On this day in labor history, the year was 1937.
That was the day over 1000 autoworkers at the Ford assembly plant in Kansas City, Missouri began their occupation.
The sit-down was the first strike by the UAW against Ford. UAW president, Homer Martin vowed to organize the entire company.
The strike had been called the previous evening, when workers learned 350 of their coworkers had been laid off at the end of the day shift.
They demanded reinstatement, higher wages, better working conditions and recognition of the union.
Workers spent a good part of the early morning hours welding the gates shut to the railroad yards and parking lots surrounding the plant.
Then, they selected an 18-man committee to direct the strike.
One leader, O.W. Penney stated: “… When the company forced the strike on us by unfairly laying off men because of union membership (some with 12 years on the job), everybody joined up with us.
We signed 200 outside the plant and they’re signing others inside.” Penney added, “The pay here is not as good as at either Chevrolet or Chrysler plants… The boys there have better sanitary facilities and a cafeteria, while we have to eat our lunches sitting on the floor.”
Strikers lowered a banner from the top floor of the plant that read, “Lincoln Freed the Slaves. Ford Brought Them Back.”
Ford insisted he would never allow his plants to be organized.
But company representatives spent the weekend negotiating a settlement with the UAW to rescind the layoffs.
By Monday, April 5 workers were back on the line.
Strike authorizations would flare up just two weeks later when Penney and another UAW organizer were beaten at the hands of company thugs.
February 15 - The Uprising of the 20,000 Comes to a Close
February 14 - Kansas City Laundresses Walk Off the Job
February 13 - Martial Law Declared to Crush the UAW
February 12 - The NAACP is Founded
February 11 - Cutting Corners on Safety at Sequoyah I
February 10 - Forty-Three Workers Buried Alive
February 9 - Organizing Bloody Harlan
February 8 - Butte Copper Miners Join the 1919 Strike Wave
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
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