In an interview with a worker from the Federal Writers' Project (an agency of the Works Progress Administration), department store clerk Irving Fajans talked about the sit-in strikers – with demands of a forty-hour work week and higher hourly wages—and their twelve-day occupation of five New York City chain department stores.
“Arrangements had been made for food and bedding to be brought in, and the workers notified their families by phone that they would be away from home indefinitely.
There were some canary cages in the store, and we kept the birds fed...They'd trill and wake us up early in the morning.
The strike held out over Easter week, and it happened that some of our people were Italians and Irish Catholics; so since they couldn't attend services, we held Easter services for them in the store.”[1] Although not all demands were met, strikers were partially successful.
After nearly two weeks and numerous arrests of supporting picketers, the occupying workers gained higher wages and union recognition.