The White Motor Company was an outgrowth of the White Sewing Machine Company. The company's founder dismissed the important of the automobile, and so his sons created this new company in 1906 on Canal Street in the Flats. They concentrated on trucks during the Great War, and temporarily merged with Studebaker in the early 30s before reorganizing as the White Cotor COrporation, becoming a major producer of heavy-duty trucks and buses.
At this time, the local Communist Party turned its attention to auto workers at both the White Moror Co. and at the GM Fisher Body Plant on Coit Rd. Party member Wyndham Mortimer, a worker at White, formed the Cleveland District Automobile COuncil (CDAC.) This organization was noted for its discipline and unity. They organized a sit-down strike at the local Fisher Plant on December 28, which spread throughout GM, and ended in Feb. 1937 with the recognition of the Uniter Auto Workers (UAW). However, the UAW was working throughout the 1930s & 40s to rid the union of Communist influence.
Sources: Encyclopdia of Cleveland History
The Cool History of Cleveland
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