Dodge Wildcat Strike - DRUM Forms (1968)
Thu May 02, 1968
Image: Dodge Revolutionary Union Movement Flier, 1969. Its text reads "strike your blow against racism do your part no work today blackworkers strike Only Racist Honkies & Uncle Toms Traitors Work Today Rally to be Held Today 13305 Dexter at Davison up stairs refreshments". From Walter P. Reuther Library, Archives of Labor and Urban Affairs, Wayne State University. [blackpast.org]
On this day in 1968, 4,000 black and white workers at a Dodge plant in Hamtramck, Michigan went on a wildcat strike to protest working conditions, leading to the formation of the Dodge Revolutionary Union Movement (DRUM).
The strike began as a multi-racial protest against working conditions and a speedup in the production lines. Punishment for the strike fell disproportionately on black workers, with five of the seven fired workers being black despite whites participating in the labor action.
In response to this and discrimination within the plant - black workers were kept in the lowest-paying and most dangerous jobs, passed over for promotion, and the United Auto Workers union (UAW) would not help them combat discrimination - DRUM was formed to organize the black workers at the company.
In July, DRUM called for another shutdown of the plant and, this time, more than 3,000 black workers participated in the strike, keeping it closed for over two days. Their success inspired the formation of other Revolutionary Union Movements in other Michigan auto plants and industries, such as FRUM (Ford), CADRUM (GM's Cadillac plant), and GRUM (the larger GM caucus), healthcare workers (HRUM), and UPS workers (UPRUM).
From these organizations, seven activists organized the various -RUMs into one umbrella organization with a socialist bent - the League of Revolutionary Black Workers (LRBW). The LRBW sought to transform the UAW from within, eventually compelling the UAW to hire black people into leadership positions.
- Date: 1968-05-02
- Learn More: www.blackpast.org, projects.lib.wayne.edu.
- Tags: #Labor, #Protests.
- Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org
refreshments