UAW Autoworkers Launch Historic Flint Sit-Down Strike Against General Motors, Occupying Fisher Body Plants

At 8:00 p.m. on December 30, 1936, UAW autoworkers occupy General Motors Fisher Body Plant Number One in Flint, Michigan, launching one of the most significant labor actions in American history—a 44-day sit-down strike that transforms the fledgling United Auto Workers from a collection of isolated local unions into a major industrial force. The occupation begins when UAW lead organizer Bob Travis learns that GM plans to move critical stamping dies out of Fisher Body Plant #1, immediately calling a lunchtime meeting at the union hall and sending workers across the street to occupy the facility. The Flint action follows smaller sit-down strikes at Fisher Body plants in Atlanta (November 16), Kansas City (December 16), and Cleveland (December 28), as UAW leadership implements a coordinated strategy inspired by European sit-down tactics to challenge the world’s largest industrial corporation.

Workers demand UAW recognition as sole bargaining agent for GM employees, cessation of work transfers to non-union plants, establishment of fair minimum wage scales and grievance procedures, and protections against assembly-line injuries. The sit-down tactic—where workers occupy plants rather than picketing outside—prevents GM from using strikebreakers or moving production, giving workers unprecedented leverage despite their lack of financial resources to sustain a traditional walkout. GM workers in 1935 averaged $900 annually while the federal government determined a family of four required $1,600 minimum, and faced brutal working conditions under corporate surveillance that cost GM $839,000 for detective work in 1934 alone. The newly-formed UAW (first convention 1936) recognizes it cannot survive organizing small plants piecemeal, instead targeting GM’s most valuable Flint facilities as the leverage point to transform the entire industry.

The strike spreads to additional Fisher Body plants as workers coordinate occupations across GM’s production network, idling 136,000 GM workers and halting production of 280,000 cars during the 44-day action. Michigan Governor Frank Murphy mobilizes the National Guard not to evict strikers but to protect them from police and corporate strikebreakers—a crucial intervention after the January 11, 1937 “Battle of the Running Bulls” where Flint police assault Fisher Body Plant #2 with tear gas and firearms, wounding 16 strikers (13 seriously) before workers drive them off with fire hoses and hurled auto parts. The Flint sit-down strike becomes known as “the strike heard round the world” and “the most important strike in American history,” ultimately forcing GM to recognize the UAW and leading to explosive union growth from 30,000 to 500,000 members within one year as the entire automobile industry rapidly unionizes.