January 17th 1962, Studebaker Corporation president Sherwood Egbert was arrested for a picket line altercation. The strike that had begun on January 1st was still going on and as striking workers tried to keep warm a black Mercedes-Benz made it’s way toward the main gate. At the wheel was Studebaker's president, Sherwood Egbert. Pickets closed around his sedan, refused to let Egbert through unless he showed a union pass.
Policemen forced an opening for the car and in the melee a picket took a poke at an officer and was arrested. Another picket swore out a complaint that Egbert had offered to take on the pickets "one at a time." Egbert was taken to the police station on a charge of disorderly conduct and freed after posting $50 bail. Later in the day Egbert went on television to say that the striker had "made a whale out of a minnow." In fact, rather than being hostile toward the strikers, the amiable Egbert came out of his office out several times a day to chat with them.
Regardless of the facts the incident did not improve South Bend's nerves. This was the first long strike they had suffered. In the past seven years, only eight production days had been lost to strikes. This time the strike went on for 38 days.
The cause of this strike was over a minor disagreement. In November 1961 both sides had quickly agreed on wages but stalled on the issue of "toilet time." Studebaker-Packard previously had granted 39 minutes of time for daily relief and washup. The U.A.W. wanted the time increased to 83 minutes. Egbert refused, and he also argued for a cut to 25 minutes to help the company compete against the big three, which at that time were providing only 24 minutes of relief time. The strike was finally settled after Secretary of Labor, Arthur Goldberg requested a special bargaining session.
Contents copyright Madd Doodler Publishing 2010
