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Dollinger, Genora (Johnson) (audio interview #8 of 8)
INTERVIEW DESCRIPTION - This is the eighth and final interview with Genora Dollinger conducted, as usual, in the sunny den room of her home. There was nothing particularly remarkable about the process of the interview, except that Dollinger seemed relieved that we were finishing up the oral history. 4/28/1977
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- SUBJECT BIO - Genora Johnson Dollinger is best known for her role in forming the Women's Emergency Brigade (of the UAW) during the Flint strike, 1936-7. Born to a relatively prominent and affluent family in Flint, Dollinger developed a heightened sense of women's subjugation as a result of her father's treatment of both his wife and daughters. She became interested in socialism through discussions with Carl Johnson, the father of her future husband, auto worker Kermit Johnson. She married Kermit Johnson over her parents objections, and they had two sons, both of whom were later killed in a car accident. Together with her husband and father-in-law, Dolliinger helped to build the Socialist Party (SP) in Flint, which became one of the organizing avenues for the 1936 strike. After the strike began, frustrated with the traditional roles to which she was initially relegated, Dollinger formed the Women's Emergency Brigade, a militant group of women popularized in the documentary, With Babies and Banners. Dollinger remained active in the UAW following the strike. Later, during the war, and after her marriage to Sol Dollinger, she went to work in Detroit at Briggs Manufacturing. She was badly beaten later, in the postwar years, during the vicious anti-union campaign organized by the manufacturers. While still in Michigan, she became active in the Socialist Workers Party (SWP), worked for the ACLU, and continued to be involved in the UAW. The Dollingers moved to Los Angeles in 1967, when her third son was fourteen years old. Despite her growing health problems, she remained active in a host of liberal and progressive causes and heaped to form the Community Advisory Councils of the LA Unified School District. In 1977, on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the Flint strike, Dollinger returned to Michigan and, despite her health problems, led a protest against the slighting of women's role in the strike. After her death in 1995, Sol Dollinger published their jointly authored book, Not Automatic: Women and the Left in the Forging of the Auto Workers Union (Monthly Review Press, 2000), which includes an oral history of Genora by Susan Rosenthal. TOPICS - line stewards of Department 15; women's attendance at Local meetings; sexual harassment and sexism; work force demographics; structure of steward system and grievance procedures in Local 212; women's attitudes towards the union; UAW campaign against no-strike pledge; wildcat strikes; vice chairman of chief stewards body; public speaking teaching; 1945 retooling and demobilization; firing local leaders; UAW Rank and File Committee to Revoke No-Strike Pledge; Greater Flint Industrial Union Council; and support of no-strike pledge by CP;demobilization and retooling of Detroit plants; postwar layoffs; walk outs; anti-union campaigns; postwar glamorization of housewives and domesticity; beatings of Dollinger and UAW leaders, including Reuther brothers; investigative committee established in Local 212 to investigate beatings; beatings linked to Mafia; termination from Briggs, August 1945; mayoral campaign of UAW candidate Dick Frankenstein and running city council candidates to combat anti-union forces; UAW demands for thirty percent wage increase; Charles Wilson's and GM's call for forty-eight-hour work week and minute wage increase; and work in cotton factory;
- *** File: lhgdollinger24.mp3 Audio Segments and Topics: (0:00-2:51)... Some of the material covered in previous interviews is discussed, and a chronology and outline for this last interview is established. This will include a discussion of the period that Dollinger worked at Briggs Manufacturing, when she was s chief steward, and the participation of women in union activities during that period. (2:51-9:31)... Most of the women in Department 15 at Briggs, as well as Dollinger's line stewards, were foreign-born and came into war production directly from the home. They felt their role was to maintain the conditions in the plant and on the home front for the men who would be returning after the war. The general meetings for Local 212 were held on Sundays, which often excluded women who were burdened with domestic and childcare responsibilities. However, a large percentage of women attended department meetings. Most of the problems discussed focused on harassment and mistreatment at the hands of their foremen. Women resented this domination and felt it contradicted the propaganda touting them as "the glorious patriotic woman" saving the country. (9:31-14:48)... Approximately two-thirds of the women in Department 15 attended department meetings, which were held once a month at Local 212 headquarters. In addition to this opportunity to talk with the women, Dollinger joined them at their work tables during lunch. She also ate lunch with Black stewards and the workers segregated in the anodizing and burr departments. Contract negotiations and local problems were discussed at general meetings while department issues were handled internally by chief stewards and the five committeemen in the plant. If resolutions could not be reached on that level, the committeemen usually called a strike. She could not recall any grievances that were rejected by the committeemen because they respected her and the women in the department were diligent about compiling sufficient evidence to prove their case. (14:48-16:27)... The chief steward of the women in the riveting department was Ruth "Torchy" Bailey, who acquired this nickname as a result of her previous vaudeville or burlesque work. She was neither well educated or knowledgeable about the union contract, but was personable and well-liked by the committeemen, with whom she frequently socialized outside of work. Like most of the women stewards, she had never worked with the union before. (16:27-21:18)... Dollinger posits that the women who went to work during the war came directly from the home and had never associated with women on a large scale or with any large organizations like the union. She believes that they were motivated by patriotism and a desire to make money, and viewed their work in defense as temporary. However, Dollinger believes that their ideas changed as they experienced the expanded social contact, their paychecks and their independence in the home, and they began to see their job as a long-term arrangement. Although the women were confident the union would resolve their problems, they did not have a lot of control over CIO or Local matters since there were no women on the executive boards. Her role as chief steward was their only means of information, support and representation. (21:18-22:49)... There were never discussions in the Local about providing childcare on Sundays so that more women could attend general meetings. It was a hectic time and the Local was burdened with the no-strike pledge to which CIO leaders, some of whom were on the War Labor Board, agreed to honor. This was difficult given that the cost of living was not commensurate with wages during the war period. Dollinger believes that Briggs management was probably the toughest in the nation and took advantage of the no-strike pledge to limit workers' benefits. Consequently, Local 212 initiated more wildcat strikes during the war than any other local in the CIO. (22:49-26:18)... Dollinger did not tell the women in Department 15 that she was nominated to the Executive Board or that she was removed from the ballot because of her efforts to end racial segregation in the plant. Many of the women in the department were prejudiced and she did not want to compromise the cohesiveness they had in the Local and in their department. She believed that it was more important to maintain unity in the Local when it was dealing with bigger issues like the no-strike pledge. Besides, she played an important role on the Educational Committee and was the vice-chair of the chief stewards, a position which often was more powerful than those of the elected officials in the Local. Writing for the The Voice of Local 212 and conducting the public speaking classes enabled her to direct the education and much of the thinking in the Local. (26:18-29:12)... The chief stewards body oversaw the department stewards in all five Briggs plants. In addition to this mechanism for planning and communication, workers in her plant organized the IOA caucus, which met in the plant on a daily basis. All of the chief stewards in the plant and the five committeemen attended these meetings, at which they exchanged information about their departments, discussed the status of specific grievances, and planned strategies to counteract the corporation's efforts to break the union. The efforts to undermine or break the union culminated at the end of 1945 when plants began retooling for automobile production. The movement began at Bud Wheel where conditions got so bad that a walk out was organized, at which time the most militant workers in the union were fired. The other plants in Detroit followed suit and Dollinger was one among many fired for "ostensibly calling a previous strike." (29:12-34:05)... The IOA caucus meetings that took place at Briggs led to more efficiently planned and orchestrated wildcat strikes. At the same time, the anti-union tactics adopted by the corporation resulted in a more cohesive and unified Local. In 1944, the "UAW Rank and File Committee to Revoke the No-Strike Pledge" was formed and a referendum was called that passed by a small margin. The women in the plants opposed the no-strike pledge. While they felt it was their patriotic duty to produce for the war effort, they also understood its implications. The referendum did not result in divisiveness in the Locals because while the corporations were profiting from cost-plus contracts, workers were having difficultly keeping up with the rising costs of living due to low wages. (34:05-39:00)... During the campaign against the no-strike pledge, a coalition among the corporations, the War Labor Board, and the radio and the press labeled the UAW locals in Detroit as unpatriotic and radical. Buckling under this pressure, the CIO asked the Locals to quell their efforts, thereby giving the corporations a free hand. In February 1945, the Greater Flint Industrial Union Council responded by issuing a resolution to the CIO calling for union leaders to disassociate themselves from the War Labor Board. The resolution gained nationwide support among all the Locals in the CIO. In 1945, the corporations initiated the drive to demobilize the plants and break the union. (39:00-41:33)... The communists in the Detroit locals supported the no-strike pledge and the participation of union leaders on the War Labor Board, and in fact asked the CIO to suspend all officers and Locals who were rebelling. They also appealed to FDR to initiate an investigative committee to root out the elements in the Locals seeking to mobilize a general strike in Detroit. Local 212 had a small number of communists in its ranks and they had very little influence with the members. The SWP didn't number many more in the Local, but Dollinger believes that they were more influential. She attributes this to the fact that the original leader of the Local was a socialist and that the foreign-born members of the Local had more class-consciousness. End of tape. *** File: lhgdollinger25.mp3 (0:00-2:19)... As plants began to retool in 1945, conditions worsened for workers and walkouts and layoffs were mentioned in the newspapers on a daily basis. A representative (Decker) of the Michigan State Legislation drafted a bill calling for the death penalty of anyone on strike. The atmosphere in Detroit was volatile as the corporations paired off against the union towards the end of the war. In anticipation of "revolutionary ferment among the working class," companies intimidated union leaders in order to wrest control of the Locals in the postwar period. (2:19-5:45)... In April 1945, the National Association of Manufacturers and the National Chamber of Commerce revoked their peace charter with the CIO and the AFL which had called for cooperation between labor and corporations and no strikes. At the same time, the foremen in the plants tried to organize a union because they were harassed in the shops for implementing the poor working conditions and layoffs on behalf of the corporations. Rather than combat the UAW, the foremen looked to the UAW during this period for advice and even provided the union with company secrets and inside information. Dollinger does not believe that the foremen were able to organize a successful union. (5:45-8:38)... When the end of the war was in sight, corporations saw it as an opportunity to get rid of the militant unionists in the plants and dissolve union autonomy. This measure would prove effective in breaking the union because when a local leader was fired, he was blacklisted in Detroit. The corporations viewed unionists as a threat to their efforts to retool for automobile production and extract as high profits as they could. Women were laid off during the massive layoffs that took place in August 1945. Dollinger recalls the lines of people standing in the hot sun waiting to apply for unemployment which, at that time, amounted to $20/week for twenty weeks. (8:38-15:23)... When Dollinger talked to women about the prospect of being laid off, a large percentage of them wanted to continue to work after the war. She references a study conducted in San Francisco that showed that 98 percent of women went to work in war production plants because of the availability of nurseries, and that 88 percent said that they would not be able to continue working if nurseries were closed. Business and government worked together in pushing women back into the home after the war and glamorized housewives and domesticity in the same way they glamorized Rosie the Riveter during the war. The union did not fight to keep women in the plant because they felt returning veterans were more deserving of jobs. Although they thought about it, women did not organize around this issue because their were no women representatives in the local or the CIO and they were burdened by family and domestic obligations. (15:23-21:37)... The demobilization drive and anti-union sentiment in Detroit escalated in May 1945 with the beatings of local leaders Joe Vega and Roy Snowden. Local 212 set up an investigative committee to root out those responsible for the beatings, but people hesitated to join, fearing for their own safety. Dollinger joined to encourage others to serve. When the committee came across information pointing to the Mafia leaders, they went to UAW-CIO leaders and asked them to establish their own investigative committee and reward. However, they were not taken seriously, and Walter Reuther told Dollinger that she was being overly dramatic. They changed their tune, however, after the Reuther brothers were shot and it was linked to the Mafia. (21:37-26:09)... In October 1945, two men entered her home in the early morning hours and beat her because of her role in the Local and her position on the investigative committee. She recalls being blinded by a flashlight before the initial blow took place. Her husband woke up and saw a man beating her and another standing nearby with what appeared to be a gun in his hand. When he tried to shield her face and body, he was beaten. Dollinger was hospitalized for six weeks and continues to experience periodic paralysis on one side of her face. The union issued a formal statement to the press that they would put more resources into investigating her beating and increased their reward by $500. The newspapers, however, continued their anti-union rhetoric and reported the beating as the result of an inter-union struggle. Her beating polarized the Local and men feared for their lives more than ever. They asked permission to carry guns and people began going home from Local meetings in groups. (26:09-30:11)... In total, six people in the Local were beaten. When the Reuther brothers were shot, the union hired an investigator, who gathered evidence tracing the attacks to Mafia leaders. He also tracked down a witness to testify to this fact, but the witness escaped from the hotel where he was being guarded and was never located. A short time later, the investigator died when he fell through the ice on Lake Michigan, the circumstances of which were never determined. Although there was never a formal court hearing, the union remains steadfast that the beatings were perpetrated by the Mafia. The CIO paid for her treatment while she was in the hospital and commissioned the top brain specialists in the country to treat her and Ken Morris's brain injuries. She learned later that the police investigator who interviewed after her beating was paid off by the Mafia. (30:11-37:10)... Dollinger was fired in August 1945 when massive layoffs occurred in Detroit and plants were shut down for retooling. Her grievance was still pending when she was beaten in October 1945. The day she was fired from Briggs, the superintendent of Department 15 called her into his office and asked her to sign a picture of an airplane that he planned to take with him when he retired. A few hours later, she was told to see the plant manager at the end of her shift, at which time she was given a pink slip. The reasons for her termination were listed on the pink slip, which included fomenting and revolutionizing workers. Even though she was given an escort and told to leave the plant immediately, she collected her possessions at a leisurely pace and made her way out the main entrance of the plant, greeting stewards along the way and advising them to contact the Local. (37:10-39:26)... After Dollinger was laid off from Briggs, she was hired to work on the UAW mayoral campaign of Dick Frankenstein, a former Chrysler worker and executive board member of the CIO. The union also ran three candidates for the city council. She had been working on the Frankenstein campaign for three days before she was beaten. After she recovered, she went to work in a cotton factory that produced fabric for car upholstery. The work was difficult and the cotton dust irritated her one remaining lung. In the mean time, Sol Dollinger moved to Flint in search of work and she joined him a few months later. (39:26-41:42)... During the Frankenstein campaign, voter registration reached an all-time high in Detroit. After she was beaten, Frankenstein issued a statement and the UAW-CIO set up an investigating committee and posted a $5,000 reward. When Walter Reuther visited her in the hospital he was remorseful that he had previously told her that she was being dramatic, and informed her that their resources would go towards finding the culprits responsible for her beating. The union campaigned for a 30 percent raise to compensate for frozen wages and the rising costs of living. Following a meeting with President Harry S Truman, GM representative Charles Wilson issued a statement calling for a forty-eight-hour work week at straight time and a 5-10 percent raise. End of tape.
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