The Great Flint Sitdown Strike is 80 years old. It's like a Valentine from the past. Reminding us that even in the darkest hours working people have the right stuff to organize and win.
The Great Flint Sitdown strike of '36-'37 against General Motors won recognition for the UAW.
About 2,000 workers sat down and occupied a vital Chevrolet factory for 44 days against police assaults. The strike was so effective that GM output plummeted from 50,000 to just 125 cars in February of 1937. UAW membership grew from 50,000 to 500,000 within the next year.
Genora Dollinger was a leader of the Women's Emergency Brigade supporting the strike.
“I saw a first woman struggling and I noticed that she had started to come down and a cop grabbed her by the coat and she went right out of that coat - and this was in freezing weather - and just kept right on coming.”
Delia Parish delivered delivering food to strikers.
“Here come the cops. And You can't get in there. I said I'm going. And I did.
And the management had the gate locked. And you know how tall that fence is…I couldn’t raise it up high enough for them guys inside to get it.
Well they come out with torches and they melted that blooming fence to the ground! And then they could take the food all in.”