Grand Rapids, Michigan

==== Strike of 1911 ====
{{Main|1911 Grand Rapids furniture workers strike}}
[[File:Grand Rapids furniture strike - riot police.jpg|left|thumb|The [[riot police]] who responded to the [[1911 Grand Rapids furniture workers strike]]]]

By the early twentieth century, the quality of furniture produced in Grand Rapids was renowned throughout furniture industry, mainly due to the skill of its workers.<ref name="VIVA" /> Government reports in 1907 revealed that while Grand Rapids lead the industry in product output, its furniture workers were paid lower wages than in other areas.<ref name="VIVA" /> After a minor dispute, workers were inspired to form [[labor union]]s; workers requested furniture companies to increase [[wage]]s, fewer working hours, the creation of [[collective bargaining]] and the institution of a [[minimum wage]] to replace [[piece work]].<ref name=":03" /><ref name="VIVA" /> The furniture businesses refused to respond with unions as they believed that any meeting represented recognition of unions.<ref name=":03" /><ref name="VIVA" />

Workers in Grand Rapids then began a four month long [[general strike]] on April 19, 1911.<ref name=":03" /><ref name="MLIVE12">{{Cite web |last = Martinez |first = Shandra |date = April 3, 2011 |title = Labor strife in Wisconsin reminiscent of great furniture strike of 1911 in Grand Rapids |url = https://www.mlive.com/business/west-michigan/2011/04/labor_strife_in_wisconsin_remi.html |access-date = August 7, 2021 |website = MLive |language = en |archive-date = June 13, 2021 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20210613024159/https://www.mlive.com/business/west-michigan/2011/04/labor_strife_in_wisconsin_remi.html |url-status = live }}</ref> Much of the public, the mayor, the press and the Catholic diocese supported the strike, believing that the unwillingness of business leaders to negotiate was unjust. Skilled and unskilled factory labor was mainly Dutch (60 percent) and Polish (25 percent), primarily immigrants. According to the 1911 Immigration Commission report, the Dutch had an average of 8 percent higher wages than the Poles even when they did the same work. The pay difference was based on seniority and not ethnicity, but given that the Dutch had arrived earlier, seniority was linked to ethnicity.<ref name=":03" /><ref name="VIVA" /> Ultimately, the Christian Reformed Church – where the majority of Dutch striking workers congregated – and the [[Fountain Street Church]] – led opposition to the strike, which resulted in its end on August 19, 1911.<ref name=":03" /><ref name="MLIVE12" />

The strike resulted with substantial changes to the governmental and labor structure of the city.<ref name="MLIVE12" /> With businesses upset with Mayor Ellis for supporting the strike lobbied for the city to change from a twelve-ward government – which more accurately represented the city's ethnic groups – to a smaller three ward system that placed more power into the demands of Dutch citizens, the city's largest demographic.<ref name=":06">{{Cite journal |last = Erdmans |first = Mary Patrice |date = Autumn 2005 |title = The Poles, the Dutch and the Grand Rapids Furniture Strike of 1911 |journal = [[Polish American Studies]] |volume = 62 |issue = 2 |pages = 5–22 |doi = 10.2307/20148725 |jstor = 20148725 |s2cid = 254436229 }}</ref><ref name="MLIVE12"/> Some workers who participated in the strike were [[blacklisted]] by companies and thousands of dissatisfied furniture workers emigrated to higher paying regions.<ref name=":03" /><ref name="VIVA" />