Author Lowell, a worker at General Motors, remembers spending several weeks inside a cold General Motors plant. There were several things Lowell and the other were fighting for, but most of all, they wanted respect. “It was a slave house, he says”. Nobody can imagine if they didn’t work there.”
The Great Depression began in 1929 following a stock market crash. As a result, many people lost their jobs, making it difficult to financially support their families. The auto industry was a particularly challenging place to work in during this period.
Unemployment rates rose, and since fewer people could afford cars, the auto industry began laying off numerous employees. In fear of losing their jobs, the remaining employees were willing to endure hazardous working conditions. In 1935, the U.S. government declared that a family of four needed at least $1,600 annually to live. However, that same year, the average auto worker earned roughly $900. In July 1936, a heatwave struck Michigan. The combination of extreme heat and tough working conditions led to hundreds of deaths in auto plants across the state of Michigan.
In 1936, General Motors was the largest and most profitable automaker in the country. However, it treated its workers poorly, by laying off thousands, and then hiring them again, except with lower wages than before. Since the foreman chose who would be laid off, favoritism played a large role in deciding who would keep their job. Ray Holland, a worker at General Motors, recalled “You never knew whether you had a job or not.” Assembly lines were sped up with no mercy, to increase productivity and restore original profit levels. The workers were angry at the grueling assembly line pace, unsafe working conditions, and the company’s habit of constantly laying off workers.
The United Automobile Workers (UAW) was formed in 1935. The leaders of this organization knew that an early win was crucial, whether or not it was actually achieved by a strike, so the UAW tried to negotiate with William Knudsen, the current president of GM. However, he did not grant them recognition, meaning that it was now impossible to achieve their goals without a strike.
For several years, General Motors had resisted unionization. Between 1934 and 1936, GM paid almost $1 million to hire 200 spies that reported on union activity. The company hired even more spies to spy on the original spies, to make sure that they were not sympathetic to the unionists. The spies reported on workers who attended meetings of the United Automobile Workers of America, and GM would fire these people from their jobs. Despite these risks, many workers still considered unionizing.
Little did GM know that the UAW had slowly and secretly begun to organize at the company’s plants. The plan was a sit-down strike, an extremely effective method of forced negotiation. It was technically scheduled for January 1937, but union activists would not wait. For a total of 44 days – from December 13, 1936 to February 11, 1937, people involved in the UAW participated in the Flint Sit-Down Strike. The strike spread like wildfire, active across 17 GM plants in a time period of no more than a few weeks.
The same evening that the strike had started, workers discovered GM transferring necessary materials to other plants. Outraged, the workers exploded with fury, leading to increased support for the strike. This also led to a tremendous boost in the number of workers participating in the strike.
Instead of not coming to work, like in an old-fashioned strike, workers arrived at their jobs as usual, but refused to do anything. The food they ate was donated by local stores, farmers, and even some families. Instead of leaving the plants at the end of the day, workers stayed overnight, sleeping on sheepskins, piled-up car mats, and makeshift beds.
Outside the plant, a women’s auxiliary was formed to bring the workers clean clothing, food, newspapers, and other items to make the long days spent in the plant more enjoyable. Its leader, Genora Johnson, urged the women to fight for the men inside by doing anything they could. They stayed around the plants, collecting funds, which were used to support the strike. Women also formed human shields around the plants.
At the plants, the UAW kept the workers disciplined, and as busy as circumstances allowed. Some of the things they did were sing songs, exercise, and read newspapers, which were usually brought by friends and family. To keep a state of cleanliness in the plants, sanitation was made the first priority, although alcohol and weapons were also banned. Workers slacking from their duties were often evicted from the union.
General Motors brought the strike to court, and even got an injunction from a local judge saying that the workers were trespassing, and that they had to leave the plant. In response, the UAW publicized that the judge was a General Motors stockholder, embarrassing the company and exposing how they controlled local courts. Furthermore, there wasn’t actually a way for the company to remove the workers from the plants without physical force. GM knew that if they brought armed men to evict the workers, they risked consequences of their own and a worsened public reputation.
Now that stopping the strike by the use of legal operations was out of the question, GM resorted to other ideas. First, the company cut off the water, and it was a few days until the city forced the company to restore it, in order for the strikers to be able to again use the jammed-up toilets. Then, 13 days after the strike had begun, GM cut off heat, so the workers had to endure freezing temperatures. When they rushed out of the building to complain, they were met by security guards and police, who unleashed large quantities of tear gas into the plant. The workers responded by spraying fire hoses, and throwing bottles, stones, and car parts at the police until they finally left the plant.
GM said that the strike was an unlawful invasion of property rights. They wanted all strikers to be ejected by force. Homer S. Martin, president of the UAW, responded, stating, ”what more sacred property right is there in the world today than the right of a man to his job?” GM demanded that the state militia and national guard should be used to break up the strike. Governor Frank Murphy did call on the national guard, but only for the purpose of protecting the workers. In addition to General Motors’s plan going sorely wrong, Murphy refused to use the state militia to remove the workers from the plants. Instead, he asked GM to negotiate with the workers.
February 3 was set as a deadline for the strikers to evacuate, or risk a penalty of imprisonment or heavy fines. In response, the strikers talked to Governor Murphy, saying, “unarmed as we are, the introduction of the militia, sheriffs, or police with murderous weapons will mean a blood bath of unarmed workers. We have decided to stay in the plant.”
With 17 plants idle, the spotlight was on GM, which at first, refused to do anything. After President Franklin D. Roosevelt told General Motors to negotiate, the combined pressures of the president and the governor made them cooperate. Workers left the plants on February 11, victorious.
Although the Flint Sit Down Strike is often linked to great success for the workers, there were also some negative impacts of the strike. Public opinion on sit-down strikes shifted from support to resentment. Conservative newspapers condemned the strike, with few siding with the workers. In 1939, the Senate declared sit-down strikes illegal, which was caused in part, because of the Flint event.
Since the strike succeeded, wages and working conditions were improved. As a result of the strike, GM realized that the UAW was a bargaining agent for the workers, which opened up the way for a collective bargaining agreement, a process in which working people, through their unions, negotiate contracts with their employers, dealing with things such as pay, job health, hours, benefits, and safety policies. William S. Knudsen, an important GM leader, hailed the new agreement and said, ”Let us have peace and make cars.”
The success of the Flint Sit-Down Strike led to many more strikes, which significantly changed conditions, particularly those having to do with wages and machine safety. Without this important moment in strike history, today’s working conditions in auto factories might be more hazardous, with wages lower than those in other industries.
Not only that, but the power of the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) was increased greatly. Before this committee existed, the only people often organized into strikes were skilled workers based on their particular crafts. Instead, the CIO sought to organize all workers in a particular industry, regardless of skill, in the same union. The effects of the strikes that the CIO organized have influenced wages and working conditions still felt today.
As the years progressed, coming to the present day, Americans started to believe that voting was not enough, rights should extend to the workplace. They thought that their employers should not have absolute power. Workers also deserved a voice, something that collective bargaining agreements could provide.
In conclusion, the Flint Sit-Down Strike considerable changed the auto industry, particularly at General Motors, but in reality, extending to other companies with the strikes that it caused.