Historical Archive
Historical Articles
85th Anniversary of the start of the Flint sit-down strike (1936-1937)
Today is the 85th anniversary of the start of the Flint Sitdown Strike! The fledgling union took on the biggest corporation in the world and won. It wasn't easy. There was plenty of drama. Importantly, the Michigan Governor used the national guard to prevent violence...
Video: UAWD Interview with UAW Icon Paul Schrade
UAW Icon Paul Schrade talks about the importance of democracy in the union.
JSTOR: The Flint Sit-Down Strike, From the Inside
This fall has brought a wave of strikes, with workers seeking raises and better working conditions. They’re following in a long tradition, and one of its key moments was the 1936-1937 sit-down strike by auto workers in Flint, Michigan. Testimonies from those strikers...
Interview with Toni Gilpin on recent strikes and the need for fighting unions
"If you look at the John Deere strike, here you have this union, UAW, that has made headlines in the past four or five years for corruption. And yet you have the rank and file in the union, these strikers, who remain loyal to their union even if not to the leadership...
A New Force in American Labor: Academe
UAW Academic and autoworkers are forging a bond through the referendum vote.
UAW Housecleaning Day Coming?
Eyes will be on the upcoming election of the United Auto Workers in an unprecedented referendum. The results could be game-changing for how the UAW will operate in the future. It could also have a ripple effect throughout organized labor. There’s some poetic justice...
We need a modern labor movement that brings good jobs
For decades, our economy has undermined working people. Income inequality remains at an all-time high. The middle class is hollowed out and harder than ever to break into. Read the article here.
How a Deadly Railroad Strike Led to the Labor Day Holiday
Today many Americans see Labor Day as time off from work, an opportunity to enjoy a barbecue with friends and family and a final moment of summertime relaxation before the busy fall season begins. But the history behind the Labor Day holiday is far more...
Richard Trumka’s legacy will be the AFL-CIO’s future
This will ultimately be his legacy, and the legacy of New Voice. They failed to do what they promised, but they paved the way for future leadership to deliver. For all their failings, our movement is immeasurably better than it was in 1995, and better than it would...
How the Administration Caucus Came to Power
The Administration Caucus has dominated the UAW for 70 years. Who are they and how did they first come to power?
In Honor of Women’s History Month
The UAW Women’s Emergency Brigade bravely placed themselves between the Flint police and the GM Sitdown Strikers. They helped supply the strikers in the factory with food and clothing among other things. The documentary With Banners and Babies tells their story.
How an Auto Workers’ Strike In Flint Nearly a Century Ago Changed the Country
The new book “Midnight in Vehicle City” by Edward McClelland documents one of the biggest victories for workers’ rights in the United States, which happened during one bitterly cold winter in Flint, Michigan. Listen to the audio here.
Remembering the Flint Sit-Down
Tired of reductions in pay and jobs, increased workloads, and harassment of United Automobile Workers organizers, on December 30, 1936 automotive workers in the General Motors Fisher Number One Plant in Flint, Michigan sat down on the job. For the next 44 days workers...
The UAW leader who helped MLK tie organized labor to broader civil rights movement
The United States now honors the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. with a day of remembrance each January. However, while he was alive, his public disapproval ratings were as high as 75%. Many Americans disliked him for a variety of his stances, from...
Understanding unions in the United States
Gallup has reported that two-thirds of people in the United States approve of labor unions, the highest rating in two decades. And yet, unions represent the smallest share of the workforce in one hundred years—fewer than before there was a legal right to form a union...
The Pinkertons Have a Long, Dark History of Targeting Workers
The list of Pinkerton injustices against the working class spans centuries, and as a new report from Motherboard appears to show, the agency is keeping up with the times. The Pinkertons, who are now a subsidiary of Swedish security company Securitas AB, are reportedly...
Gregg Shotwell — Live Bait & Ammo #186: Do the Right Thing
I am writing this in January 2021 for a new generation of auto workers who don’t knowthe history they are piggy-backing. Who don’t know who hogtied them into thiscorkscrew position. It’s all becoming more clear as the federales crack down. But thenews isn’t new....
Nelson Lichtenstein: Opening the Door to a More Democratic UAW
"The UAW has been a one-party regime for many decades because the union convention, which elects all the top national officers, has been tightly controlled by an “Administration Caucus,” which routinely wins an overwhelming proportion of the delegate vote.Actual...
75 years ago today, sit-down strikers held off police at Fisher Body No. 2 in the ‘Battle of the Running Bulls’
FLINT, Michigan -- Striking General Motors workers battled Flint police at GM's Fisher Body No. 2 in a bloody night of fighting and a turning point in the Sit-Down Strike 75 years ago today. Known as the "Battle of the Running Bulls," the night of rioting, tear gas...
84th Anniversary of the 1936-37 UAW Flint Sit-Down Strike
84 years ago today, the 1936-37 Flint sit down-strike began at General Motors. It was a defining moment for the UAW that would end up improving the lives of millions of workers across the country. Jeremy Brecher's account of the great sit-down strike in the General...
Fight Back Shop Newsletter
Fighting Times Shop Newsletter Cartoons
Briggs Worker Shop Newsletter
“Running the Plant Backwards” in UAW Region 5
