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At any rate, when a sit-down strike broke out in Flint, Michigan, in February 1937, it was regarded as a new and unique situation, and, indeed, it was a very troublesome and trying one, but very effective. To this day I do not know whether it caused enough ill will from the point of view of the union to counterbalance the gains that they made as a result of their contracts afterwards, or not. That, I suppose, I never shall know, because there's no way you can measure ill will.
As a matter of fact, these automobile strikes, no matter how they began, did have an ending, within several months, in which the workers gained a recognition of the fact that they had a right to organize, and gained the opportunity to deal with their employers through an organized representative committee. They made some other minor adjustments in wages and working conditions, but those were regarded, both by the workers, by the community, and by the industry, as being of the lesser
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