The sit-down strike became a popular strategy with early union activists. By occupying a plant, workers could effectively halt production and defend themselves from employer and police attacks. Sit-downs were employed by:

• French workers demanding union recognition
• Rubber workers in Akron Ohio
• Workers at Kelsey Wheel in Windsor
• Auto workers at GM in Flint Michigan.

The Flint sit-down was one of the most famous and led to the recognition of the UAW by GM in the United States.

Sit-down at Windsor’s Kelsey Wheel

The UAW organized its first unit in Canada, Local 195, at Kelsey Wheel in Windsor on December 9, 1936. Canadian unionists were inspired by the militant actions of workers fighting for union recognition in the US. But the success of the UAW in Canada was almost exclusively the result of struggle by Canadian workers. The Kelsey workers presented the following list of demands to the company:

1. FIRST APPLICATION FORM, EXCERPT FROM THE WORKER, JULY 4, 1928 AND 2. FIRST MEMBERSHIP CARD UAW LOCAL 195, 1938.

The president of the company refused to recognize the union and on December 16, 140 Kelsey Wheel workers staged one of the first sit-down strikes in Canada. Their sit-down was short-lived as the city police quickly ordered the strikers to vacate the premises. The workers responded by organizing a picket line outside the plant. Five workers were arrested when they attempted to prevent the company from bringing in scabs (the company was trying to bring in the scabs with taxis!).

3.PICKETING KELSEY WHEEL WORKERS CLASH WITH THE POLICE, DEC. 21, 1936.

The strike was settled on December 30 and an agreement was signed between the workers and Kelsey Wheel that granted the union’s immediate demands but did not recognize the International UAW as the formal representative of the workers. Although the company did not formally recognize the UAW until 1948, they were forced to deal with the union due to the strength of the membership.

On December 30, 1936, workers at the GM Fisher Body plant in Flint, Michigan began a 44 day sit-down strike. They were demanding:

4. CELEBRATING VICTORY FLINT, 1937.

• Recognition of the UAW
• A signed national agreement
• Minimum pay rates
• Regulation of line speeds
• A 30 hour week.

Conditions in the auto industry in 1930s were terrible. A study done in 1935 on working conditions describes how the companies used the men’s fear of being laid off to impose speed-ups:

5. MEN SITTING DOWN, FLINT, 1937.

This was a critical strike for the newly formed UAW. Originally chartered by the American Federation of Labor, the UAW quickly adopted an industrial union model of organizing and became active in the newly formed Committee for Industrial Organization (CIO). Within a few weeks of the Flint workers going on strike, over 100,000 GM workers were on strike at various plants in the US, either sitting down or walking picket lines.

The Flint sit-downers survived every tactic the company and its allies in the government could muster to drive them out, from turning off the heat and blocking food shipments to tear gas attacks. But the workers outwitted the company and the police, and eventually GM agreed to recognize the UAW and to negotiate.

6. FLINT, FIRE AND WOMAN WITH BAT, FEB. 2, 1937.

The UAW went on to organize throughout the auto industry. Membership growth was rapid reaching 400,000 by July of 1937. This was a 500% increase in 6 months. By the middle of 1937, all the major companies in auto in the US, with the exception of Ford, were organized by the UAW.