Rank and File Attitudes about Striking
Scope and Content Note: Because the southern rank and file believed it was being paid less than the North, even if all the southern leadership recommended against striking, local level leadership would have been, at best, mixed. “Then you'd have division within each local situation....Actually, there was no way except to give it a try. We tried and lost.” The strike vote was by secret ballot, but many undecided people did not vote. The more militant workers voted, and they voted overwhelmingly for a strike. “It was really a very difficult situation.”