FLINT, MI - Almost 80 years ago a group of 50 men started the Flint Sit-Down Strike inside General Motors' Fisher Body Plant 2, beginning a 44-day work stoppage that would end when GM recognized the United Auto Workers as the bargaining agent for hourly workers.

The strike began when the men sat down on the line in protest against the transfer of three inspectors who refused to quit the union.

Scroll through historic Flint Journal photos above from the strike.

Nine days after the strike started, police took a more active role by making arrests in front of Chevrolet's Plant 9 at West Kearsley and Asylum streets following a "pitched battle" there, according to The Flint Journal's archives.

A couple of days after the first arrest, police fired tear gas outside and inside Fisher No. 2, according to "Sit-Down," a book detailing the history of the Sit-Down Strike by the late Sidney Fine.

The conflict escalated Jan. 11, 1937, during the "Running of the Bulls" at Fisher No. 2, when occupying workers clashed with police in bloody fighting that injured 28, according to The Journal's archives.

"On Jan. 11, violence began outside of Fisher Body 2, when company police shut off the heat, locked the gate to the plant and removed the ladder used to supply food to the strikers," according to the book "The Flint Sit-Down Strike of 1936-37: Witnesses and Warriors."

"When the sit-downers forced the gate open, the company police called in the Flint police to help and they responded with tear gas and bullets," the book says.

Michigan Gov. Frank Murphy then brought in 1,200 national guardsmen by train and truck the next day, saying, "Law and order will be maintained in Michigan," The Flint Journal reported at the time.

The clash continued on Jan. 31, when workers took over Chevrolet No. 4.

"In addition to the Fisher Body plants, the strikers today are holding possession of Chevrolet plant No. 4, a motor assembly division on Chevrolet Avenue, near Glenwood," The Flint Journal wrote at the time. "They took charge of this plant late Monday afternoon after more than 25 persons had been injured, one of whom is in serious condition...

"Monday's outbreak was the climax of unrest, which has been smoldering beneath the surface in Flint for several weeks and marked the first attempt by the majority of workers who are opposed to the strike and its out-of-town leadership to fight for their jobs," The Journal story said.

GM President Alfred P. Sloan took out a full-page advertisement in The Flint Journal on Jan. 27, 1937, that said the company had "earnestly striven to do everything possible to develop negotiations with the group that has attacked us." The ad said idled workers had been "deprived of the right to work by a small minority who have seized certain plants and are holding them as ransom to enforce their demands."

Fifteen days after the ad ran, GM and the UAW signed the first agreement between the two sides - and recognizing the UAW as the union as the collective bargaining agent for hourly workers.

Dominic Adams is a reporter for The Flint Journal. Contact him at dadams5@mlive.com or 810-241-8803. Follow him on Twitter, Facebook or Google+.