The Kohler Strike of 1954
Fifty miles north of Milwaukee lies the idyllic village of Kohler, Wisconsin. The largest employer in Kohler is the Kohler Company, a worldwide leader in plumbing products. The village itself was created as a planned community in 1912, as the company moved its operations from inside the city of Sheboygan, situated on Lake Michigan, to rural land west of that city, in order to secure a better environment for future expansion.
John Michael Kohler, an Austrian immigrant, founded the business in 1873. Being an immigrant himself, Kohler was very sensitive to the exploitation of immigrant labor, which was prevalent at that time. He made it a point to treat his employees fairly, and his sons built on that attitude. They developed attractive and affordable housing for their workers, paid above-average wages, and provided medical care. As a result, the Kohler Company came to be known as a good place to work, and attracted national attention as a model of what enlightened employers could do for their workers.
The Kohler Company prospered until the Great Depression of the 1930s, when profits plummeted. Despite desperate efforts by the company to keep people employed, many workers blamed management for their shrinking income. The American Federation of Labor (AFL) targeted the company in June of 1934, demanding that the AFL replace the company union, the Kohler Workers Association (KWA), which had been created the previous year. Company president Walter J. Kohler, Sr., son of the founder, strongly opposed mandating that all employees join the union, whereupon the local AFL union suddenly called a strike on July 17.
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