It was 1936, the Great Depression. Millions were out of work. Each morning in Flint, Michigan, desperate men gathered outside the gates at General Motors in the winter cold, frantic for work and a paycheck to feed their families. The fledgling UAW represented just 25,000 of the one million autoworkers toiling in U.S. auto plants…
How UAW Local 249’s 1937 Sit-Down Strike at Ford in Kansas City Changed Labor History
On Friday, April 2, 1937, Kansas City’s Ford Motor Company plant on Winchester Avenue became the epicenter of a labor showdown. Winter was ending, production had been high, and workers looked forward to the weekend. That day, without warning, foremen began pulling workers aside and ordering them to turn in their badges. Ford said production…
How Kansas City Auto Workers Launched the First Sit-Down Strike at Ford
On Friday, April 2, 1937, Kansas City autoworkers at the Ford Motor Company’s Winchester Avenue plant made history. Fed up with union-busting tactics, unfair layoffs, and brutal working conditions, members of what would become UAW Local 249 launched the first-ever sit-down strike at a Ford plant — a bold act of defiance that echoed across…
Work Him Until He Quits
In February 1937, Walter Williams, a leader of the UAW organizing drive at the Ford Kansas City Assembly Plant, was pulled from his job on the No. 1 metal line and escorted to the office of plant superintendent Joseph Bush. Waiting for him were several supervisors, their presence a clear warning. “Keep your damn mouth…