The sit-downers’ legacy lives on

Seventy years ago, GM’s Flint sit-down strikers and the Women’s Emergency Brigade taught us an enduring lesson: Ordinary people can accomplish extraordinary things through the power of collective action and the strength of solidarity.

The first UAW General Motors contract was a modest document – just one page, in fact. But it was the first page in a new chapter in American history.

Inspired by the Flint victory, workers in factories, hotels, bakeries, department stores and other workplaces across North America stood up for their rights by sitting down on the job.

It was a whirlwind time.

The first major UAW sit-down strike was at Bendix in South Bend, Ind., in November 1936, a seven-day strike that won union recognition.

The next sit-down strike victory came a month later at Detroit’s Kelsey-Hayes Wheel Co., where workers – led by Walter and Victor Reuther – won their first contract on Christmas Eve.
Before year’s end, Flint workers learned that GM planned to move key dies from the Fisher Body complex to pre-empt an anticipated strike.

After a quick strategy session, workers at Fisher Body Plant Number 1 sat down, catching GM off guard. The sit-down spread to Fisher Body Plant Number 2.

After 44 long days, GM gave in, forced to recognize the union and negotiate a contract.
By the end of 1937, the UAW was 375,000 members strong and a growing force for social and economic justice for all working people.

Today we honor the sit-downers’ legacy by continuing our fight for workers’ rights. But the fight won’t be easy, and it won’t be won in 44 days.

The UAW’s first major sit-down strike started Nov. 17, 1936, at Bendix Corp. in South Bend, Ind. Men and women barricaded themselves in the plant until the company agreed to negotiate. Families brought food, while others kept picket lines going outside. Sit-downers even organized a band. Two days after they left the plant on Nov. 23, the company recognized the union.

UAW members began their sit-down strike at Kelsey-Hayes Wheel Co. when a woman worker pretended to faint, a signal to start the job action. About 300 workers barricaded themselves inside the Detroit plant while others walked picket lines outside. Separated from their families, workers kept the Christmas spirit alive in the plant, trimming a smuggled-in spruce with Kelsey-Hayes parts. Under the leadership of Walter and Victor Reuther, workers wrapped up their first contract on Christmas Eve. Among other gains, the UAW won a pledge of equal pay for equal work for women.