Robert Holmes, ex-Teamsters- helped build labor movement in Detroit, dies

[shugah]

Robert Holmes, ex-Teamsters officer who helped build labor movement in Detroit, dies at age 94

February 20, 2006
Robert (Bobby) Holmes, whose act of defiance in a Detroit warehouse during the 1930s led to the rise of the Teamsters, died Sunday at age 94.

He died of heart failure at Harper Hospital in Detroit, said his wife, Violet Holmes. He lived in Farmington Hills.

~snip~

Holmes and coworkers Jimmy Hoffa and Bert Brennan planted the seed for the Teamsters when they organized a 1931 strike at a Detroit warehouse to get the union recognized.

The effort led to one of the most powerful and effective unions in the country, said Richard Leebove, spokesman for the Michigan Teamsters.

http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060220/NEWS08/602200416/1001/NEWS

[wicket]

1. A fine, patriotic man

Rest in Peace. :patriot:

[slampoet]

2. I'd like to thank Mr. Holmes for everything he did for my family.

My Grandparents' generation in Michigan were the exploited auto workers that Mr. Holmes fought so hard to help.

Without him my Grandparents would NEVER have been able to send my parent's generation to College and end the cycle of poverty.

[Dancing_Dave]

3. I'm in the same boat as slampoet

It's the labor movement in Michigan which ultimately made it possible for me to exist!

[TomClash]

4. What's a labor movement?

Oh yeah - it's that thing we need in the USA.