User:Astonzia/Willmar 8

Eight female bank employees of the Citizens National Bank in Willmar Minnesota, USA went on strike on December 16, 1977 over charges of sex discrimination. The tellers and bookkeepers were protesting unequal pay and unequal opportunities for advancement.

Poplularly known as "The Willmar 8", the women were Doris Boshart, Irene Wallin, Sylvia Erickson Koll, Jane Harguth Groothuis, Sandi Treml, Teren Novotny, Shirley Solyntjes, Glennis Ter Wisscha

Reaction
"The women's strike caused stress for many in the Western Minnesota town of 14,000 people. Few outwardly showed support for the strike and the lawyer who took the women's case, John Mack, lost his position as county chair of the Republican Party."

From outside Willmar, some women's and labor groups as well as private individuals supported the strike in various ways.

Outcome
In the summer of 1979 the National Labor Relations Board issued a ruling on the complaint. The NLRB determined that the bank was guilty of unfair labor practices, but those practices did not cause the strike. The NLRB ruled that the strike was “economic.” As a result of this decision there was no back pay and no guarantee of the women recovering their jobs.

Rhoda R. Gilman, the author of The Story of Minnesota's Past observed that "across Minnesota and elsewhere, banks quietly began to make some changes."

In 1981 Lee Grant directed a documentary on the the Willmar 8 entitled, "The Willmar 8".