I first met my Mother-in-law 28 years ago. She was a frail woman, 5’5” in height and 70 years young. By looking at her, you would never imagine her as leading a paramilitary brigade of women in one of the most historical labor union struggles of the 20th Century, the 1936/37 sit down strikes in Flint, Michigan against the largest industrial corporation in the world, General Motors (GM) thereby winning recognition of the United Automobile Workers (UAW) union.
Genora was called “the Joan of Arc of Labor” for her role in the Flint sit-down strikes and was of the five founding members of the UAW. (See photo of Genora Johnson Dollinger.) At the age of 23 she organized the Women’s Auxiliary of the UAW and led its military wing, the Women’s Emergency Brigade. (See photo of Women’s Emergency Brigade bearing clubs.)
On November 17, 1936, the first auto industry sit-down in U.S. history began at Bendix products in South Bend, Indiana. Workers occupied their plant for a week to win recognition of the UAW (Union of Automobile Workers). But the strike which led to the unionization of the mighty General Motors Corporation, and eventually spread to the entire auto industry, occurred on December 30, 1936. Flint Michigan s auto workers staged a sit down strike in their factories.
Within 24 hours city police surrounding the plant and started shooting tear gas inside the plant and at the picketers that had formed in front of the plant. “The police were using rifles, buckshot, fire-bombs, and tear-gas canisters.” (“Striking Flint”, Oral history from Genora Dollinger talking to Susan Rosenthal) (See photo Flint Police bearing arms and photo worker captured by police) The battle raged for hours. People from the city of City came out to witness the struggle.
Union leader, Victor Reuther was shouting out instruction from a sound car. He was attempted to encourage the sit down striker within the plant as well as the picketers on the line in front of the factory. At one crucial point, Victor reported that the batteries in the sound car were running low and state that we may lose this battle but the union would win this war. Genora asked Victor if she could use the speaker. He agreed believing there was nothing to lose. Genora call the police cowards! “I directed my remarks to the women on both sides of the barricades. I said the cops were shooting into the bellies of unarmed men and the mothers of children….I begged the women to break through those lines of cops and come down here and join with us. After that, other women came. The police didn’t want to shoot them in the back. The women poured through and that ended the battle.” (Coming of Age by Studs Terkel pg. 100) (See photo of police with crowd and sound car in background)
The police retreated when the spectators came between the police and the union men. The battle that night was a victory for the union forces. They forced the Flint police to retreat. This battle became known as, “The Battle of Bulls Run”. (The cops were referred to as “bulls”)
After the historic battle of The Battle of Bulls Run, Genora formed The Emergency Brigade to respond to emergency situations. Brigade members armed themselves with clubs. They defended sit-downers from Flint city police who also served the corporation as this was a company town. They also battled GM’s plant police, hired Pinkerton strike-breakers. Even the National Guard was brought in equipped with machine guns. (See 2 photos of National Guard with machine guns)
General Motors spent more than $900,000 during the sit down on their hired protection. (See photo of Flint Police and some of the armament brought to bear strikers) On other occasions during the sit down strike the Brigade Women would use their wooden clubs to break out the plant windows allowing the sit downer fresh air in to alleviate the effects of the tear gas.
Fifteen General Motors plants were on strike across the nation. The sit down strikers were making little or no progress. General Motors entered negotiations a few days after the Battle of Bulls Run but it was a stalling tactic. GM was bargaining in bad faith. Their efforts were to focus on getting a back-to-work movement spearheaded by the antiunion Flint Alliance. General Motors tried ever means at their disposal to stop the picketing and evacuate the plants. Corporate lawyers tried to use the courts to stop the strike. They used this strategy against the Toledo auto strike two years earlier.
It was very difficult to keep strikers moral up. Union personnel were sending out daily bulletins trying to encourage the worker to keep going. A drastic move had to be made as time was running out. (See photo of sit dowers counting the number of days the strike endured)
The union workers knew that if they could take the largest Chevrolet Plant 4, they could break the impasse and win the strike. Plant 4 was the crucial part of the GM complex as it produced all the Chevrolet engines for the entire country and for export as well. If the union workers could stop production in the heavily guarded Plant 4, it would be a crippling blow to General Motors and they could turn the tide and win the strike.
Genora’s husband, Kermit Johnson, was the leader of the strike committee for Chevrolet and worked in Plant 4. He devised an ingenious plan how Plant 4 could be taken by the Union workers. It involved misdirection and leaking of Union misinformation. Plant 6 and Plant 8 are located close to plant 4. If the workers would strike these two plants they could pull strikers from these plants and march them over to plant 4 it could be taken. At a Union meeting they put their plan in action. They let it be known that the union was going to strike Plants 9, knowing full well that there were GM spies in the meeting. The real target, Plant 4 was kept secret.
Plant 4 was heavily guarded by Professional Pinkertons, plant protection and organized vigilantes. It potentially could have been a slaughter unless they were distracted from that area. The strikers needed time to barricade the critical plant 4. Plant 4 employed 4,000 workers, 2,000 on each shift. The doors inside the plant are as large as a house. It would take considerable amount of time to barricade the doors and to weld the openings shut to prevent an attack by the police. So the strikers needed to create a distraction to buy time.
Kermit’s put his plan into action on February 1 during the afternoon shift change. Genora had the Brigade out marching up and down in front of Plant 9. When the police saw the Brigade, they came and formed a line. At one point, the police pulled their revolvers and threatened the union men on the outside because they knew that GM was well prepared to deal with the men inside having been alerted to the strike.
The police immediately began to tear-gas and beat the union men when they started shutting down their machines. Genora heard a window break and saw Tom Klasey, a union man, stick his head out and yelled, “They’re gassing us in here! For God’s sake, they’re gassing us!” (“Striking Flint”, Oral history from Genora Dollinger talking to Susan Rosenthal) Genora and her Emergency Brigade swung into action. They lifted their clubs and smashed the windows to disperse the tear gas. (See photo of union workers against backdrop of broken windows)
The men inside took an awful beating and many were removed to awaiting ambulances. General Motors Police secure in the fact that they squashed that attempted sit down in Plant 9. The misdirection was working; the real target was Plant 4 half a mile down the street. Genora dismissed the Brigade at Plant 9 and sent them back to headquarters. She and five lieutenants left immediately for Plant 4.
When they arrived they saw the strikers engaged in fierce fights. Union men were throwing out the scabs and foremen. The strikers called out to Genora, “Hold that gate. Hold it; don’t let the police come through here!” (“Striking Flint”, Oral history from Genora Dollinger talking to Susan Rosenthal) Genora and her lieutenants strung themselves across the gate entrance. Flint police down soon arrived on the scene. They wanted to push the women aside and gain entrance to Plant 4. The Brigade women said, “Over our dead bodies.” (The Great Sit Down Documentary BBC films) The Brigade women reason with the police - in Flint the policemen had uncles or fathers or brothers who were factory workers, too. The women asked them, “What would you think if your wife was out here with us and you were in that damn plant? What would you think? Wouldn’t you expect your wife to defend you and fight for better conditions for you?” They responded to tell the women, “Well, you know, if we didn’t have General Motors, what would we do in Flint? This is what feeds the people of Flint.” (With Babies and Banners – Documentary nominated for Academy Award by Sarah Pillsbury)The Brigade women got them to procrastinate by engaging in these discussions.
Just as the police were ready to move in on the Plant, Genora saw the whole Emergency Brigade marching towards her, singing “Solidarity Forever” and “Hold the Fort.” (Coming of Age by Studs Terkel pg. 101)
(See photo of Brigade arriving carrying American flag.) When they arrived, Genora climbed into the sound car which came from the other direction and instructed the women to lock arms and set up an oval picket line to prevent the police from entering the plant until it could be secured.
Genora was instrumental in overcoming the opposition of those who initially rejected her husband’s plan for capturing Chevrolet Plant 4. The successful occupation of Plant 4, which joined the occupations at Fisher 1 and 2, marked a decisive turning point in the history of the American labor movement. It broke the resistance of General Motors and negotiations began in Detroit. “On February 11, 1937, a historic agreement was reached by the UAW and the General Motors Corporation. The settlement, set out on a single sheet of page, gave the union recognition as the bargaining agency for its members.” (Not Automatic by Sol Dollinger and Genora Johnson Dollinger pg. 30)
(See photo of workers reading a newspaper announcing end of strike)GM signed a peace agreement recognizing the UAW as representative for the auto workers. And on March 12 the first labor contract was signed. The largest corporation in the world was forced to sign a contract with an industrial union representing all its workers. The victory of GM workers led to a wave of industrial organizing that revolutionized relations between capital and labor in the United States.Additional Source Material:
Not Automatic by Sol Dollinger and Genora Johnson Dollinger, Monthly Review Press New York, published 2000
Coming of Age by Studs Terkel, The New Press, New York 1995
Child of the Sit-Downs: The Revolutionary Life of Genora Dollinger, by Carlton Jackson, Ken State University Press, Kent, Ohio 2008
“Striking Flint”, Oral history from Genora Dollinger talking to Susan Rosenthal, Haymarket Books, Chicago, IL 1995
“With Babies and Banners: Story of the Women’s Emergency Brigade” – Documentary nominated for Academy Award by Sarah Pillsbury 1976
“The Great Sit Down” – Documentary - BBC films - 1979
Genora & Sol Dollinger Collection - Walter P. Reuther Library by Sherna Gluck - Wayne State University - 1976
UCLA - Living History archives
The Michigan’s Women’s Historical Center - Hall of Fame – Genora (Johnson) Dollinger
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