January 3 - The Power of Folded Arms and Marching Feet

 

Labor History in 2:00

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A daily, pocket-sized history of America's working people, brought to you by The Rick Smith Show team.

 

 

January 3 - The Power of Folded Arms and Marching Feet

Sunday Jan 03, 2021

 

On this day in labor history, the year was 1946.

That was the day local AFL and CIO unions in Stamford, Connecticut joined forces to bring out 20,000 members from 30 trade unions in a massive one-day general strike to support striking Machinists at Yale & Towne Lock.

Machinists had been out since November, demanding a 30% wage increase and a union shop.

The Combined Stamford Labor Organizations had promised action if Governor Raymond Baldwin did not withdraw State Police from interfering with peaceful picketing.

State Police were being used to attack the picket lines, arrest strikers and escort strikebreakers-scabs into the plant.  

In a last minute attempt to avert the general strike, Yale & Towne President W. Gibson Carey Jr., offered an 18% raise but refused any talk of a closed shop.

And so the unions went on “an extended lunch hour,” effectively bringing the entire city to a standstill.

Numerous Small businesses closed shop and joined in support.

Marchers converged upon Town Hall from five directions; their placards read, “Stamford is a Union Town! Let’s Keep It!” and “We Will Not Yield Victory!”

Workers represented unions like Mine Mill, AFM, IBEW, Barbers, Bookbinders, Gas & Chemical, and USW, among many others.

World War II veterans carried a banner that read, “We Licked the Axis and We Can Beat Carey!”

Despite public support, pitched battles continued on the picket lines.

The company would not budge until April, when they finally accepted the proposal the Machinists had demanded in January.

The Machinists quickly ratified the contract.

They beat back a union-busing offensive and built local solidarity among unions at a time when the AFL and CIO were very much at odds.