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Frances PerkinsFrances Perkins
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tell you that I was in one of these strikes in a small plant in the Middle West. We'd been at our boss for years to meet with us about anything - about our wages, about the sanitary conditions, about how we could get a day off when we wanted it. We'd been trying to meet him for years. We'd been trying to be polite. It's a small plant. He's there all the time himself. After NRA we finally formed a union, but still we couldn't meet him or do anything with him. We tricd everything we knew. Finally we sat down at our machines with our arms folded and it worked. I don't care what you say. I know it's probably not a good idea, but it worked.”

This was a very practical and inexperienced girl's conclusion from what she'd seen. She was right, but it was a type of strike that ought to be dropped. Curiously, most of the labor movement agreed. They'd had the bear by the tail. Bven Lewis and Hillman were frantic to get the men out of the plant. They were afraid all the time that the men would go wild some day and tear up the factory, destroy things, set fire, because claustrophobia, being locked in, creates a dreadful psychological situation. They were afraid of that and so was I. It was a very hazardous thing.

Also, as I've said, we knew that there had begun





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