Spotlight
Remembering the Reese 44
‘Last One Through The Door Club’ document signed by 44 Reese teachers who were fired by their school board for going on strike in 1971 presented to MEA.
MEA on April 24 accepted one of its most important historical documents, the “Last One Through The Door Club/The Reese 44,” signed by the 44 teachers who went on strike in the rural Thumb community on Feb. 22, 1971, and were fired by their school board two weeks later.
Reese 44 members were the first teachers in Michigan fired for standing up for their self-respect and demanding a fair contract by striking.
George Worden, who was then president of the Reese Teachers Education Association, presented the framed document at the MEA Board meeting. “On behalf of the Reese 44, I proudly present you with this historic document,” said Worden, now 73. “I love the MEA.”
Members of the Reese 44 who attended the presentation received a standing ovation from the MEA Board for their courageous action nearly four decades ago. Along with Worden, they included Rodger Wenzel, Ruth Beyerlein, Kay Findlay, Mary Smith, Don Hinman, John Walters, Verne Purdy, and Charlotte Morren, wife of the late Reese 44 member Jake Morren. Click here to hear some of their comments.
Reese Teachers Education Association President George Worden (from left), UniServ director Dave Stafford and RTEA Vice President Don Hinman reviewed bargaining strategy in 1971.
MEA President Iris K. Salters thanked the Reese 44. “You gave the rest of us strength. If it were not for your struggle and what happened to you, this organization wouldn’t be as strong as it is today.”
A look back In 1971, the 46-member RTEA had been bargaining 10 months without a contract. Most of them were experienced teachers who had lived in the community for years. They were active in the community and counted school board members as their friends and neighbors, even socializing with them.
After the Reese school board had rejected first a mediator’s recommendations and then a fact-finder’s compromise, however, teachers decided to take a stand. Forty-four of the 46 teachers voted to go on strike.
On Feb. 22, 1971, to the shock of the community, the teachers walked out, shutting down the schools. Two weeks later on March 5, the Reese school board retaliated, voting to fire the teachers and hire replacements. One month into the strike, on March 22, the school reopened with replacement scabs—substitutes hired by the district.
“I will never share the honored title of teacher with anyone who crosses a picket line,” Worden says today.
On Saturday, April 3, a thousand teachers, friends and supporters from all over Michigan joined the Reese 44 on picket lines that snaked a mile long across the tiny town.
Members of the Reese 44 who presented MEA with the ‘Last One Through The Door Club’ document were (from left) Charlotte Morren, wife of the late Reese 44 member Jake Morren, Verne Purdy, Mary Smith, Don Hinman, Kay Findlay, UniServ director Dave Stafford, Ruth Beyerlein, Rodger Wenzel, George Worden, John Walters and attorney Jim White.
“We will never forget the generosity of the MEA members and people of this state who joined us on the picket line and gave their financial support to us,” Worden said. The strike lasted four months, from Feb. 22 to June 21, with the Reese 44 picketing through the bitter cold of winter into the start of summer, all long days.
There were ugly moments over the four months as detailed in “A Matter of Dignity/ The MEA and the Education Profession,” published by MEA in 1997:
“…when the board opened schools a few weeks later with volunteers and replacement teachers, truckloads of local farmers appeared to support the board—escorting the replacements into the schools. Each day, pickups appeared in the school parking lot with loads of hostile locals, some bearing ax handles and pitchforks. There were catcalls and insults, a few fistfights, and some teachers regularly received threatening phone calls…”
Recalls MEA lobbyist Dave Stafford, who in 1971 was Reese’s 30-year-old UniServ director just six months into the job: “Our local made a conscious decision not to engage in any violent or illegal tactics.”
Fighting the firings
Gene Duckworth, MEA president in 1968-69 and a Delta Community College professor, joined the massive rally in
Reese on April 3, 1971.
MEA and the Reese 44 fought the firings in court. A year later, with several court rulings pending against the school board, the district finally relented.
It offered a $3,000 settlement and to give teachers their jobs back. The teachers never looked back. Most of them already had secured other teaching jobs in other districts. Only a couple years later did two of the Reese 44 return to the district to finish their careers there.
But two other members of the Reese 44, Worden and RTEA Vice President Don Hinman never taught again. They took positions as MEA UniServ directors. “I think we were blacklisted from teaching,” Hinman said.
Stafford put the Reese dispute into historic context:
“In the aftermath, I think districts didn’t have much stomach for protracted labor disputes,” he said. “Yes, in Reese, the school board fired our teachers, but in the end, the courts supported us. The lesson learned then was that it’s better to build positive relationships between the employer and employees rather than to let it deteriorate to the point where you’re hell-bent on war. I know our situation resulted in labor peace for a long time in most places. We also showed districts around the state how much we were willing to risk for a fair contract and to keep our dignity and self-respect.”
The “Last One Through The Door Club” will become part of an MEA history exhibit so members can learn about the heritage of their association.
Remembering the Reese 44
Video comments from Reese 44 members
Then-Vice President Don Hinman on how the Reese 44 experience is relevant today.
Former member Ruth Beyerlein on lessons learned and how the event shaped her.