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tactic was to tell “her” women not to check out so their pay time would continue, making it clear that this was a deliberate walkout. Genora went into the superintendent’s office and complained about Eddie, the army foreman, “who had a nasty mouth.” In addition to Eddie, she railed against the navy and marine foremen and even the general foreman, causing the superintendent to call them into his office. While Genora was “yelling and hollering as hard as I could—like you had to do with those kind of foremen, charging them with all kinds of things,” the army foreman looked out the window and exclaimed, “My God, the department is all gone!” The women had walked out, and “none of [Genora’s] stewards were fired.”41 She and her union made a point here, although she had used questionable tactics: treat the women better or walkouts will increase. Things did improve—at least for a time. During the two years or so that Genora worked at Briggs as a chief steward, she was fired three times. Each time, however, Local 212 president Jess Ferrazza got her hired back.

As the war was ending in Europe, in May 1945, Genora got into some squabbles with various representatives of the Briggs Corporation. She needed to appoint an assistant steward for one of the cribs and asked her friend Vida Ash to take the position. She declined, and Genora approached several newly returned veterans. As she talked to one of them, Harold Zwirmer, a foreman, interrupted the discussion and remarked, “Don’t you think this social visit has gone on long enough?” This tactless remark almost started the war again. She told Zwirmer she was discussing the appointment of a line steward and a grievance that some workers had brought. “You are out of line,” he said, “discussing a grievance before informing the line steward of such”; she retorted that how the hell could a grievance be taken up with a line steward if there wasn’t one. Zwirmer ordered her out of his area, and Genora “reminded him that I was the elected chief steward of the . . . cribs and I was only there in the line of duty.” He demanded to know the grievance under discussion. Genora told him it was none of his business, at least not yet. He was, she told him, violating the contract between union and company by trying to intimidate her. After “further nasty and threatening remarks,” he left but told Genora “to make it snappy.” Genora was “shocked and angered” by the confrontation but at the same time exhilarated. She and Zwirmer had gotten along in the past, and she could not understand his attitude on this occasion. She went to see him and said she would not report the incident to the shop committee if he would explain himself. “I have my orders,” was all he would tell her. Things did not improve between the two. Later in the day, near the end of the shift, Zwirmer walked through the plant and yelled out to the army crib foreman: “Hello, Sister Bellamy.” Bellamy called back, “Hello, Brother Rat.” He walked over to her and said, “What’s the matter—has your chief steward been talking to you?”42 Zwirmer apparently now wanted to antagonize Genora further, and, to be sure, she answered in kind. A feisty woman, she would take little guff from anyone, especially when it came to defending her union.

The next day, May 2, she became involved with what she considered to be an unauthorized attempt by both union and management to upgrade wages for war veterans who had returned to the plant. She did not object to the raises as such, but rather that she, the chief steward, had not been consulted on the matter. She spent the rest of the week dealing with one complaint or another. Even on VE (Victory in Europe) Day, May 8, 1945, she entered the plant superintendent’s office to represent the opinions and grievances of numerous crib workers.

The stewards at Briggs started their own news bulletin, On Guard, subtitled Instructions for Committeemen Chief Stewards and Stewards. Written and printed by the Educational Committee of Local 212 UAW-CIO, issue number 4 contained a complaint from Faye Taylor, personnel director for Briggs,