The non-violent efforts of the Upholsterers' International Union (UIU), Local No. 456 of Austin, Texas, to win union recognition and a signed contract with the Economy Furniture Company was realized in 1971, ending a two-and-a-half-year strike by company employees who voted overwhelmingly (252-83) in favor of the union. Workers at the Economy Furniture Company, ninety percent of whom were Mexican-American, sought union representation to improve working conditions, increase salaries, and secure arbitration in labor disputes. Following the union election, the company's owner, Milton Smith, filed objections to the election with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). He refused later that year to comply with the Board's ruling which certified the union as the collective bargaining agent of the employees. In protest of the company's refusal to recognize the union, 252 workers walked out on strike on November 27, 1968.
The ensuing strike, also known as the “Austin Chicano Huelga,” received a wide spectrum of support from local as well as national labor, religious, and Mexican-American groups. UIU's decision to conduct a state- and nation-wide boycott of Economy Furniture Company products drew support from the United Farmworkers Organizing Committee's Lettuce Boycott and its leader, César Chávez. Chávez had first introduced a national boycott as a tool to secure collective bargaining rights for farmworkers in California. In support of the striking employees and their boycott, Chávez came to Austin on February 6-7, 1971, bringing together more than 5,000 persons at a march and rally at the state capitol.
Pickets were finally withdrawn after twenty-eight months following a U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals decision in January, 1971. The court declared the strike an “unfair labor practice strike,” and it enforced an NLRB ruling that Economy Furniture Company must negotiate with the union and reinstate the striking workers. Negotiations between the two parties were started, and a contract was approved on September 7, 1971. The contract agreement provided wage increases each year, an additional paid holiday, improved vacation, seniority, and arbitration.
From the guide to the Economy Furniture Company Strike Collection 22760279., 1968-1972, (Benson Latin American Collection, The University of Texas at Austin)
