On this day 92 years ago, the members of Local 18384 walked out after the failed negotiations with Electric Auto-Lite Co. Thus began one of the largest and most significant labor events of the 1930s. The Electric Auto-Lite Strike of 1934 was an important labor moment in an important labor year.

April 01, 2026 - 12:02 UTC

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Teamsters in Minneapolis and longshoremen in San Francisco, and auto workers in Toledo; 1934 was a pivotal year in American labor history. Amidst the backdrop of the Depression, the Roosevelt administration getting on its feet, and the ongoing debates over the eventual NLRA, Auto-Lite was a major
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influence in the national conversation over the ever-present and unsolved “labor question.” In Toledo, the strike would grow into a city-wide affair, with 10,000 people crowding the streets outside the factory gates. Local leaders brought in help from outside the union, as CPUSA and Brookwood grads
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