Akron rubber strike of 1936

Last updated

The Akron rubber strike of 1936 was a strike by workers against rubber factory owners in Akron, Ohio.

Contents

During the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries, rubber factory workers, including those who worked for the three major rubber factories in Akron, OH, faced poor working conditions, low wages, and close to no benefits. The year 1936 was not only within this period in which rubber factory workers struggled with poor conditions and low wages, but also coincided with the period of the Great Depression in the United States, as well as the passing of the National Labor Relations Act. The combination of all these conditions, as well as many other conditions, caused the founding of the United Rubber Workers in 1935, and the major picket strike of February and March 1936.

Unions

United Rubber Council

In 1933, the same year the National Recovery Administration was established by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, the American Federation of Labor (AFL) created a United Rubber Council (URC) to be a nationwide union for the industry. But workers at many individual factories had already organized federal local unions, and so recruitment was slow. So the AFL printed 50,000 leaflets and distributed them to the many rubber factories in Akron, Ohio, inviting workers to a recruiting meeting. About 5,000 workers showed up to hear the AFL's Paul Smith, and eventually about 50,000 workers joined the URC. [1] But during a rubber industry strike in 1934 and 1935, the URC's elected leadership reached terms with factory management that many striking workers felt far too unfavorable. The union's membership to plummeted below 5,000 members. [2]

United Rubber Workers

In its wake, the United Rubber Workers (URW) union was founded as the new industry-wide union. The AFL's William Green threatened to pull AFL funding from rubber-industry unions unless the URW elected as president the AFL's Coleman Claherty, [3] who had been directing AFL activity in Akron since 1933. The rubber workers rejected Claherty, a boilermaker by trade, and elected instead Sherman Dalrymple, president of the B.F. Goodrich factory's local union. So the AFL ceased funding the rubber-industry union, after making one donation of $1,000 cash and passing along some URC assets: office furniture, equipment, and about $1,800 in a URC bank account. [3] The URW eventually affiliated with the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO), and solidified itself as the prominent industry-wide union for rubber workers through the remainder of the Great Depression and until World War II. The URW is also one of the first few unions in the CIO that was founded without financial help from an outside organization. [4]

The passage of the 1935 National Labor Relations Act, which guaranteed the right to organize and form unions, helped the CIO form many unions within different industries. But it did not require employers to recognize and cooperate with unions. Goodyear's management, led by Paul Litchfield, did not wish to recognize the URW during negotiations. [5]

Goodyear Industrial Assembly

The Goodyear Industrial Assembly, founded in 1919, was a local union for employees of the Goodyear Tire plant. Many of the rubber factories had local unions in place to allow the workers and management of individual factories to bargain, and (during this time period) these local unions often existed at the same time as industry-wide unions. Because the Goodyear factory was more than twice the size of the next largest employer, the actions between the workers and management at the Goodyear factory had an effect on how the rest of the industry acted.

Goodyear's management and the leadership of the local union were able to cooperate and bargain until late 1935. During the later stages of 1935, Goodyear's management, led by Paul Litchfield, [6] introduced plans to reduce hourly wages, while at the same time moving from six hour shifts to eight hour shifts for its employees. The local union voiced its displeasure to management, but management was adamant on going through with the proposed changes, regardless of how the local union felt. Because the local union was now unable to negotiate with management, its perceived bargaining power decreased in the eyes of the workers, causing the union's support to decrease, and workers began to look elsewhere for union support (with many workers eventually joining the URW).

Sit-down strikes

The sit-down strike was a type of strike that the rubber factory workers used very frequently both before and after the large picket strike of February–March 1936. The sit-down strike is when factory workers, who are currently working on the assembly line, sit down at their assembly line positions to stop production at their point in the production process. The stoppage of production in one department will cause the next department in the process to stop because that department will have no new products or batches to work with. Because one department decides to sit down, it causes the rest of an assembly line to cease production.

The workers in the rubber industry got the idea of using the sit-down strike from a strike that occurred at a baseball game that was played between union members from different factories. [2] The players, who were union members, disliked an umpire who was not a union member, so the players decided that they would rather sit down on the field than play in a game that would be umpired by someone who was not a member of their union. The sit-down strikes in Akron, OH are considered to be some of the earliest origins of the sit-down strike, even earlier than the Flint sit-down strike of 1936-1937.

The sit-down strike was used frequently by the rubber workers because of a few reasons. The most important reason for the sit-down strike being used is that it does not allow the factory's management to hire scab workers to continue production, because the sitting workers are occupying the space necessary for the work to be done. Another major reason as to why the sit-down strike was frequently used by the rubber workers was due to management's inability to use force in order to get the striking workers out of the way. Factory management would rarely use force to drive out striking employees because of the fear of damaging expensive equipment used in the manufacturing process. These reasons also allowed the sit-down strike to be an effective tool for the workers.

Picket strike of February–March 1936

The large picket strike of February–March 1936 began in the Goodyear Tire factory, and then quickly spread to the rest of the rubber factories in Akron, Ohio.

Late during 1935, the management of the Goodyear plant, which was by far the largest employer of rubber workers in the industry, introduced a plan for the reduction of hourly wages for workers as well as a move from six-hour shifts to eight-hour shifts. [1] [7] The reason for management's plan was to save money on labor. The move to eight-hour shifts from six-hour shifts would cause significant layoffs of around 1,200 workers, because with six-hour shifts, four shifts of workers would be employed compared to three shifts of workers being employed under eight-hour shifts. Eventually, Goodyear's management decided to go back to six-hour shifts because of the displeasure voiced by workers.

During the early stages of 1936, shortly after Goodyear's management decided to go back to the six-hour shifts for its employees, Goodyear was forced to lay off around 700 workers due to decreases in tire sales. [2] This round of layoffs was the final event between management and workers that caused the workers to start the picket strike on February 14, 1936.

Throughout the strike, there were as many as 10,000 workers, which included people from all trades in the city of Akron, that picketed around the many gates to the Goodyear factory. [2] The leaders of the strike were able to maintain strong morale among the striking workers during the strike largely due to the playing of music. [1] There are a couple of known attempts to break the picket strike by using force, the first of which was by the police. The sheriff's force consisted of around 150 deputies as the force approached the striking workers. At the last possible second, the sheriff's force decided against attempting to break up the striking workers due to the number of people that they would be confronting. [2]

The second known attempt to break the strike by using force was by a Law and Order League. This group was financially funded by Goodyear and was managed by a former mayor of Akron. The group consisted of approximately 5,200 members that were fully prepared to attack the striking workers if told to do so. As a way of avoiding a violent confrontation, the Summit County Central Labor Council was able to convince the Law and Order League to not attack the striking workers.

During the time of the picket strike, Goodyear's management and the URW were busy negotiating terms that would allow for the workers to go back to the factories and continue production. Goodyear's management refused to formally sign any agreements between the two sides, causing the negotiation process to potentially take longer than it should have. By the end of the negotiating process, Goodyear had capitulated on many of the major demands by the workers. These demands included layoffs by seniority, six-hour work shifts, and regular meetings between management and union representatives. The workers came away from the strike largely victorious, and their excitement was shown by a march of 5,000 delighted workers throughout the streets of Akron following the announcement that the strike was over.[ citation needed ]

Even though the strike had halted production for about a month, Goodyear had three months of inventory built up prior to the beginning of the strike, so the company did not lose any potential sales revenue by not being able to meet demand. Also, despite the length and size of the strike, no lives were lost and injuries were practically nonexistent. [1]

Related Research Articles

United Mine Workers

The United Mine Workers of America is a North American labor union best known for representing coal miners. Today, the Union also represents health care workers, truck drivers, manufacturing workers and public employees in the United States and Canada. Although its main focus has always been on workers and their rights, the UMW of today also advocates for better roads, schools, and universal health care. By 2014, coal mining had largely shifted to open pit mines in Wyoming, and there were only 60,000 active coal miners. The UMW was left with 35,000 members, of whom 20,000 were coal miners, chiefly in underground mines in Kentucky and West Virginia. However it was responsible for pensions and medical benefits for 40,000 retired miners, and for 50,000 spouses and dependents.

Flint sit-down strike

The 1936–1937 Flint sit-down strike against General Motors changed the United Automobile Workers (UAW) from a collection of isolated locals on the fringes of the industry into a major labor union and led to the unionization of the domestic United States automobile industry.

United Auto Workers Labor union in the United States and Canada

The International Union, United Automobile, Aerospace, and Agricultural Implement Workers of America, better known as the United Auto Workers (UAW), is an American labor union that represents workers in the United States and Canada. It was founded as part of the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) in the 1930s and grew rapidly from 1936 to the 1950s. The union played a major role in the liberal wing of the Democratic Party under the leadership of Walter Reuther. It was known for gaining high wages and pensions for auto workers, but it was unable to unionize auto plants built by foreign-based car makers in the South after the 1970s, and it went into a steady decline in membership; reasons for this included increased automation, decreased use of labor, movements of manufacturing, and increased globalization.

The Communist Party USA and its allies played an important role in the United States labor movement, particularly in the 1930s and 1940s, but never succeeded, with rare exceptions, either in bringing the labor movement around to its agenda of fighting for socialism and full workers' control over industry, or in converting their influence in any particular union into membership gains for the Party. The CP has had only negligible influence in labor since its supporters' defeat in internal union political battles in the aftermath of World War II and the CIO's expulsion of the unions in which they held the most influence in 1950. After the expulsion of the Communists, organized labor in the United States began a steady decline.

American Federation of Labor Labor organization

The American Federation of Labor (AFL) was a national federation of labor unions in the United States founded in Columbus, Ohio, in December 1886 by an alliance of craft unions disaffected from the Knights of Labor, a national labor union. Samuel Gompers of the Cigar Makers' International Union was elected president at its founding convention and reelected every year, except one, until his death in 1924.

Labor history of the United States

The labor history of the United States describes the history of organized labor, US labor law, and more general history of working people, in the United States. Beginning in the 1930s, unions became important components of the Democratic Party. Some historians question why a Labor Party did not emerge in the United States, in contrast to Western Europe.

International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers

The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) is an AFL-CIO/CLC trade union representing approx. 646,933 workers as of 2006 in more than 200 industries with most of its membership in the United States and Canada.

International Ladies Garment Workers Union American labor union

The International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union (ILGWU) was once one of the largest labor unions in the United States, one of the first U.S. unions to have a primarily female membership, and a key player in the labor history of the 1920s and 1930s. The union, generally referred to as the "ILGWU" or the "ILG," merged with the Amalgamated Clothing and Textile Workers Union in the 1990s to form the Union of Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Employees (UNITE). UNITE merged with the Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees Union (HERE) in 2004 to create a new union known as UNITE HERE. The two unions that formed UNITE in 1995 represented 250,000 workers between them, down from the ILGWU's peak membership of 450,000 in 1969.

The Steel Workers Organizing Committee (SWOC) was one of two precursor labor organizations to the United Steelworkers. It was formed by the CIO on June 7, 1936. It disbanded in 1942 to become the United Steel Workers of America.

Amalgamated Association of Iron and Steel Workers

Amalgamated Association of Iron and Steel Workers was an American labor union formed in 1876 to represent iron and steel workers. It partnered with the Steel Workers Organizing Committee and CIO, in November 1935. Both organizations disbanded May 22, 1942, to form a new organization, the United Steelworkers.

Emil Rieve

Emil Rieve was an American labor leader. He was president of the Textile Workers Union of America (TWUA) from 1939 to 1956, a vice president of the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) from 1939 to 1955, and a vice president of the AFL-CIO from 1955 to 1960.

Cyrus S. Ching was a Canadian-American who became an American industrialist, federal civil servant, and noted labor union mediator. He was the first director of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (FMCS) and the Wage Stabilization Board.

Ben Gold

Benjamin Gold (1898–1985) was an American labor leader and Communist Party member who was president of the International Fur and Leather Workers Union (IFLWU) from 1937 to 1955.

Little Steel strike

The Little Steel strike was a 1937 labor strike by the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) and its branch the Steel Workers Organizing Committee (SWOC), against a number of smaller steel producing companies, principally Republic Steel, Inland Steel, and Youngstown Sheet and Tube Company. The strike affected a total of thirty different mills belonging to the three companies, which employed 80,000 workers. The strike, which was one of the most violent labor disputes of the 1930s, ended without the strikers achieving their principal goal, recognition by the companies of the union as the bargaining agent for the workers.

The 1935 Pacific Northwest lumber strike was an industry-wide labor strike organized by the Northwest Council of Sawmill and Timber Workers' Union (STWU). The strike lasted for more than three and a half months and paralyzed much of the lumber industry in Northern California, Oregon and Washington state. Although the striking workers only achieved part of their demands, the repercussions of the long and often violent strike were felt for decades. Over the next several years, a newly radicalized and militant generation of lumber workers would go on to spark several more industry-wide strikes.

1946 Oakland general strike

The Oakland general strike took place on December 3, 1946, in Oakland, California. The strike followed an earlier strike by 400 female employees of Hastings and Kahn's, who had walked out in the fall of 1946 because of the resistance Oakland's retail merchants had to unionization.

International Longshore and Warehouse Union

The International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) is a labor union which primarily represents dock workers on the West Coast of the United States, Hawaii, and in British Columbia, Canada. It also represents hotel workers in Hawaii, cannery workers in Alaska, warehouse workers throughout the West and bookstore workers in Portland, Oregon. The union was established in 1937 after the 1934 West Coast Waterfront Strike, a three-month-long strike that culminated in a four-day general strike in San Francisco, California, and the Bay Area. It disaffiliated from the AFL–CIO on August 30, 2013. In 2014, the San Francisco Chronicle described the ILWU as "the aristocrat of the working class; a top member can earn well over $100,000 a year with excellent benefits", with vacancies receiving thousands or sometimes even tens of thousands of applications. Union officials claim that in the Puget Sound area, such pay numbers are inflated because they do not include "casuals", part-time workers who are not registered ILWU members, do not receive benefits and earn less, with the minimum being $25.71 per hour.

Congress of Industrial Organizations

The Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) was a federation of unions that organized workers in industrial unions in the United States and Canada from 1935 to 1955. Created in 1935 by John L. Lewis, who was a part of the United Mine Workers (UMW), it was originally called the Committee for Industrial Organization but changed its name in 1938 when it broke away from the American Federation of Labor. It also changed names because it was not successful with organizing unskilled workers with the AFL.

Hershey, Pennsylvania witnessed a six-day sit-down strike of workers at the Hershey Chocolate Corporation in 1937. The strike ended in violence, as dairy workers and loyal Hershey employees stormed the factory to force out strikers. Eventually, Hershey Corporation workers signed an agreement with the American Federation of Labor through the Bakery and Confectionery International Union, becoming one of the first American candy companies to unionize.

The Chrysler Auto Strike began in October 1939 in Detroit, Michigan, as a struggle between the Chrysler Auto manufacturer and The International Union, United Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of America, better known as the United Automobile Workers (UAW). The strike began in October 1939 in Detroit, Michigan.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Bernstein, Irving (2010). The Turbulent Years: A History of the American Worker, 1933-1941. Chicago, IL: Haymarket. ISBN   978-1-608460-64-9.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Brecher, Jeremy (2014). Strike!. Oakland, CA: PM Press. ISBN   978-1-60486-428-1.
  3. 1 2 Galenson, Walter (1960). The CIO Challenge to the AFL: A History of the American Labor Movement, 1935-1941 . Cambridge, MA: Harvard UP. ISBN   9780674131507.
  4. ↑ Filippelli, Ronald L. (1990). Labor Conflict in the United States: An Encyclopedia. ISBN   0-8240-7968-X.
  5. ↑ Lewis, Thomas Tandy (2011). The Thirties in America. Salem Press. p. 547. ISBN   978-1-58765-725-2.
  6. ↑ Pederson, Jay P.; Grant, Tina (1998). International directory of company histories. Vol. 20. Detroit, MI: St. James Press. pp. 258–260. ISBN   1-55862-361-2.
  7. ↑ "Akron Rubber Strike of 1936". Ohio History Central. Ohio History Connection. Retrieved February 28, 2016.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.