Louis Garcia discusses his career as frontline worker and manager at REO Motor Car Company and Diamond REO Trucks, Inc

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Description:

Louis Garcia discusses his career as an assembly worker, press operator, and manager at REO Motor Car Company/Diamond-Reo Trucks, Inc, in Lansing, Mi, between 1946 and 1975. Garcia talks about his Hispanic heritage and his childhood spent as a migrant farm worker. He says that in his early years at REO he was singled out and "tested" by other workers and management because of his ethnicity, but still excelled in the workplace, becoming a journeyman and later a supervisor. Garcia also talks about Francis Cappaert’s ownership of REO, the company bankruptcy, loss of the worker pension fund, the final days of plant operations, and employee depression and suicide. Interviewers are Shirley Bradley and Lisa Fine. Recorded as part of the REO Memories oral history project.

Date Issued:

1992-01-28T00:00:00Z

Data Provider:

Michigan State University. Libraries

Collection:

G. Robert Vincent Voice Library Collection

Place:

Michigan, Lansing, Michigan, Lansing, Michigan, and Lansing

Subject Topic:

Career in automobile industry and trade, Childhood and youth, Influence, Finance, Employees, Automobile industry workers, Racism in the workplace, Plant shutdowns, Pension trusts, and Termination

Subject Name:

Garcia, Louis C., Garcia, Louis C., Garcia, Louis C., Cappaert, Francis, Reo Motor Car Company, Diamond REO Trucks, Inc, Diamond REO Trucks, Inc, and Diamond REO Trucks, Inc

Subject Genre:

Interviews, Interviews, Interviews, and Interviews

Language:

English

Rights:

In Copyright

URL:

https://n2t.net/ark:/85335/m5251fk71