Henry Ford

Ford Motor Co. was the last major automaker to unionize. Initially, Henry Ford kept his workers from organizing by paying nearly twice the going rate, cutting the workday from 10 hours to eight hours and introducing the five-day workweek. But Ford couldn't keep the United Autoworkers Union (UAW) out forever. When generosity failed, he turned to intimidation.

Ford formed the Service Department to ensure workers did their jobs and to keep the union out of his factory. Under the direction of Henry Bennett, a notorious figure with underworld connections, this group of ruthless thugs brutally repressed any attempt by UAW to organize Ford workers. In 1937, the Service Department mercilessly beat a group of union organizers attempting to pass out leaflets at the Ford factory. The beating left the union leaders battered, but undaunted. It took another four years of pushing before something broke.

On April 1, 1941, Andy Dewar, a worker in the Rouge River plant's rolling mill, changed labor history at Ford. After an argument with a foreman over working conditions, Dewar began yelling "Strike! Strike!" The call echoed through the plant, and the entire rolling line walked out.

Ford was preparing to do whatever it took to keep the UAW out of his factory until his wife, Clara, demanded he settle with the union. Clara rarely interfered in Ford's business dealings, but she was genuinely afraid that the situation would explode into real violence. She threatened to leave Henry if he didn't end the strike. In May 1941, Ford Motor Co. became a union shop. The agreement led to a new era of labor relations in the automobile industry, as workers turned away from their dependence on Ford's paternalism and fear of Bennett's Service Department, and toward the union shop steward and the skills of UAW negotiators.