- Page 314 →Sit-down strikes dominated the headlines in 1937 and were a reaction to the strikebreaking tactics used at the time. Sit-downs were effective weapons: workers had less fear that their jobs would be taken by scabs, and employers were reluctant to use violence or prolong negotiations for fear of damage to their property. Some sit-downs were small, while others such as the General Motors strike in Flint, Michigan involved 140,000 workers sitting in for 44 days until the UAW achieved victory. Patterned after the Flint strike, Woolworth’s in Detroit was the first 5 and 10 cent store to sit-down and win a contract The strike spread to New York where sit-downs proved effective at other 5 and 10s. The mostly women strikers at Woolworth’s were led by Local 1250 Department Store Workers’ Union, with Clarina Michelson the strike leader. The settlement was based on a 48-hour week, a minimum weekly wage of $15.60 (a dollar increase) and paid vacations. In 1939, the Supreme Court declared sit-downs illegal, but they had already proved to be a valuable weapon and anticipated the sit-ins of the Civil Rights movement and the 1960s student strikes and Vietnam War protests.
|