GRAND RAPIDS - The unveiling of the "Spirit of Solidarity" monument in Ah-Nab- Awen Park near the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum near downtown will take place Thursday, April 19 at 9 a.m.

The nine-foot-tall monument of three bronze figures representing striking furniture workers is the product of ten years of planning and seven years of fund raising.

"The Spirit of Solidarity monument is dedicated to the workers who risked their livelihoods to stand up for the rights for good working conditions and a nine-hour day," reads the invitation to the unveiling. "This event changed the political, social, and religious fabric of Grand Rapids like no other event."

According to UAW Region 1D, the "event" refers to the city's historic furniture strike of 1911. In this strike, 4,000 Dutch, Polish, Lithuanian, and German men and boys left their workbenches on April 19, 1911 and for four months stood up to the furniture barons without a single striker crossing the picket line. By August, scabs, starvation, and the raw economic power of the manufacturers forced their surrender.

Over time, unions became more of a force, and the UAW organized the Royal Furniture Co. in 1937.