Lansing's Labor Holiday

Following Flint's example, Lansing Amalgamated United Auto Workers Local 182 concluded a successful sit-down strike at Reo in April 1937. A subsequent effort to organize Capital City Wrecking Company resulted in the firing of workers, picket lines, and an injunction. When union president Lester Washburn ignored the injunction, Sheriff Allan MacDonald came to arrest him at 2:00 A.M. Washburn was not home, so the sheriff arrested his wife and took her to jail, leaving their three children with a neighbor girl. When morning came, 2,000-5,000 people took to the streets in support of the union.

Lansing, Michigan · United States