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- Description:
- Sam describes being hired in September 1968, commuting from Lakeview, MI, and spending ten years on the assembly line. He talks about friction between production workers and trades, performing "government jobs," women in trades, minorities, friendships, conveyor breaks and a car pile-up, labor management relations, and the closing of the plant.
- Date Issued:
- 2006-02-02T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- G. Robert Vincent Voice Library Collection
- Description:
- George talks about standing in line in front of the plant for two days to apply and was hired in August 1978. He shares stories about life in the Body Shop, union and management, coworkers, local bars, dinners, fishing and hunting. George discusses his responsibilities as a member of the Emergency Response Team.
- Date Issued:
- 2005-10-26T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- G. Robert Vincent Voice Library Collection
- Description:
- Robert Fell tells of being hired in 1979, reaching 89 days and being laid off. He rehired in March 1981 and worked in the Trim Shop and eventually Paint Repair. He talks about being appointed as a night shift UAW Safety Rep. He describes the August 1982 fatalities, confined space entry, and safety lockout policies. He discusses everyday life in the factory, relations with management, changing perceptions of the safety department and joint UAW/GM programs.
- Date Issued:
- 2005-08-16T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- G. Robert Vincent Voice Library Collection
- Description:
- Rocky recalls moving to Lansing at age 15 from Kentucky and being hired in June 1963, working ten and eleven hour shifts, participating in a wildcat strike in 1966 over gloves and receiving discipline. Rocky joined management in 1968 and discusses his relations with UAW officials. He built a replica of the Fisher Coach for a parade. Rocky comments on being transferred to Oldsmobile in 1985 following the corporate reorganization to BOC.
- Date Issued:
- 2006-05-02T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- G. Robert Vincent Voice Library Collection
- Description:
- Harry E. Lester, a former district director for the United Steelworkers of America, talks about his labor and political activism in southeast Michigan, his childhood in West Virginia, coming to Michigan in 1953 to work for Ford, later working at Mclouth Steel and joining union Local 2659. He talks about why he became active in the union, receiving labor law training at Michigan State University, establishing a teachers union in Gibraltar, MI, and labor education programs at several state universities. He says that he had a difficult time transitioning from being a "gladiator type" of fighter for the workers to becoming a bridge builder. Lester is interviewed by John Revitte, MSU professor emeritus of Labor and Industrial Relations.
- Date Issued:
- 2013-07-17T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- G. Robert Vincent Voice Library Collection
- Description:
- Doug Sleep talks about his career in the export department at REO Motor Car Company/Diamond-Reo Trucks, Inc., in Lansing, MI, from 1961 to 1975. Sleep talks about preparing trucks to be shipped for sale overseas, about becoming a UAW steward and the deterioration of worker/management relations when the company changed ownership. Sleep describes the difficulty in running a shop with the chronic shortage of parts in the company's last days and final owner Francis Cappaert's attempts to break the union. He also laments the loss of the worker pension fund and the creation of federal pension guarantee program. The interviewer is Shirley Bradley. The first minute of the interview was not recorded. Recorded as part of the commemoration of the REO Motor Car Company’s 100th Anniversary.
- Date Issued:
- 2004-06-22T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- G. Robert Vincent Voice Library Collection
- Description:
- JD shares his diverse career in the military and with several companies before coming to Fisher to assist with the conversion from big to small cars in 1984. JD talks about his friendship with the plant manager, the Conveyor Task Force, UAW-management relations, workforce dedication, working seven days a week and 10-11 hours per day. He also discusses the fatal injury of a subcontractor working in the conveyor system.
- Date Issued:
- 2005-11-02T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- G. Robert Vincent Voice Library Collection
- Description:
- Ken Germanson, Allied Industrial Workers international union staff member, AIW newspaper editor, and president of the Wisconsin Labor History Society (WLHS), talks with Michigan State University Labor and Industrial Relations Professor Emeritus John Revitte via telephone. They discuss pending labor conferences at which they they hope to present, the founding of WLHS, AIW members and leaders they know and the varied attitudes among workers about unions. They also talk about the division among labor activists and anti-war activists in the late 1960s and early 70s and how that played to management's advantage, early socialists and how some of them were racist while others were pro-civil rights and other possible topics they might discuss in the future, including health and safety, collective bargaining, pensions and plant closings.
- Date Issued:
- 2018-04-04T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- G. Robert Vincent Voice Library Collection
- Description:
- Layton Aves, a production worker and UAW organizer at REO Motor Cars/Diamond-Reo Trucks, Inc., claims that in the 1940s only Ku Klux Klan members were allowed to join the union and work at the Lansing, MI plant. Aves says the UAW cooperated with the Klan in order to increase its strength and ability to organize workers and that union-management relations in the plant were often filled with animosity. Aves also talks about his duties at REO, where he worked from 1941 to 1975, life in the plant, his experiences with line speed-ups, piece counts, and time study, and the lives of his grandfather, father and mother, who all worked beside him the the REO factory. The interviewers are Shirley Bradley and Lisa Fine. Recorded as part of the REO Memories oral history project.
- Date Issued:
- 1995-08-08T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- G. Robert Vincent Voice Library Collection
- Description:
- Dr. Robert F. Banks, associate provost and associate vice president for academic human resources, and professor emeritus of the James Madison College at Michigan State University, talks about his childhood in northern New Jersey, his education, becoming interested in labor studies, working with union training programs while in school in England, and earning a doctorate from the London School of Economics and Political Science. Banks talks about labor issues of the day, the abilities of the union members with whom he worked, and the political climate in Britain. He describes how he came to meet his wife then talks extensively about labor issues and the role he played in Britain and the U.S., discusses the general labor movement, then covers a number of researchers and authors. John Revitte explains the information he would like to obtain from Banks at future interviews including the history of the Faculty Grievance Office at MSU, Banks' association with the School of Labor and Industrial Relations at MSU, and issues around unionization at the University, and the office of Ombudsman for faculty and students. Banks is interviewed by John Revitte, MSU professor of Labor and Industrial Relations. First of six interviews.
- Date Issued:
- 2007-12-18T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- G. Robert Vincent Voice Library Collection