Celebrate White Shirt Day Every February 11

• By NSC
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Today is White Shirt Day (some people call it White T-Shirt Day).

“What the heck is that?” you ask?

It’s a day to honor the union employees who staged a sit-down strike at the General Motors plant in Flint, Michigan in 1936-1937.

The workers locked themselves inside the plant to force the company to recognize their right to unionize and negotiate for pay and safe working conditions.

The strike ended on February 11, 1937, after 44 days. GM finally agreed to recognize the United Auto Workers (UAW) union and negotiate with them.

It was a big deal at the time, but over time the event faded from memory. Today most people outside of auto workers and/or Flint have probably never heard of this strike.

That may be why the day is also known as White T-Shirt Day. It’s likely some people who didn’t understand the original meaning of the day mistakenly renamed it.

But that may be changing again. Most of the website we’ve found referencing the day (by either name), do report the strike as the reason for the day. Given the strong emotions on both sides of the debate over unions’ place in workers lives today, that may be a very good thing.

White Shirt Day became an “official” unofficial holiday in 1948 when Bert Christenson (of UAW Local 598) began the day.

Scroll down for some ideas on celebrating this day.

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Celebrating White Shirt Day

According to the UAW, on this day its members honor the strikers in the follow way:

1. Everyone wears a white shirt or blouse
2. Workers’ white shirts must not get dirtier than the boss’
3. Everyone must follow safety and work rules

 

So wear a white shirt, and keep it relatively clean, in honor of this day.

Many people wear a white t-shirt to celebrate White T-Shirt Day. While this is not entirely correct, as long as you now understand the real reason behind the day, we see no reason your white shirt can’t be a t-shirt.

 

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