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By Root 895 0

her to the inspection department on Mack Avenue, where her job was, among other things, interpreting tool and die blueprints. She noted right away that most of her coworkers—about 500 of them—were women who lacked union representation. She kept her head low, however, not wanting to be recognized by anyone in the sprawling Briggs plant. Not having completed her probation period, she knew she would be fired instantly the minute management learned her true identity. Some women with grievances called a meeting and pressured Genora to attend. Sitting in the back of the room, she saw none other than her friend and comrade from sit-down days in Flint, Emil Mazey—who had just been drafted into the army—approaching the platform. He gave a rousing pep talk to the women and ended by saying, “I don’t know why you [women] have to . . . get any advice from us. You’ve got one of the leaders of the union sitting right back there. . . . Genora, why didn’t you stand up?”21 All eyes turned to her, and she could hide no longer. “Emil,” she said angrily to him after the meeting. “You son-of-a-bitch. You blew me out of the plant. I’ve only got about three or four days to go [before finishing probation].” Mazey responded, “Don’t worry, Genora. I will leave word with Jess Ferraza. He succeeds me as president. If they fire you, he will be instructed to shut down all eight of the [Briggs] plants.”22

They did fire her, and Local 212 did shut down the plants. She was quickly rehired, and the rank and file elected her as chief steward in the inspection department, a powerful position within the Chrysler work system as she would now direct and coordinate union activities, including grievances, as well as collect dues and negotiate with management. She and other stewards in the Detroit area represented about 8,000 workers. “Their [the stewards’] moral authority lay in the ability to maintain a unity of purpose with their workmates.”23 She began to work with chief stewards from other Briggs plants, and collectively they became known as the “Aisle-Way” caucus because informally, in the aisle of the plants, they talked over the affairs of the day and heard new grievances.24 There were plenty of these, for Briggs management was known for its antagonism toward organized labor. Genora’s stature as chief steward grew at Briggs, and her reputation as a militant feminist-unionist increased throughout Detroit, the state, and the country. According to historian Nelson Lichtenstein, “The greatest militancy in most factories came not among the alienated . . . workers of the main assembly line, but among those employees who maintained a high degree of verbal interaction.”25 In other words, the person who spoke the loudest got the attention. Genora Dollinger was no slouch in this category.

Before Genora left Budd Wheel, Sol shipped out again. Genora’s son, Jody, became a latchkey kid (a child who comes home from school each day before his mother or father are home from work) and was thus on his own for several hours without any direct parental supervision. It took Genora an hour or more to get from her fire-trap apartment to work each day, and an hour back, so, after she started at Briggs, she found a place on Gladwin Street where she could walk to and from work. The place was in ill repair: its oak floors were painted black, there were holes in the plaster, and “tons” of debris was piled up.26 Sol had many seamen friends who belonged to the SWP. A dozen or so of them arrived at the house on Gladwin and put it back together. Over the next several months the place became a haven for merchant mariners and labor activists, a second headquarters where they plotted strike strategies and lauded union accomplishments. At this residence Genora tried to raise her two sons, as Dennis had now come to live with her in Detroit. Her family life was painful at this time, and any thought of union work for the socialist cause had to be subordinated to interests of survival. Genora and Sol (and to a lesser extent their birth father, Kermit) doted on the two young boys. The older of