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They Won, And They Won Big: The Woolworth Strike of 1937, Part One

© Melissa Corn

For decades, laborers have fought for their rights, especially in the case of living wages. During the Great Depression, American laborers began a new era: The era of the sit-down strike. While the strikers would refuse to work, they would remain on the job so that "scabs" could not be brought in. One of the largest strikes of the time period was in 1937 at the Detroit Woolworth Five and Dime, where a group of 110 women proved their strength to the country by fighting one of the greatest chain-stores of the early 1900s.

Woolworth's was the first five and dime store to become a success and remain on the scene as a popular franchise. Established by Frank W. Woolworth in 1879, the store was a promising aspect to the working class. Shoppers could buy useful items such as combs, pins, lampshades, plates, and candy for the low price of five or ten cents.¹ The stores were designed with brightly colored columns, tidily printed signs, and tray-like counters that were at waist level in order to make shopping more convenient for the customers. Woolworth's was unlike its Price Club heir, and promised more than a warehouse of monstrous boxes. By 1937, there were more than two thousand stores across the country, and the famous five and dime store had leapt across national borders. Woolworth's quickly became the "modernizer," but despite enormous profits for its owners, the price for selling ultra-cheap goods was low wages for the employees.²

Frank Woolworth realized that cheap goods would be cause for low wages, so he had to come up with ways to work around this problem and still obtain a large profit. Firstly, he realized that he could sell all sorts of "novelty goods," such as holiday decorations, along with the useful objects. He also made sure that his stores catered to current fads, with an array of popular beauty items. Secondly, Woolworth became a purchaser of sweat-labor products. In order to maintain cheap costs, he had to purchase large orders of items from workers, often oppresses, in other countries. Thirdly, and most importantly, Woolworth made the duties of his employees very simple. All that the clerks had to do was wrap packages and make change. This formula of deskilled labor is the same one that is used by large chains today, including McDonald's and Circuit City.³

This enabled him to employ those on the lower end of the pay-scale - women - at far lower wages than that of the average clerk. He found that he could hire plenty of young counter girls who had only to look neat and clean (and preferably pretty) and keep the counters organized. Women were easy to hire, as they had very few choices in the labor market, and were less likely to unionize because they only planned on working temporarily (usually until married). Woolworth once stated that "It may look hard to some of you to pay such small wages but there are lots of girls that live at home that are too proud to work in a factory or do housework. They are glad of the chance to get in a store for experience.⁴

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