In June, 1934, Rex Murray, president of the General Tire local in Akron, Ohio, discussed a pending strike with fellow unionists. If they hit the bricks, the police would beat them up. But if they sat down inside the plant and hugged the machines, the police wouldn't use violence. They might hurt the machines! So began the era of the sitdown strikes effectively used by unions like the Rubber Workers and Auto Workers to build the CIO. The sit down period lasted only through 1937, but it provided labor history with one of its most colorful chapters.