 |
Flint Sitdown Strike 1937 UAW auto labor union GM
The Great Flint Michigan Sit-down Strike in Michigan in 1937 between G. M. General Motors and the U.A.W. United Auto Workers union was the pivotal moment in United States and World Labor history. The first contract between the U.A.W. and General Motors brought dignity and respect to the workers in the form of better working conditions, wages and benefits. The working enviroment for workers in every walk of life, in the United States and around the world were vastly improved due to this moment in Labor History.
WALTER REUTHER:
"There are many practical jobs ahead, jobs that will test the best that is in all of us. There is the job of organizing the unorganized. No union, no movement that rests upon past achievements will have the drive and the energy and the power without which we cannot succeed. We must recapture the crusading spirit we had in the early days, and we need to take on some of the areas of the unorganized and begin to do the kind of job that I know we are capable of doing if we pull together in the days ahead. But, our job is more than just organizing the unorganized. I think if we are going to be realistic, we must recognize the fact that when you sign up a worker in a union and he pays his dues, his obligation and his responsibilities do not end there. They just begin. All of our unions have too many people who are just card-carrying members. They pay their dues. They come to a meeting occasionally. Yes, they walk the picket lines when they are called. We have the job, not only to organize the unorganized, but we have the job of educating and unionizing the organized. We need to give our members a sense of participating in a great human crusade. We need to make them conscious of the fact that the free labor movement for the first time in the history of human civilization is trying consciously to give direction in the shaping of history. We are trying to participate in the great social changes that are taking place in the world in which we live. When you belong to a union, when you understand where we are going and how we hope to get there, what tools free people have to use in the building of that better world that we dream about, then you have the satisfaction of knowing that as a free human being you have something to say about the kind of tomorrow that your children will grow up in. Until we do a better job of educating and unionizing the people whom we have organized, we will not have mobilized the real potential power and the spiritual strength of our great, free labor movement."
December 4, 1952... Address of Walter Reuther accepting the Presidency of the Congress of Industrial Organizations in Atlantic City, New Jersey! These words still ring true today!! This was a man of vision!!
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Before The Union
We hear brothers and sisters in the union workplace continually ask, "What has the union ever done for me.?"
Before the union, the word was "No!"
NO Names - just a number
NO Seniority
NO Job Security
NO Representation
NO Grievance procedure
NO Promotional Opportunities
NO Job classifications
NO Health & Safe program
NO Protective equipment
NO Preference of shift
NO Relief periods
NO Work standards
NO Uniform pay scale
NO Guaranteed wage increases
NO Cost-of-living raises
NO Overtime pay after eight hours
NO Time and a half on Saturday
NO Double time on Sunday
NO Triple time for holidays
NO Shift premiums
NO Call-in pay
NO Rotation of premium time
NO Paid holidays
NO Paid Vacations
NO Paid absence allowance
NO Moving allowance
NO Bereavement pay
NO Jury Duty pay
NO Military duty pay
NO Paid-up life insurance
NO Sickness & Accident benefits
NO Medical protection
NO Layoff disability benefits
NO Guaranteed income stream
NO S.U.B.
NO Short work week benefits
NO Severance pay
NO Pensions
NO Prescription drugs
NO Tuition refund.
That's what life in the plant was like, before the UAW turned the "No" To "YES".
Let's Remember, management did NOT give you these benefits.
A strong union and its members bargained and fought hard for them. Remember,our union is only as effective as the brothers and sisters who support it. So, let's start to play a more active role in our union and give it more support.
Sit-down sitdown sitdowner links
Diary of Sit-Downer
first agreement 1937 gm uaw Sitdowner Monument Memorial picture
First contract text links
www.uhhuh.com
International UAW website
Send E-Mail to:
Copyright © 2003 . All Rights Reserved