Transcript

The Long-Fought Battle of the Strutwear Knitters · MN90: Minnesota History in 90 Seconds

Welcome to MN90: Minnesota History in 90 Seconds. It was the summer of 1935, and tensions were high in Minneapolis. The city had just witnessed two major labor strikes – including the Teamsters Strike, in which the police had clashed violently with picketers. And now, the city was staring down a third labor strike as the workers of the Strutwear Knitting Company voted to unionize. Most of Strutwear’s workers were women and underpaid. Labor organizers called Strutwear a sweatshop. Strutwear claimed that outsider agitators were whipping up discontent. Strutwear put pressure on Thomas Latimer, the Mayor of Minneapolis, to quell the strike. As a major employer and taxpayer in the city, Strutwear threatened to leave Minnesota if Latimer didn’t do something. Latimer sent the police to the factory to confront picketers. Minnesota Governor Floyd B. Olson stepped in on the side of the workers. He sent national guard troops in to help workers keep the factory closed. The strike lasted for a year and negotiations continued after that. By the end, all of the workers at Strutwear unionized. MN90 is produced by AMPERS, diverse radio for Minnesota's communities, made possible by funding from the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund. Online at MN90.org.