Know your History: The Birth of the Modern Labor Movement

December 28, 2012: At the end of December in 1936 -- exactly 76 years ago -- brave unionists took over the mother-plants of General Motors, the largest corporation in the world, in sit down strikes which within months would win a contract, and help launch the modern labor movement.  

It was four years after militant Teamsters in Minneapolis invented their own tactics of "flying picket squads" to follow trucks and make Minneapolis a union town. And they did so with zero support from the International Union, which opposed their efforts and strike and even tried to kick these courageous leaders out of the union.

Read more about the sit-down strikes here.

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