Via the Motor Cities National Heritage Area
On August 26, 1935, the United Automobile Workers of America was founded in Detroit.
As factory production grew, auto workers faced increasingly dangerous, even fatal working conditions. When the Wagner Act passed in 1935, automakers couldn’t stop their workers from unionizing, and the Committee of Industrial Organizations established the UAW later that year. While some companies resisted unionization more than others, automakers began gradually accepting the #UAW as representative for their employees after a series of sit-down strikes and some violent conflicts.
Over the following decades, the UAW continued to negotiate working and living conditions for its members, particularly under the leadership of Walter Reuther. Reuther helped establish unemployment benefits, wage adjustments, health plans and vacations, and many of these agreements set a base for industrial unions across the nation. #ThisDayInAutoHeritage