February 1 Flint Sit Down Strike Expands

On this day in labor history, the year was 1937.

That day marked a pivotal moment in the continuing Flint sit-down strike.

The nationwide strike against GM started in Flint in late December.

By late January, UAW organizers agreed that nearby Chevrolet Engine Plant #4 had to be shut down.

It was a massive facility.

It employed 4000 workers on two shifts

The plant superintendant had been firing union activists.

Armed guards patrolled every inch of the facility to prevent a sit-down.

Union organizers knew there were company spies in their ranks.

They planned the takeover by staging distracting job actions at nearby Chevrolet plants #9 and then #6.

This would draw the guards away from plant #4.

And so, on this day, just as the day shift was ending, workers sat down at Chevy plant #9.

The company guards were ready to launch an attack.

They began beating and gassing the sit-downers.

The Women’s Emergency Brigade smashed plant windows to dissipate the gas.

The diversion worked. Guards left Chevy #4 unattended.

Workers there turned off all the machines and barricaded themselves in.

The plant guards tried to reenter and were met with pistons, connector rods and fire hoses.

The Women’s Emergency Brigade gathered outside the plant and locked arms.

UAW organizer Joe Sayen announced, “We want the whole world to understand what we are fighting for. We are fighting for freedom and life and liberty. This is our one great opportunity. What if we should be defeated? What if we should be killed? We have only one life. That’s all we can lose and we might as well die like heroes than like slaves.”