World War II Homefront Era: 1940s: Post War Workers Protest Salary Cuts & Layoffs
Click image to zoom in.Or view larger version. Oakland general strike. December 5, 1946. Photographer unknown. Gelatin silver print. Collection of Oakland Museum of California. The Oakland Tribune Collection. Gift of ANG Newspapers.
In this 1946 photo, a racially mixed group of men talk together as they walk among the crowd of picketers during the Oakland General Strike. For three days in December, 1946, union workers and their supporters shut down operations throughout Alameda County, including Oakland, Piedmont, Emeryville, Berkeley, Alameda, San Leandro, and Hayward. Construction projects, shipyards, retail stores, gas stations, hotels, newspapers, and transportation services were shut down. Only essential services (hospitals, police and fire stations schools, and public utilities) remained open.