ABSTRACT
The strike that formally began in 1954 had its roots in that cold war between the Kohler Company, on the one hand, and some of its workers and the national unions on the other. As Paul Glad observed, with its model community and generous working conditions, Kohler was an improbable location for one of the most bitter struggles over the basic question of whether workers could organize and bargain collectively for their wages and working conditions. The first strike ended without a resolution of this fundamental question. The National Labor Relations Board had to rule whether Kohler Company could sponsor its own union, the Kohler Workers Association, and maintain an open shop or whether it had to allow workers to form their own union and recognize that as an exclusive bargaining agent. In the 1940s, the company sponsored union, the Kohler Workers Association, made repeated efforts to negotiate better wages and conditions.
