How can unionized workers and unemployed workers stand together?
Perhaps we can look to the past for examples of the power of such solidarity.
On this day in Labor History the year was 1934.
It was the height of the Great Depression.
That April workers who were part of the American Federation of Labor had gone out in strike against the Electric Auto-lite plant in Toledo, Ohio.
Given the desperate economic times, only about half of the workers participated in the strike, and it seemed likely to fail.
But then the Lucas County Unemployment League joined the effort.
An injunction had ruled that only twenty-five people could picket at a time.
The unemployed league ignored the injunction, and crowded the picket lines.
On May 21, they called a meeting of 1,000 workers at the plants gates.
With each passing day the protests grew.
They protested against the company and against the scabs who were brought in to break the strike.
Finally, today in labor history, the sheriff decided to turn back the picketers.
He marched on the protesting workers with men paid for by the National Guard.
They let loose fire hoses and tear gas on the crowd.
The picketers responded by throwing bricks and stones through the factory windows.
The next day the 900 National Guard troops marched on the picketers.
They fired their weapons into the unarmed crowd killing two and wounding many more.
Across Toledo unions pledged to join a general strike.
The company capitulated, granting a twenty-two percent raise and union recognition for the workers.
In 2001, a memorial honoring the strikers was commemorated in Toledo’s Union Memorial Park.
Two bronze strikers, one male and one female stand on opposite ends of a low wall.
On the wall the words inscribed read “Increased Wages,” and “Improved Conditions.”
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Labor History in 2:00 brought to you by the Illinois Labor History Society and The Rick Smith Show