SMACK in the middle of Flint, Michigan, and a stone’s throw from Swartz Creek Valley Park and the interstate 69 sits, behind UAW Region 1D office, one of the most remarkable memorial to workers’ struggles anywhere.

Its hub consists of a sculpture that is unusual and innovative in shape and form — it is a 3D replica of a memorable Sheldon Dick photograph, taken in January 1937, depicting General Motors workers occupying the Flint plant during their 44-days-long, victorious sit-down strike between December 30 1936 and February 11 1937 — 99 years ago.

Critical to the momentous achievement of the GM workers at Flint was their use of the “sitdown” tactic consisting of an occupation of the plant/works, that was essential to prevent strikebreakers from continuing production, and also the removal of machinery to relocate production elsewhere.

The method was developed by the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) international union, founded in 1905, and it was used successfully on a large scale becoming, after Flint, a template for trade union struggles for many decades, both in the US and abroad.

A UAW organiser Walter Linder recalled later the actions of the strike leaders: “After securing the plant, they held a mass meeting and elected a committee of stewards and a strike strategy committee of five to govern the strike. Then committees were organised: food, police, information, sanitation and health, safety, ‘kangaroo court’, entertainment, education, and athletics. 1,200 stayed to hold the plant, the rest being sent outside to perform other tasks. Two meetings of the entire plant were held daily.”

Crucial to the final triumph were the all-female Emergency Brigade lead by Genora Johnson Dollinger who organised supplies, picketing and agitated for support among the 80,000 citizens, many hostile to the strike action, of the “vehicle city” as Flint was referred to.

A lesser known fact, omitted in many later studies for obvious reasons, is the role played by the Communist Party (CPUSA) and its influential and trusted industrial organisers.

Two of the strike leaders Wyndham Mortimer and Robert Travis, were communists with much organisational experience who had won the trust of the autoworkers in Flint. When Mortimer came to Flint in the summer of 1936 the union was non-existent, small in numbers, and its leaders predominantly GM infiltrators distrusted by the workers.

At the UAW HQ in Detroit lawyers, Maurice Sugar and Lee Pressman, were communists who took part in all of the negotiations with GM.

In addition many of those who provided practical support for the Sitdown on the outside, including funding, were communists.

In victory, songs were written saluting the struggle, and the union men marched down the main streets of Flint to the UAW local HQ. They understood they had changed labour history forever. In the year after the momentous achievement the UAW membership grew from 30,000 to 500,000.

On Labour Day, September 1 2003, the above life-size monument, sculpted by Janice Trimpe, a native of Detroit, was unveiled in the now landscaped Sitdowners Park. It was the culmination of tireless efforts by the Sitdowners Memorial Committee.

It is rare for a sculpture to replicate successfully a photograph. In Britain we have one such example: a stunning adaptation by Peter Hodgkinson of the famous “Splash” — a John Horton photograph of legendary Preston North End footballer Tom Finney sliding, on August 25 1956, through a waterlogged Stamford Bridge - that will always beguile.

Trimpe opted for realism and while the replacement of the work benches with a pedestal, and her mise en scene not replicating the original might be open to debate as poetic licence, there is no doubting the emotional charge and impact of the piece which studiously avoids heroism. In fact it is the “normality” of the scene that transmits the determination of the Sitdowners.

Six years later the memorial was augmented by a tribute to the Women’s Auxiliary and Women’s Emergency Brigade.

Sculptures depicting emblematic actions during the 44-day strike were added gathered around the centre piece wall holding original windows from the Flint plant.

Descriptive plaques recognising significant social contributions made by women were also installed as were benches to encourage contemplation.

A granite fountain with a floating globe alludes to the internationalism of workers’ struggles.

Every Labour Day a UAW commemoration event, known as White Shirt Day, is held in memory of the Sitdown and those who bravely saw it through.