On this day in labor history, the year was 1936.
That was the day more rubber workers sat down in Akron, Ohio.
Tire builders in Goodyear’s Plant 2, Department 251-A sat down when 700 coworkers were laid off. Goodyear had been running four, six-hour shifts.
They hoped to reduce the workforce by implementing three, eight-hour shifts with no increase in pay. Management moved quickly to fire all of the strikers.
By the 17th, all 4000 workers at Goodyear voted to strike over the layoffs and firings, speed-up and the new shift hours and pay.
The enormous, 11-mile facility was immediately shut down.
In his book, Strike! historian Jeremy Brecher indicates that few if any were union members.
The United Rubber Workers was hesitant to associate itself with the sit-down.
Rubber workers organized themselves.
They set up 24-hour pickets at dozens of gates, built striker shanties and set their demands.
After six days, the URW sanctioned the strike.
Brecher describes the scene: “The company…secured an injunction against mass picketing. 10,000 trades people from across the city gathered with lead pipe and baseball bats to stop 150 sheriffs’ deputies from opening the plants.
The Summit County Central Labor Council guaranteed a general strike if Law and Order League vigilantes carried out a threatened March 18 attack on picket lines.
The vigilante movement was paralyzed. Federal mediators demanded a return to work and arbitration.
Workers responded, "No, no, a thousand times no, I'd rather die than say yes."
Finally, Goodyear capitulated on most of the demands, except formal recognition of the union.
Rubber workers returned to work largely victorious.”
After renewed struggles, workers finally won union recognition a year later.
February 7 - Strike at Cripple Creek
February 6 - Philly Garment Workers Win!
February 5 - The Fight for Craft Governance
February 4 - Solidarity on the Coast
February 3 - Anti-Trust Injunctions Used Against Labor
February 2 - The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
February 1 - A Pivotal Moment in the Flint Sit-Down
January 31 - The Big Easy Fires 7000 Teachers
January 30 - Fred Korematsu Day
January 29 - Bread & Roses Striker, Anna LoPizzo, Shot Dead
January 28 - The 1917 Bath Riots
January 27 - Bans on Yellow Dog Contracts Ruled Unconstitutional
January 26 - Sid Hatfield Stands Trial
January 25 - Solidarity Works!
January 24 - Arturo Alfonso Schomburg is Born
January 23 - If Poison Doesn’t Work, Try Briggs!
January 22 - Tragedy in the Mines & in the Union Hall
January 21 - On Strike for Health & Dignity
January 20 - The Flint Womens Emergency Brigades
January 19 - A Snapshot in Misery
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