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Autolite Strike 1934 Essay Research Paper Strikes

Autolite Strike 1934 Essay, Research Paper


Strikes were common place in the early 1930 s in all industrial and


manufacturing corporations. They were used to win power away from the


corporate giants, and put it in the hands of the working class. Labor used


strikes for a variety of reasons, some for higher wages, some for working


conditions, some for safety on the job, and still others for recognition.


In a book entitled, I Remember Like Today: The Auto-Lite Strike of


1934 Philip A. Korth and Margaret R. Beegle compile an oral history


account of this fight for the rights of the working class. To gain the


knowledge acquired for this book, the authors searched high and low to


find the living survivors of this turning point for organized labor in


Toledo. After discovering the individuals who could help, the investigators


interviewed and then recorded the men and women s accounts of the


strike. Then they transcribed the interviews verbatim. This method


provides for a more personal approach to learning what had happened in


the strike. It allows the reader to see what actually happen through the


eyes of the ones involved.


The book is a collection statements, stories, and feelings of the men


and women involved in the strike. Each individual tells their story based on


headings, and that is what complied the chapters. In this method, the


reader gets to hear all sides of the story because Korth and Beegle get


some who were union supports, union organizers, some who were strike


breakers, management. Certainly no critic can say, this book only tells one


side of the story.


All of the forth-coming events, activities, and problems took place in


Toledo, Ohio at the Electric Auto-Lite Company. The Electric Auto-Lite


Company was a part of the automotive assembly industry. It used mainly


unskilled workers to operate the machinery, and the machinery was that


which possessed the skill.


There were two separate strikes at Auto-Lite. The first was used to


force the company into recognizing the union; that was the first step


towards collective bargaining recognition. It stared on February 23,


lasted only four days, and resulted in the reinstatement of the 15 workers


who walked out, and an agreement. The workers won the battle but that


was a long way from winning the war. Auto-Lite gave the union a 30-day


contract, which basically stated the company would recognize the union for


thirty days, but even in that thirty days the company refused to recognize


the union as a bargaining representative of the workers. When this thirty


days reached its conclusion, the union was no better off then when it


started. In fact in those thirty days the company was preparing itself for a


strike. They started mass hiring new workers, so they could keep running


the company if the labor walked out.


The second strike began on April 13, and consisted of some 400


Auto-Lite workers. The strike seemingly divided the work force equally, as


many went in as picketed. Then on May 3, a court injunction restricted the


number of picketers at one time to a minuscule twenty-five. This rallied the


surrounding men and women in the area to unite and break this injunction


that limited all of their freedom. On May 21, 22, and 23 more then 6,000


men and women united in front of Auto-Lite to hear speakers and to


protest the company, along with protesting the court injunction.


This is when the real trouble started for the company and the


picketers. On May 23, A young women by the name of Alma Hand was


stuck by a steel bracket which caused a riot among the crowd, and which


initiated a raid on the building. The deputies fired tear gas at the would be


invaders to stop them from storming the facility. That night a raging crowd


refused to allow the scabs off the premises. After this episode, the Ohio

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National Guard was called in to restore the peace. These guardsmen only


worsened the situation. On the next day, May 24, they charged the crowd


wounding 12, then firing their rifles and killing one, then later that same


day, they fired once again wounding two more picketers. By the 26th of


May, with demands that the plant be closed and the Guard withdraw,


another tragic confrontation occurred. The crowd attacked the Guard, 200


were injured and 50 were arrested.


The plant remained closed for the following week and did not reopen


until June 5. At this point, the strikers had emerged victorious. After all the


hardships, injuries, and deaths, the union had been established and


recognized. This was a shallow victory at first due to a number of


circumstances. First of all, the old workers who remained at work


throughout the strike had preference during the rehiring process.


Secondly, betrayers who associated themselves with management formed


their own bargaining organization called the Auto-Lite Council. This


organization acquired for them preference in rehiring.


The Auto-Lite Council soon diminished in numbers, while Local


18384 was increasing dramatically. This was due to the realization that


the strikers were the ones who had won them collective bargaining, not the


Auto-Lite Council. Therefore, their loyalties lied with the organization that


had created the situation in which they had more power, respect, and


better working conditions.


The Auto-Lite strike is a perfect example of how the labor movement


has advanced. The first strike only involved a mediocre 15 men. The


second strike reached out to about 50% of the work force. The men and


women of Auto-Lite had embraced their union and made it their own.


This represents the labor movement because at the start only about


3 million workers were unionized. At the pinnacle of the movement nearly


50% of the work force was organized, the number was in excess of 10


million individuals. Workers saw how the union could help them. They


saw solidarity and unity, which when combined produced a force to be


reckoned with. The union provided for higher wages, more benefits, and


better working conditions. This idea is what attracted more members and


this belief is what united the men and women at Auto-Lite.


The strike also represents the risks and hardships accepted by the


organizers who take on the challenge of forming a union. The 15 who


went out in the first Auto-Lite strike took the chance of losing their jobs and


hampering their families welfare to form a union just to help every worker


in the plant. The men also accepted that they were going to lose their jobs


and would have to fight for reinstatement. But all the risks taken, and all


the brief hardships felt were well worth it considering the ends. Their union


was recognized. Not to the extent they wished, but nonetheless they won


recognition, which catapulted them to eventual complete victory.


This result was not always the case. In some strikes the union failed


and the workers lost big. To the credit of the workers, their supporters,


and their organizers the men and women of Auto-Lite were triumphant and


won the fight of all fights; to gain respect, power, and recognition.


This event was the turning point in labor relations in the city of


Toledo. It gave confindence and self worth to the working class, and


stripped the company management of their unimpeded omnipotence. The


Auto-Lite Strike of 1934 changed the entire way that company operations


were run, and for that, those who work in Toledo should be applauded, and


recognized for the achievements they accomplished.


Bibliography


Korth, Philip A. and Margaret R. Beegle. I Remember Like Today: The Auto-Lite Strike of 1934. East Lansing Michigan: Michigan State University Press. 1988


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