Abstract

From 1912 to 2019, low-wage women workers have used the strike to resist sexual violence and harassment on the shop floor. This article examines two strike actions, more than a century apart. First it looks at the 1912 Kalamazoo Corset Co. strike, the first known strike against sexual harassment in the United States. Comparing it to a multicity anti-sexual-harassment strike wave by McDonald’s workers in 2018–19 (mostly women of color), the article assesses the increasing importance of race in women’s union organizing as well as the impact of the #MeToo movement on women’s labor activism.

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