USA Today: UAW strike in '36-'37 changed workers' lives across USA

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.usatoday.com/money/autos/2009-01-13-flint-striker-autoworkers-union_N.htm

By Sharon Silke Carty, USA TODAY
DETROIT — Arthur Lowell talks slowly about the winter of 1936-37 when he spent several weeks inside a cold General Motors plant trying to make a point.


By Stephen McGee for USA TODAY
Arthur Lowell, 91, of Clio, Mich., worked in the auto industry for 38 years and was a part of the Flint sit-down strikes in 1936-1937. When Lowell was hired, he was making 50 cents an hour. After the strike, he was making 1 dollar an hour.


Now 91, the longtime labor activist was part of the first strike against General Motors (GM) in Flint, Mich., a sit-down strike labor historians credit with creating one of the strongest unions in the U.S.

Lowell remembers being stunned when labor leaders told workers they were going on strike. They expected the strike to be at another plant where workers already were clashing with GM security forces.

He remembers GM cut off the water after the strike began, and it was a few days before the city forced the company to restore it so strikers could again use the jammed-up toilets. He remembers sleeping on a springy length of wood balanced between boxes and eating apples, bean soup and cornbread brought by the women's auxiliary.

Most of all, he remembers what the United Auto Workers union was fighting for: respect.

Lowell says that he and his fellow strikers were fighting for the basics. To earn more than 50 cents an hour. For the right to take time to go to the bathroom, or to stop random worker firings.

"It was a slave house," Lowell says. "Nobody can imagine if they didn't work there."

FULL story at link.

[proud patriot]

1. k and r

[Bozita]

2. Great article! But, here's the part that really pissed me off...

In the past 10 years, the UAW has worked more with automakers to cut costs, agreeing to plant closures, worker buyouts and less generous health coverage. Still, it hasn't moved fast enough, says Dennis Virag, president of Automotive Consulting Group.

"The union needs to understand the competitive environment" automakers face, Virag says, and help them survive. "I think there's always a place for organized labor, it's just that the union needs to … look out for both the welfare of its members and the good of overall society."