Just A Little GM History For You...

Did You Know...

Fisher Body (UAW Local 598) was on strike for 136 days (9/24/1969 - 02/06/1970)
http://www.uawlocal598.org/aboutus.html

<s>It's probably why the GSX came out so late in the model year.</s>

Also,
Another UAW union (340,000 workers) was on strike at the GM final assembly plants for 67 days (9/15/1970 - 11/20/1970)

 

Good stuff Marco...

It makes me wonder...who attached the body tags to all those cars built within that time frame? Thats when both of our cars were built 12/69.

I must be missing something o No:

 

Non-union workers, or other salaried employees.

There are many different unions in the UAW, and GM probably 'shifted' them around to keep the cars moving.

Just my <best> guess.

 

Very interesting...

My car was built by scabs? :eek2:
Oh for the shame of it...I feel so stained:laugh:

Just kidding!

 

Yep

And my car was finished just days before the walk out! :TU:

Or did the scabs build better cars, Hmmmmmmm? :eek2: :shock: o No:

 

Hi Jason -

I believe a fire at the Buick transmission plant in MI (I don't know the city/town - does anyone???) dictated the need to use the 'OW' transmissions in the stage1 GSs in the 1971 model year.

I have 'OW' transmissions registered through December 1970, with the first 'BB' showing up in January 1971.

 

I remember that strike -

I remember Dad walking in the door one night and us saying "...what are you doing here?". Perfect timing: we had just bought a new house! It was a pretty lean Christmas for us that year.

I am speculating here but I seriously doubt any scab labor was used to finish the cars. Any strikes I have been involved in the workers walked out and vehicles were left where ever they landed, in various stages of assembly. Date coded parts and labels would already be in process and would be built out after the workers returned. We would typically go back in after the fact and cover cars with visqueen (plastic - especially if there was going to be any maintenence work going on in the area) and there they would sit.

Any work that gets done by salaried employees is done very discreetly, and typically in the engineering ranks or manufacturing; nothing as highly visible as in a vehicle final assembly plant. It would be political suicide, especially in terms of corporate/union negotiations and more especially if they were built in southeast Michigan.

I asked Dad about it last night and he said that's why he was sent home (he was in Manufacturing) - if they're not building cars then they don't need fuel tanks and grills and oil pans made.

Joe Taubitz - chime in here if you are listening.

K

PS - I remember the second strike, too. We had just bought........ a new pickup truck.

PPS - Marco and Mr Big: where were your cars built?

 

Both cars were built at Flint.

 

Thanks for the reply Kieth.

If Fisher Body was on strike, how could my car (or Glen's) have been completed with an 11D cowl date code?

PS - Do you know anyone who assembled TH400s during this era?

 

I was told a story about a GM guy working on a car in late 70s and apparantly a line worker from that strike had put a note in a pop bottle and left it in a door that said F*** the UNION!! after a few years it became dislodged and was banging around inside of the door. ........................

 

Hmmmm

As for the 71 model year Buick Assembly plant strike, notice no stage 1's in the registry from 09B until 12A (strike 9/15-11/21/70). Maybe the lines did stop (or slow way down) for 67 days in 1970. o No:

I see no gaps in the 70 model year stage 1 registry, so they kept on flowing... o No:

 

I'm struggling with that, too

I don't think small parts, like cowl tags, would have that much lead time.

If I get any bursts of inspiration (or find out anything conclusive) I will let you know.


K

 

I recall reading at one time, I think it was in the book "General Motors, The First Seventy Five Years",(Not positive) that the newly designed '73 cars were actually supposed to be the '72 cars, but because of a strike, GM had to carry over the '71 body styles with minor changes for '72.
o No:

 

That's a long strike, and raises many questions.
Did ALL bodies start at Fisher body in Michigan, and then go to all of the assembly plants, or just bodies to be finished at Flint? If it was just UAW local 598 that struck, is that in Flint, or were there multiple Fisher body plants?

 

Well

No, all Buick Final Assembly plants had their own Fischer plant (on or near by). They did NOT ship body shells across the country. To make things more complicated, there were Fisher Body assemby plants, and Fischer Body part plants, that only made parts (like stamping fenders, etc...). Unless we have someone with 1st hand knowledge, it is hard to tell if there were separate unions between the Fischer plants. :eek2:

 

I've read the same thing, somewhere? Is there any truth to it? It would explain why the 71-72 cars are so similar (like just adding rubber strips to the bumpers) and the hood scoops going back to the 70 style.

 

Actually I think my 70 is a 12B car...guess I should check Marco's Stage 1 registry.....

Boy this is really some can or worms :laugh:

Great thread!
:TU:

 

Excuse me!

UAW 598 is the TRUCK PLANT, UAW 599 is/was Buick City, so I'm sorry, there were never any Buicks made/Built by 598, only Chevelles, Corvairs, School buses, Suburbans, Blazers, and LD trucks, today Local 598 is the only plant that builds the GMC/Chevy HD Crew Cabs and Medium Duty trucks. Hey, I grew up there with Local 598, was Fisher Body on the south side and Chevrolet on the north side till the Strike in 1969 at Fisher Body, then became all Chevrolet, never went to the GM Assembly Division! In 1982, became part of the Truck and Bus Group of GM, now just the Commerial Truck Plant part of GM Vehicle Manufacturing.