In the winter of 1937, thousands of workers in Michigan were singing:
"When they tie the can to a
Union man,
Sit down! Sit down!
When the speed-up comes,
just twiddle your thumbs,
Sit down! Sit down!
When the bosses won't talk,
don't take a walk,
Sit down! Sit down!"
They were taking part in a new kind of strike - the sit-down strike. Instead of walking out of the factory where they worked during a strike, these workers simply sat down inside the plants.
One of the most famous and heroic strikes in the American labor movement took place in Flint, Michigan. The workers in the General Motors plants earned only about $1,000 a year and were forced to work at ever-increasing speed as the bosses tried to increase their profit margin. The Great Depression was in full swing and some workers were afraid to complain knowing that there were millions of unemployed workers, desperate for a job. But over time, the GM workers' anger began to overcome their fear. So when the UAW called a strike, 3,000 workers put away their tools and sat down where they worked.
At night they slept on the floors of new cars. A Women's Brigade--organized to support the strikers--passed food to them through the factory windows. The women also maintained picket lines around the plants and worked out a plan to feed the hungry families of strikers. GM retaliated by shutting off the heat in the dead of winter, but they would not leave.
After 40 days, a court ordered the workers to leave the plants on February 3. The workers refused. Michigan Governor Frank Murphy ordered GM and the UAW to negotiate a settlement, as did President Roosevelt. Finally, GM agreed to bargain with the union. They agreed to pay higher wages and provide health insurance. After 44 days, the workers had won an enormous victory--by sitting down.
This snapshot in labor history is taken from SEIU Healthcare Michigan's winter 2010 newsletter here. The 70th anniversary of the Flint, Mich., sit-down strike, is celebrated tomorrow on February 11th.
