
By Mary Giorgio
Before he was a labor union icon and subject of a fascinating murder mystery, Jimmy Hoffa’s humble beginnings started in the town of Brazil, Ind., in 1913. After his father died when Hoffa was a boy, the family moved to Detroit.

At the age of 14, Hoffa left school to work full-time as a laborer. He organized his first labor union at the age of 20 while working at a Kroger grocery distribution center. Under Hoffa’s leadership, the workers planned a strike to improve their paltry pay and poor working conditions.
Hoffa’s plan was brilliant. He and his co-workers, later called the “Strawberry Boys“, waited for a truck of perishable strawberries to arrive. Then the workers went on strike. Management had to choose between negotiation or losing the expensive strawberry cargo. They chose negotiation. In an hour, the strike was over.
