WW2 Tank Factory

[Lowell]

It’s a largely untold story that the World War II years in Detroit were filled with strikes. Labor had new strength in those days, and if the companies were going to make big profits off the war workers wanted their share.

Not all the strikes were economic such as when racists at the Packard plant led a wildcat strike when African-American workers were permitted to work what was considered a “white” job. This proceeded and likely precipitated the 1943 race riot. That did more damage to the war effort than any strike by far.

^ where was that tank factory built?

Interesting how April of that year as Chrysler was coming online to support the war effort,85,000 Ford employees walked off the job.

They leverage a world in turmoil to demand more money.

When they say there was a time the county became United for a common cause,it has never really happened.

[Henry Whalley]

It’s a largely untold story that the World War II years in Detroit were filled with strikes. Labor had new strength in those days, and if the companies were going to make big profits off the war workers wanted their share.

You may be correct about wildcat strikes, Lowell. But I've read that the policy at Solidarity House was zero called strikes during the war.

Steve Babson's book is a reliable source IMHO. I'll double-check there. When did the Packard workforce unionize?

[Henry Whalley]

You may be correct about wildcat strikes, Lowell.

1943-Packard-Motor-Company-strike.pdf [[motorcities.org)