On this day in labor history, the year was 1937.
That day marked a pivotal moment in the continuing Flint sit-down strike.
The nationwide strike against GM started in Flint in late December.
By late January, UAW organizers agreed that nearby Chevrolet Engine Plant #4 had to be shut down.
It was a massive facility.
It employed 4000 workers on two shifts
The plant superintendant had been firing union activists.
Armed guards patrolled every inch of the facility to prevent a sit-down.
Union organizers knew there were company spies in their ranks.
They planned the takeover by staging distracting job actions at nearby Chevrolet plants #9 and then #6.
This would draw the guards away from plant #4.
And so, on this day, just as the day shift was ending, workers sat down at Chevy plant #9.
The company guards were ready to launch an attack.
They began beating and gassing the sit-downers.
The Women’s Emergency Brigade smashed plant windows to dissipate the gas.
The diversion worked. Guards left Chevy #4 unattended.
Workers there turned off all the machines and barricaded themselves in.
The plant guards tried to reenter and were met with pistons, connector rods and fire hoses.
The Women’s Emergency Brigade gathered outside the plant and locked arms.
UAW organizer Joe Sayen announced, “We want the whole world to understand what we are fighting for. We are fighting for freedom and life and liberty. This is our one great opportunity. What if we should be defeated? What if we should be killed? We have only one life. That’s all we can lose and we might as well die like heroes than like slaves.”
November 7 - Eisenhower Wields Taft-Hartley
November 6 - The Fight for Equality
November 5 - The Everett Massacre
November 4 - Will Rogers is Born
November 3 - The Greensboro Massacre
November 2 - Sixteen Tons
November 1 - The Deadly Consequences of Scabbing
October 31 - Happy Union Made Halloween
October 30 - Wall St. Lays an Egg
October 29 - Alice Doesn’t Day
October 28 - The Pony Express
October 27 - The 1948 Donora Smog
October 26 - America’s Florence Nightingale
October 25 - NY Daily News On Strike!
October 24 - Eight Hours for Work, Eight Hours for Rest, Eight Hours for What We Will!
October 23 - John Sweeney is Elected
October 22 - Pretty Boy Floyd Is Gunned Down
October 21 - Through Rain, Sleet, Snow & Anthrax
October 20 - Remembering Debs
October 19 - Tragedy on the Tracks
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