The workers, members of the tiny United Automobile Workers union founded just a year prior, sought to improve brutal working conditions at mighty General Motors, the world’s largest manufacturer. The UAW’s sit-down strike across GM plants lasted 44 days. The UAW is calling its new strategy a “stand up strike,” a reference to the sit-down strike that started 87 years ago, and has launched targeted strikes at selected plants. Sit-down strikes had been spreading in Europe at the time, and UAW workers were inspired by those efforts. But non-unionized foreign and domestic competition has undercut the US auto industry and eroded UAW jobs and benefits in recent years.

Source: CNN September 17, 2023 07:59 UTC