(Here is the latest Times coverage of the United Auto Workers strike that began this morning.)
But history shows that the potential for a strike, and sometimes the reality of one, is necessary for workers to receive healthy raises and ensure good working conditions.
The decades after World War II are rightly remembered as a time when the American middle class was expanding rapidly.
In the 12 months after World War II ended, almost five million Americans, or roughly 10 percent of the work force, went on strike, including autoworkers, film crews in Hollywood, steel workers, coal miners and meatpackers.
During the 1950s — a supposedly conformist decade — more than 1.5 million workers went on strike every year on average.
Organizations:
United Auto Workers
Locations:
American, Hollywood