Author says to pass along picket line culture
It was a classic sit-down strike, but for the first time the strikers were all women working in a variety store, not men in a factory. Within hours the eyes of the nation would be riveted on these young women and their strike. They had, after all, taken on one of the biggest corporate and consumer icons of the century, with two thousand stores in five countries – it was like striking Wal-Mart, the Gap and McDonald’s all at the same time.
—Dana Frank, “Three Strikes”
UC Santa Cruz labor historian Dana Frank shed some light on a well-known strike by Woolworth “counter girls” and bolstered faculty solidarity in the process during her appearance at CCA’s second annual spring conference book club in San Diego.
Frank’s history of the counter girls strike in Depression-era Detroit is featured in “Three Strikes: Miners, Musicians, Salesgirls, and the Fighting Spirit of Labor’s Last Century,” along with works by Robin Kelly on a movie theater musicians strike in the ‘30s and the late Howard Zinn’s report on the Ludlow coal mine massacre in 1914.
Through her historical research and her personal experiences on the picket line during the 2003 strike at Yale University by thousands of janitors, secretaries and graduate teaching assistants, Frank learned some important lessons – that we must not be meek about standing up for ourselves or in passing along union culture.
“There is a rich picket-line culture with food and music and songs,” she said, noting many younger people who have not been exposed to labor issues are unsure of what to do when they protest. “We must make something fun happen on the picket line every day. We don’t have enough cultures of resistance.”
Frank pointed out that the Woolworth counter girls managed to add some fun to their week-long sit-in. They organized themselves into working committees, sang on the stairs, took up knitting and crocheting using store supplies, set up a “Love Booth” where they could make out with their boyfriends, all the while remaining serious about their quest for a living wage.
As labor activists and educators, CCA members can play an important part in passing along the lessons and values of picket-line culture to younger faculty and students. At a time when unions have lost power in the private sector, it’s become even more important that public sector unions remain viable, she said.
“It’s important that public employees have a stake in the private sector,” Frank said, “It isn’t just about ourselves. It’s about everybody.”
In a session following the speech, CCA participants applied the concepts presented by Dana Frank to the faculty union and came up with many ways to strengthen contact with members, including a commitment to do a better job with public relations in promoting CCA’s importance.