Workers in occupation and the auto industry in turmoil: the news of this week has put cars and sit down strikes into the headlines together again -- in perhaps the starkest way since 1936. 

When workers at Republic Windows in Chicago sat down and occupied their factory, it wasn't only historians who recalled one of the pivotal union struggles of the depression years. Republic Workers themselves, started talking about Flint - and the sit down that began on the morning of December 30, 1936. On that occasion, organizers shut down a General Motors factory to win back jobs for three workmates who'd been fired.

At the time of the Flint Strike, workers were angry -- corporations like GM and US Steel were brazenly defying the new Wagner Act, which Congress had fought for and President Franklin Delano Roosevelt had signed. Wagner granted federal protection to workers.

When the Flint workers sat down, workers all over the country did the same in solidarity. Bakers, sailors, movie projector operators, and every kind of shop worker and factory worker sat down. Between 1936 and 1937 over half a million American workers engaged n sit-down strikes and mostly won.

"You voted New Deal and defeated the auto barons," organizers told workers after FDR's re-election, "now get a New Deal in the shop." Their message was clear -- it's one thing to vote, it's another to secure change. Wagner was passed to encourage unionism and raise the regular purchasing power of the average American. It made too much sense to violate.

But that was three quarters of a century ago. Today -- will history repeat? There may not be half a million workers sitting down today, but there are plenty of workers who just voted for an end to rule by barons. So now we're on to that New Deal in the shop. You voted, now what do you want? Tell me. What would make the difference where you work? Write to me at Laura@GRITtv.org.