SIT-DOWN MONUMENT UNVEILED

FLINT JOURNAL – FIRST EDITION – TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 2003

By Todd Seibt – Journal Business Writer

Flint – Under lead-gray skies and a spit or two of rain, the UAW celebrated its most colorful victory on Monday as about 1,000 union members, leaders and politicians dedicated a new monument to the Sit-Down Strike of 1936-37.

The crowd boasted a “who’s who” of local labor and political dignitaries, as well as plenty of rank-and-file union members. While hundreds of chairs had been set up under a huge tent, others packed themselves four and five deep around the edges of the nearly finished monument.

Seated on or near the podium were the handfuls of surviving sit-down strikers, their spouses and immediate family members.

“The monument is breathtaking,” said Geraldine Blankinship-Crawford, 83, of Flint Township. “They look like people that could be sitting in the plant,” she said.

Her father was very active in the strike, as was her sister, Louise. Blankinship-Crawford helped with pickets and the Women’s Emergency Brigade.

The fact that the sculptures are life-size makes it especially interesting and engaging, she said.

Union and political leaders praised the sit-down strikers for their courage and noted the UAW’s work is far from done.

“The UAW now has a monument, a fitting tribute, to the brave and bold sit-downers,” UAW President Ron Gettelfinger said in a speech that was interrupted numerous times by applause. “I refer to the sit-downers as our heroes because that is what they are. What they showed the world was that ordinary workers can accomplish extraordinary things.”

The Sit-Down Strike, which lasted 44 days, resulted in a one-page agreement that led General Motors to recognize and negotiate with the UAW on behalf of union members. The monument is located behind UAW Region 1-C’s headquarters at 1940 W. Atherton Road.

Gettelfinger and others noted that the UAW is negotiating new national contracts with three automakers – contracts that span hundreds of pages and include a wealth of wage and benefit provisions.

Lt. Governor John Cherry, who with Gettelfinger and U.S. Rep. Dale E. Kildee (D-Flint) helped raise the first flags over the monument, said the sit-down strikers won new rights for all workers.

“It was the classic David vs Goliath fight – and David won,” Cherry said. “Not just in this town but across this state and across this nation. It was the event that brought millions of Americans into the middle class.”

Kildee said all of America owes a debt to the strikers.

“We have more justice because of those sit-downers, we have better health because of those sit-downers, we have better homes, we have better lives, because they had the courage to do what they did,” Kildee said.

The $450,000 monument, sculpted by Detroit-area artist Janice Trimpe, includes six life-sized figures.

Four are sitting on car seats, just as the original sit-down strikers were. One man leans against the granite fascia of the monument and a woman in a beret, representative of the Women’s Emergency Brigade is approaching the workers. They wear clothes, hats and shoes typical of the times.

“I never got to see them all shined up,” a beaming Trimpe said as she stood near the monument. Although she created the sculptures and helped with their installation last week, she had not yet seen them cleaned of wax and polished until Monday.

The granite base is engraved with the first, one-page pact between GM and the union, as well as the names of past directors of UAW Region 1-C. The base includes an eternal flame, lit Monday by widows of two strikers.

On walkways leading to the monument, brick pavers are engraved with the names of union supporters and strikers.

The chairmen of the monument committee – Mark Hawkins of UAW Local 598 and Steve Dawes, of UAW Local 651 – announced plans to surround the monument with a $3.5 million labor history and learning museum. The uniquely shaped building will include a glass dome in the center that will allow light to shine down on the monument once it is enclosed.

The facility will be paid for with grants and donations, the men said. An architectural model of the training center and museum was presented to Region 1-C Director Bob Roth.

The monument replaces a dilapidated memorial that was located along the Flint River downtown and has since been razed.

In many ways, the monument represents the union’s status today, Gettelfinger said: Much work has been done, but much is left to finish.

“This monument cannot just represent the past. It must also represent the future,” he said. “We want safe jobs, We continue to look for a standard of living that keeps us up with the times,” he said.

And that includes making GM stick to its pension and health care promises, as well as making sure future generations have good-paying jobs in the auto industry, he said.