That was the day the United Electrical Workers joined the national post-war strike wave.
200,000 UE members walked off the job at General Electric, Westinghouse, and General Motors’ Electrical Division.
Across the country, reduction of hours and phony job reclassifications led to a 30% wage cut, while years of wartime grievances piled up.
All this led to the demand for $2 a day pay raises.
Many of these workers were young women on strike for the first time.
They had spent much of the war fighting piecework and gender based divisions of labor.
Reports from the picket lines showed overwhelming support among the strikers and from the general public.
Older male coworkers who built the UE joined young women strikers on the line.
At the GE Mazda Lamp Works in Youngstown, Ohio, steelworkers joined women strikers to bolster picket lines.
In Lynn, MA, signs of women picketers read, “We Want to Live, Not Just Exist,” and “Let the Pipes Freeze-They Don’t Care If We Freeze,” in response to maintenance crews allowed to pass.
In Bloomfield, N.J., six restaurants turned their establishments over to the strikers.
GE president Charles Wilson complained bitterly of the 12,000 or so picketers that blocked the gates of the GE Schenectady Plant.
Strikers across the country faced violent confrontations and beatings as police on horseback waded through crowds.
Philadelphia strikers retaliated by pouring marbles onto the street.
Workers at GE and Westinghouse would eventually settle for 18 cents an hour, less than what they had hoped but more than either company had been willing to give.
Management would remain in shock for years at the level of solidarity among strikers and the community.
May 4 - UE Beats Back HUAC in Dayton
May 3 - First Workers Compensation Law is Passed
May 2 - Our Thing is DRUM!
May 1 - Mayday Marchers Attacked in Cleveland
April 30 - Refinery Workers Walk Off the Job
April 29 - Allis-Chalmers and the Road to Taft-Hartley
April 28 - OSHA Goes Into Effect
April 27 - Disaster in West Virginia
April 26 - National Guard Ousts Montgomery Ward CEO
April 25 - UAW Mobilizes Against Taft-Hartley
April 24 - The California Spinach Riot
April 23 - Sitting Down for Dignity at Ford
April 22 - The Red Jacket Mine Explosion
April 21 - The Hated Taylor Law Takes Effect
April 20 - Deepwater Horizon Explosion Kills 11
April 19 -The Daughters of Mother Jones
April 18 - We Have Fed You All A thousand Years
April 17 - Fatal Explosion in West, Texas
April 16 - Jacob Coxey is Born
April 15 - Telephone Girls Cripple New England Bell
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
The No-Frills Teacher Podcast
Heal, Survive & Thrive!
Summarize | رادیو سامرایز
The Jordan B. Peterson Podcast
The Mel Robbins Podcast