A crowd of 400 Motor City labor activists gathered at the IBEW Hall in Detroit on February 9, including the presidents of the Michigan AFL-CIO State Federation and of the Greater Detroit Labor Council. Members of the United Auto Workers (UAW), Steelworkers (USW), International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW), AFSCME, Musicians (AFM), American Federation of Teachers (AFT) and the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) participated. This was the ninth stop on the two-week Republic Workers’ Victory Tour. The event was organized by the Southeast Michigan chapter of Jobs with Justice.
UE Local 1110 President Armando Robles told the assembled workers that his local was just like many of their local unions. They often fight amongst themselves but are capable of coming together to fight the boss when conditions require it. He talked about the strategy and steps that led to the occupation, noting that plans were made in advance and the decision was approved by democratic vote of the membership. He said UE Local 1110 wants to share its victory with workers all across the country.
Robles also acknowledged that the Republic workers stood on the shoulders of union fighters who came before them, including those who conducted the dramatic General Motors sitdown strike of 1937 in Flint, Michigan, which provided the breakthrough and established national bargaining for the UAW. Two veterans of the Flint sitdown strike, both in their 90s, were present at the event, and were presented with Sitdowner Pioneer Awards by the UE's Armando Robles and Bob Kingsley.
Olen Ham recounted details of that 44-day struggle, in which workers occupied several key GM production buildings, and endured police and National Guard intervention, and teargas canisters lobbed into the buildings – which forcing the workers to open the windows to the frigid winter air. Their determination overcame the intransigence of GM, which the workers finally forced to recognize the union and negotiate a contract. The other Flint veteran present was Geraldine Blankenship; she and other members of the Women's Emergency Brigade played a central role in the Flint struggle and historic victory.
UE Director of Organization Bob Kingsley thanked Detroiters for their support during the Republic sit-in. "This fight is not won if there aren't demonstrations in Detroit, in New York, in Boston, in Austin, in Charlotte, where the Bank of America has its national headquarters, and in San Francisco, where demonstrators were eventually hauled off in handcuffs. Brothers and Sisters, it was a wonderful thing to see the labor movement acting like a movement during the struggle at Republic." He said that the lesson of the Republic struggle is that, "The combination of bold, aggressive action, union democracy and labor solidarity is a winning combination, even in these difficult economic times... Real change – change that benefits American workers, not bankers and CEOs – must be driven from the bottom up by collective action and collective protest, by more resistance."
A video compilation on the Republic sit-in was shown, which had been prepared by UE Eastern Region President Andrew Dinkelaker. The UE presentation was interrupted repeatedly by loud, sustained, often standing applause. The event included a musical performances by Motown legend, and now Detroit City Council member, Martha Reeves, who got the aging labor activists onto their feet with her hit "Dancing in the Streets. The cast of the opera Sit Down also performed, singing the 1930s CIO song "Sit Down."
Earlier in the day Kingsley and Robles spoke at a meeting of local union leaders at a Steelworkers hall, including leaders of one local facing a plant closing and another where 1,700 of 1,800 members were on layoff.
The following evening – Feb. 10 – the tour continued at the Teamsters Local 407 Hall in Cleveland, and from there the victory tour goes on to Erie, PA; Buffalo; Pittsburgh; Raleigh; and Charleston, WV.