workingclasshistory:

On this day, 14 May 1953, over 7,000 workers from six Milwaukee breweries walked out on strike demanding pay increases, uniform health and pension plans and a reduction in the working week from 40 to 35 hours. Workers at Schlitz, Pabst, Miller, Blatz, Gettelman and Independent Milwaukee breweries all joined the action. A local official of the United Brewery Workers stated that the reduction in the work week was needed because of new machinery which improved productivity, which meant that without a reduction in the working week, there would be insufficient work over the course of the year. The strike had a huge impact on the town, commonly known as “Brew City”, and for the first time during the dispute beers brewed in other states became popular in the area. Eventually, one of the breweries, Blatz, broke from the employers’ association and accepted the workers’ demands. The other breweries soon followed suit and after 76 days the strike ended. In the wake of the dispute Anheuser-Busch from St Louis became the nation’s biggest brewery.
Pictured: models hired by Blatz publicising the end of the strike https://www.facebook.com/workingclasshistory/photos/a.296224173896073/1987450214773452/?type=3