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

For over a decade, Woolworth's counter girls quietly accepted their positions and low wages. "We cannot afford to pay good wages and sell goods as we do now," Woolworth maintained, "and our clerks ought to know it."⁵ However, the attitudes of laborers in the midst of the Great Depression were beginning to evolve. The first sign of a new labor era came in December 1936, when the United Auto Workers (UAW) that manufactured brakes at the Kelsey-Hayes plant in Detroit won a sit-down strike. Then, anything became possible after the UAW went on to bring General Motors, the greatest of corporations, to its knees after they gave in to their strike demands. The strikes and victories continued, and every day the women employees at the main Woolworth's department store in Detroit observed these events with hope, and decided that it was time that they fought for their own rights.⁶

The Woolworth girls had much to fight for. They created a list of demands: They would occupy the store and refuse to work until they were granted union recognition, a ten-cent an hour raise (as they were only making a mere twenty-five cents an hour); an eight-hour workday; overtime pay after forty-eight hours a week; fifty-cent lunches for the soda fountain workers; free uniforms along with free laundering (laundry came out of their pockets); seniority rights; new employees hired only through the union offices; and finally, no discrimination against the strikers once the strike ended. With their goals in mind, the counter girls arrived at Woolworth's the morning of February 27, 1937 ready for a sit-in. The girls were not alone, however, as they had help from higher powers.⁷

Before the strike began, the Woolworth girls took their list of demands to the waiters' and waitresses' union (Local 705 of the Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees' International Union, otherwise known as HERE) in hopes that they could be of assistance. Having the assistance of this organization made the strike more legitimate, and it helped the women with "complex logistical details" such as organizing meals and sleeping plans with only a few hours' notice. Due to prior experience, members of Local 705 played crucial roles in the Woolworth strike, particularly three distinct members that became actively involved. The man in charge was Louis Koenig, the secretary-treasurer of the Local. The second member, Mira Komaroff, was a staff member that had started in the union as a

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