General-Motors

GM Plant Stops Using Flint Water After It Corrodes Car Parts—But Residents Must Keep Drinking It

| Importance: 9/10

General Motors’ engine plant in Flint stops using city water after discovering it is corroding engine parts, switching to Lake Huron water from a neighboring township at an anticipated cost to the city of $400,000. GM reports that the super-high levels of chloride in Flint River water are …

General Motors Darnell Earley Flint City Government flint-water-crisis environmental-racism corporate-accountability general-motors
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General Motors Capitulates to UAW After 44-Day Flint Sit-Down Strike, Recognizing Union in Historic Labor Victory

| Importance: 10/10

On February 11, 1937, General Motors—the world’s largest industrial corporation—capitulates to the UAW after 44 days of sit-down strikes, signing a one-page agreement that recognizes the United Auto Workers as exclusive bargaining representative for union members for six months and …

United Auto Workers General Motors Alfred Sloan Jr. William Knudsen Fisher Body workers +2 more labor-rights strikes sit-down-strikes uaw general-motors +2 more
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Battle of the Running Bulls - Flint Police and GM Security Forces Attack Sit-Down Strikers with Tear Gas and Gunfire

| Importance: 8/10

On January 11, 1937, Flint police and General Motors security forces launch a violent assault on UAW strikers occupying Fisher Body Plant Number 2, attacking with tear gas canisters and live ammunition in an attempt to break the 12-day sit-down strike. The “Battle of the Running …

United Auto Workers Flint Police Department General Motors security forces Fisher Body Plant 2 strikers Bob Travis +2 more labor-rights police-violence strikes sit-down-strikes uaw +2 more
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UAW Autoworkers Launch Historic Flint Sit-Down Strike Against General Motors, Occupying Fisher Body Plants

| Importance: 9/10

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 …

United Auto Workers General Motors Fisher Body workers Bob Travis Walter Reuther +4 more labor-rights strikes sit-down-strikes uaw general-motors +2 more
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