back to the six-hour shifts for its employees, Goodyear was forced to lay off around 700 workers due to decreases in tire sales. This round of layoffs was the final event between management and workers that caused the workers to start the picket strike on February 14, 1936. Throughout the strike, there were as many as 10,000 workers, which included people from all trades in the city of Akron, that picketed around the many gates to the Goodyear factory. The leaders of the strike were able to maintain strong morale among the striking workers during the strike largely due to the playing of music. There are a couple of known attempts to break the picket strike by using force, the first of which was by the police. The sheriff's force consisted of around 150 deputies as the force approached the striking workers. At the last possible second, the sheriff's force decided against attempting to break up the striking workers due to the number of people that they would be confronting. The second known attempt to break the strike by using force was by a Law and Order League. This group was financially funded by Goodyear and was managed by a former mayor of Akron. The group consisted of approximately 5,200 members that were fully prepared to attack the striking workers if told to do so. As a way of avoiding a violent confrontation, the Summit County Central Labor Council was able to convince the Law and Order League to not attack the striking workers. During the time of the picket strike, Goodyear's management and the URW were busy negotiating terms that would allow for the workers to go back to the factories and continue production. Goodyear's management refused to formally sign any agreements between the two sides, causing the negotiation process to potentially take longer than it should have. By the end of the negotiating process, Goodyear had capitulated on many of the major demands by the workers. These demands included layoffs by seniority, six-hour work shifts, and regular meetings between management and union representatives. The workers came away from the strike largely victorious, and their excitement was shown by a march of 5,000 delighted workers throughout the streets of Akron following the announcement that the strike was over. Even though the strike had halted production for about a month, Goodyear had three months of inventory built up prior to