Strike Sympathizers tie up traffic outside the Apex Hosiery Company Plant by pulling down trolley polls, Philadelphia, PA, May 1937.

Credit: Courtesy of Temple University, Urban Archives, Philadelphia, Pa.

In 1937, CIO organizers helped launch strikes among hosiery workers in Reading, steel workers in Johnstown and Aliquippa, and chocolate workers in Hershey. In Philadelphia, more than 2,000 workers took possession of the Apex Hosiery plant at 5th and Luzerne, the largest non-union hosiery plant left in the city. Backed by more than 5,000 supporters, more than 250 striking works broke through a police cordon and occupied the plant for three months.