Sam Pollock (labor Leader) - Strike Involvement

Strike Involvement

When the Great Depression began in 1929, Pollock became deeply involved in the Ohio Unemployed League, a branch of the American Workers Party (AWP). The goal of the League was to organize jobless workers, advocate for higher relief payments for the unemployed, and help the unemployed resist employer calls to take striking workers' jobs.

In April 1934, Pollock became a leader in the bitter and violent strike by automobile parts workers at the Electric Auto-Lite plant in Toledo. Pollock and fellow League organizer Ted Selander essentially ran the strike along with AWP leader Louis Budenz. They helped plan mass marches which forced the plant to close. When a local court judge issued an injunction limiting the number of picketers, Pollock and Selander wrote a letter to the judge declaring that the Lucas County Unemployed League would "deliberately and specifically violate the injunction enjoining us from sympathetically picketing peacefully in support of the striking auto workers' federal union." Pollock was arrested and convicted for picketing in violation of the court injunction on May 7, but his sentence was suspended. He was arrested again on May 11, but released by the court without any decision in his case. The strike erupted in rioting on May 23. Pollock played a significant but minor part in the negotiations which helped end the strike on June 2, 1934. After the strike, Pollock lost his job and was blacklisted for his activities on behalf of the union.

Just a few weeks later, Pollock became deeply involved in the Hardin County onion pickers strike. On June 19, 1934, onion weeders formed the first union of farm laborers in the United States, under the auspices of the International Quarrymen's Union. The 30 employers belonging to the Onion Growers' Association refused to recognize or bargain with the union, so the union called a strike. On June 22, a local court judge issued a sweeping labor injunction which restricted picketing to groups of two. Local sheriff's deputies began mass arrests of the picketers for congregating in violation of the injunction. The county sheriff, supplied with funds provided by the employers, hired Ohio National Guard troops who had recently served in Toledo during the Auto-Lite strike, and armed them with riot guns, machine-guns, and tear gas. Protests from Governor George White regarding the use of public equipment for private use were ignored. The troops helped break the strike by forcing workers off the picket lines and arresting hundreds of workers. When a truck of replacement workers attempted to run down a group of picketers, the picketers retaliated by throwing stones. Pollock was jailed and a $1,000 bail set for this incident. Pollock was held incommunicado for several days. When the local sheriff did tell Sarah Pollock where her husband was, he denied her access to him. When Pollock finally met with his defense attorneys, sheriff's deputies crowded close by to listen in on the conversations and physically intimidated the lawyers. The strike ended shortly thereafter without an agreement, and the union disbanded.