Remember When: Horner Woolens on Strike, 1937

Deb Malewski
Contributing Writer

Horner Woolen Mills, one of the largest woolen mills in the Midwest, was for many years the backbone of Eaton Rapids’ economy, being its largest employer. The mills contributed much to the community. But there are some darker sides of the story, too, like the four-month strike between the workers and the management of the company in 1937.
Perhaps they were inspired by the 1936-1937 strike against General Motors (GM), where 136,000 GM workers held a sit-down strike and refused to leave the plant for 44 days. This stopped production and brought America’s most powerful automaker to its knees. By refusing to leave the plant, it helped ensure that the workers couldn’t be replaced, which GM was known to do. The 1935 National Labor Relations Act gave workers the right to organize, join labor unions and engage in collective bargaining and strikes.
Better working conditions and a higher rate of pay were the demands of the Horner strikers. The strike began June 14, 1937, when several hundred workers walked off the job after the UAW called a strike. Donald Bateman, a mill employee, is said to have pulled a switch which turned off power at the mill to signal the start of the strike. The UAW maintained a picket line around the idle plant for many weeks.
Picketers came from outside of Eaton Rapids to picket the mill, the Potterville News reported, and “wouldn’t let those who wanted to work enter or allow the owners into the plants.” The governor of Michigan, Frank Murphy, backed the strikers. The Potterville paper wrote in their July 29, 1937, issue that “the strike nearly ruined Eaton Rapids.”
After four weeks of the strike, and hundreds of workers idle, the local businesses felt the loss of the approximately $22,000 payroll every two weeks and were feeling anxious as to when business operations would resume, the Eaton Rapids Journal reported in July. It was reported that the Horner Woolen Mills paid 33% of the taxes that the city collected.
In August 1937, President Horner returned from a trip to Texas and gave notice to his employees that unless they “showed loyalty” to his company by returning to work, the entire plant would be moved to Texas. Horner refuse to sign with the Council of Industrial Organizations (C.I.O.) and said that the mill would remain closed.
The picket line was halted when the police escorted a handful of workers and factory officials into the mill to resume limited operations in October, ending the three-and-one-half month strike. A demonstration was then held by local businessmen, mill workers, and others as a testimonial of confidence in the Horner organization, it was said. It was also intended to celebrate the re-opening of the mill, but operations were still limited, and mill officials and union leaders would not confirm or deny the rumors of re-opening. Rumors were that the firm might be selling out.
Arrests were made of those who picketed; they were charged with violating a circuit court injunction preventing the picketing of the mill. Five leaders of the strike were given jail terms. Their attorney asked the judge for leniency for the workers on the grounds that no violence was used, and no damage to property or injury to people happened during the strike.
Nine men and three women were sentenced to pay fines totaling $360 when they pled guilty to violating the court-ordered injunction. The men paid $35 each as an alternative to serving 5 days in jail, while the three women charged were fined $15 each. M.J. Rymal of Lansing, the UAW organizer, paid all the fines.
It wasn’t the end for Horner Woolens, of course.
In 1940 Horner Woolens received a large order for woolen cloth: the Army wanted 47 million pounds of wool; double anything ever purchased before in peacetime; a record-setting order. The Army ordered almost 550,000 blankets, at a cost of $3,126,000.
Horner Woolens surged during World War II, as England was not able to produce the wool needed, seeing as they were in the middle of the war. The eventual development of synthetic fabrics took a toll on the woolen industry, however. Horner Woolens started to wind down its business around 1955, with just a skeleton crew in the mill, although they had retail stores around the state into the early 1960s.