Introduction
We are students at New Vista High School in Boulder, Colorado currently taking a history class called Protest and Reform. Most of our classes are hands-on; that is, we learn basic academics through in-depth research into specific topics and by creating high quality final projects. For this particular class, our assignment was to create a computer simulation of a significant movement concerning protest and reform in U.S. history. Our group selected the UAW sit-down strike of Flint, Michigan. We have constructed a website including vital information surrounding our topic and an AgentSheets project which simulates our protest. Welcome to the Great Flint Sit-Down Strike.
Our Simulation
The Great Sit-Down Strike began in December of 1936 in Flint, Michigan. It began when two brothers were fired at Fisher body plant #1. Two-thousand workers reacted by going on a sit-down strike in which the workers occupied the workplace without actually working. This was a new concept.
General Motors had been one of the primary sources of income for the residents of Flint, Michigan. However, the workers were forced to work long hours with insufficient pay. Since workers were easily replaced, they had to meet the management's standards or risk being fired. The workers formed a union in order to have more power and a louder voice about the legistics of their jobs. The union of the Fisher workers were part of the UAW. (Please see Historical Context.)
Our project was to simulate this massive strike using our AgentSheets program. We've created various "agents" which represent players key to the strike. Our agents are highly symbolic, for we couldn't have generated the actual numbers of persons involved; however, the agents do possess the same characteristics as the real-life people.
First and foremost, we wanted to represent the union workers. Let us introduce you to the average Fisher body plant striker.
There are two types of strikers in our sim:
1) The Sit-Down Striker
2) The Outside Striker
In real life, the indoor strikers were the people who started the strike by occupying the factory. This is where our simulation begins. The Sit-Down Strikers initiate the strike by stopping the conveyor belt inside the factory.
Later, came the outside support. The outside workers formed what could be considered a human wall. Our Outside Strikers keep other forces, such as the police, from interfering with the effectiveness of the strike. No other agents may move within the wall of these strikers who surround our factory.
In Flint, the police laid siege to the factory occupied by the strikers when management won an injunction against the strikers. 5,000 armed workers on the outside fended off the police, who used tear gas and guns against the strikers. Thirteen strikers were wounded.
The Police in our simulation are generated by their cruisers. They come after a given amount of time has passed and the Outside Strikers have positioned themselves. The Police carry tear gas which they use to break up the outside support.
The governor called out the National Guard to stop the violence. The governor was one of the "New Dealers" who supported labor struggles more than his predecessors.
In our sim, the National Guard is generated by the Police spraying the crowds with tear gas. When the National Guard comes in contact with the Police, the spraying is stopped.
The community helped the strike be as effective as it was. A restaurant owner fed three meals a day to 2,000 strikers. The union organized courts, sanitation, a postal service, and recreation. They also brought in speakers and professors to teach classes in parliamentary procedure, public speaking, and the history of labor movement.
Our community support is represented by our Women agents. The wives in the strike were a tremendous support to their husbands. (In the 30's, women were not yet integrated into the workplace as they are today, particularly in factory positions.) They brought food and supplies while the workers were on strike. In our sim, the Women add point value when they come in contact with the Inside Strikers.
The Inside Strikers, in turn, add value to our Negotiator when they come in contact with him. The Negotiator is the determining factor in the sim as far as when the strike ends. When he reaches a point value of 800 (the accumulation of the Inside Strikers points) the contract between the UAW and management is reached. The Flint strike ended only when the UAW won recognition from the management. Thus, we simulate the management giving in to some of the strikers' demands by ending the strike after their representative, the Negotiator, has gained power.
The way in which the UAW union protected its members allowed it to achieve things the federal government had trouble doing; it maintained social services and this set an example of how democracy is supposed to work. It brought laborers rights to the forefront.
We hope that our simulation helps you understand the Flint strike and its relationship to the labor movement of yesterday and today.