DVD Video - Univis Lens Company Strike, 1948

The following description was provided by Sgt. Steve Grismer (retired):

"This is an hour in length and was filmed by WHIO Radio in 1948 (two years before WHIO-TV was born). The film was presented to the Dayton Division of Police and used for training purposes until sometime in the 1960s when it was donated to the Ohio Historical Society. This may be the oldest moving pictures of Dayton police officers. The Univis Lens Co. labor strike lasted about three months and was purported to be one of the nation's more violent strikes.

"There was a Time magazine article about it called "Labor: Brass Knuckles" which described it as "savage". Old timers from the Dayton police force insisted that it was more violent than the 1966 riots. It drew workers from Delco, Frigidaire and GFR Foundry swelling the "mob" (Time) to somewhere between 7,500 and 10,000.

"Although most of the silent film only shows the striking workers and Dayton officers in formation between laborers and the business building, it does have glimpses of a few sldrmishes and a brief face-to-face argument between a labor leader and Chief Wurstner. Even after the strike leaders called off the strike, the workers refused to stop picketing to return to work. It took the Governor coming to town and bringing in the National Guard to end it."