves of attack, eventually ending the standoff. The strikers dubbed this "The Battle of Bulls Run", a mocking reference to the police ("bulls"). Fourteen strikers were injured by gunfire during the battle."

Even thought General Motors had an extreme amount of clout with city and state politicians,  Michigan Governor Frank Murphy refused to storm the factories where GM workers took control by using the National Gaurd. Instead, he used the Gaurd to protect the workers, as he stated:

“If I send those soldiers right in on the men,” he said, “there’d be no telling how many would be killed.” As a result, he declared, “The state authorities will not take sides. They are here only to protect the public peace.”

Michigan National Guardsmen face a crowd of strike supporters across the street from the General Motors complex during the Sit-Down Strike, Flint, Michigan.

National Guardsmen with machine guns overlooking Chevrolet factories number nine and number four.
 

Sit-down strikers in the Fisher body plant factory number three.
Flint, Michigan

Strikers made the factories a city even providing music.

Retired Major Henry A. Geerds examines a model of a machine gun made by strikers at the Fisher Body Plant no. 2 in Flint. 

A United Auto Workers rally in Detroit's Cadillac Square drew 150,000 supporters.

There were several other developments and more factories began to strike all of which brought the two sides together. The strike lasted 44 days and an agreement was reached on February 11, 1937. The one-page agreement was simple but it was powerful since GM, and eventually the whole Automotive industry, now had to recognize the UAW as the exclusive bargaining representative for the autoworkers. The UAW was now legitimate bargaining organization. The workers also received a 5 percent pay increase and were allowed to talk during lunch.

The rapid rise of the UAW had profound implications for the entire auto industry as other companies, such as Ford, unionized. Membership went from 50,000 to 500,000 members within the next year.

General Motors Workers Return To Work In Flint, Michigan

The Flint sit-down strike was a significant event in the evolution of organized labor. As the BBC mentioned:

  "the strike was heard 'round the world".

Now take a look at this great video of footage at the time.