The Strike

Eight female employees of the Citizens National Bank in Willmar Minnesota, USA went on strike on December 16, 1977 over charges of sex discrimination. The tellers and bookkeepers were protesting unequal pay and unequal opportunities for advancement. The women were Doris Boshart, Irene Wallin, Sylvia Erickson Koll, Jane Harguth Groothuis, Sandi Treml, Teren Novotny, Shirley Solyntjes, Glennis Ter Wisscha

Reaction

"The women's strike caused stress for many in the Western Minnesota town of 14,000 people. Few outwardly showed support for the strike and the lawyer who took the women's case, John Mack, lost his position as county chair of the Republican Party."

From outside Willmar, some women's and labor groups as well as private individuals supported the strike in various ways.

Outcome

In the summer of 1979 the National Labor Relations Board

National Labor Relations Board

The National Labor Relations Board is an independent agency of the United States government charged with conducting elections for labor union representation and with investigating and remedying unfair labor practices. Unfair labor practices may involve union-related situations or instances of...

 issued a ruling on the complaint. The NLRB declared that the bank was guilty of unfair labor practices, but those practices did not cause the strike. The NLRB ruled that the strike was “economic.” As a result of this decision there was no back pay and no guarantee of the women recovering their jobs .

Rhoda R. Gilman, the author of The Story of Minnesota's Past observed that "across Minnesota and elsewhere, banks quietly began to make some changes."

In 1981 Lee Grant

Lee Grant

Lee Grant is an American stage, film and television actress, and film director. She was blacklisted for 12 years from film work beginning in the mid-1950s, but worked in the theatre, and would eventually win the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance as Felicia Carp in the...

directed a documentary on the Willmar 8 entitled, "The Willmar 8".

A 1984 docudrama, "A Matter of Sex" was based on events related to the strike.

External links

• Decades later, Willmar 8 are heroes to a new generation