Here is an excerpt of the first chapter of my book "Life Inside The Factory". It details my first couple of days on the job. I think it is typical of everyone's that hired in as an hourly worker. I hope you like it.

The First Ninety Days

New Hire

It all started in September 1973. I had recently been discharged from the United States Marine Corps after completing a three-year hitch. I went home and started school at the local community college, but three weeks later, I realized I wasn’t ready for school. I had a very poor academic record from high school, and at that time, college was too big of a step for me. I dropped out of college after this very short beginning. I felt confused and alone. I found myself longing for the routine and certainty of the Marine Corps.

So not knowing what to do, I went to the unemployment office in Flint, Michigan, and signed up for work. A couple of days later, I received an offer to hire into General Motors as an hourly employee. With nothing else seemingly available, I accepted the offer and thus began my thirty-five-year auto-industry career. I hired into Chevrolet Flint Frame and Stamping. Flint Stamping is located in a complex of three large General Motors plants. In addition to Flint Stamping, the Flint Truck Assembly and the Flint Engine plants are located at the corners of Bristol Road and Van Slyke, at the very southern edge of the city of Flint.

My first morning on the job is a blur for me. I attended some sort of new-hire orientation that lasted for a couple of hours. Then we were walked out onto the factory floor—or I should say, down to the factory floor, as we were on the mezzanine level of the plant and took the down escalator to the floor.

What a shock I received as I rode down that escalator to the shop floor for the first time! I couldn’t believe my eyes. The first thing I heard was the deafening roar of the line presses stamping out the sheet metal parts. In the orientation, they had warned us about the high decibel level of noise in the plant and told us we would be subject to discipline if we didn’t wear the earplugs the company provided for us. I was thankful for the earplugs I was now wearing.

I could also feel the tremendous heat generated by all of the industrial equipment operating as far as my eyes could see. It seemed like an endless sea of men and machinery. There were miles of monorails from one end of the plant to the other. Never in my wildest imaginings would I have pictured the shop to look like this. As we reached the floor level, there was a guy who looked at us, laughed, and said, “You’ll be so-o-r-r-y!” Somehow, we were handed off to our foreman to be given our first job assignments. My first supervisor was a guy named Joe.

My first job assignment was to operate a small spot welder. This is a stand-alone machine that assembles and prepares subassemblies for further use later on. My training consisted of the following: “Take this bracket out of the gondola and place it in the welder. Place the second piece of metal over the first, and then put your hands up here, one on each of the two palm buttons. Continue holding the palm buttons until the machine has completed its entire cycle. Remove the welded assembly out of the machine, and place it in the finished-parts gondola.” The foreman left after I ran a couple of pieces correctly and after warning me about poor quality and not running fast enough—so much for my training on the floor!

Left alone, I began to run as many parts as I could as fast as I could. I really needed this job. A short time later, another hourly employee came up to me and told me to slow down; there was a set amount that could be run in one hour’s time, and I was in danger of violating the agreed-upon standards. I continued to run as instructed by my supervisor while I eyed this guy and sized him up. He was fairly tall but had a rotund stomach and looked to be very out of shape. Remember, I was just six weeks out of the Marine Corps infantry and was highly trained not to take any crap from anybody. This included navy swabbies, army doggies, and out-of-shape production employees. I thought about how I could take this guy down: first, a swift kick to the groin area to start things out and then a couple of quick punches to the head and then maybe a knee to the face as he faltered. This was how I had been trained and what I had been brainwashed into thinking over the past three years. It all came back to me very quickly, in an instant. I was reacting, not thinking. However, in our orientation (which I think was one of the first of its kind in the plant), labor relations went over the “shop rules,” one of which was no fighting allowed. So I thanked the gentleman and slowed way down, praying that my foreman would understand when he came back.

When the foreman showed up again, he wasn’t interested in the parts I had run. We had an emergency, and he needed me to fill in on the press line. He told me that because I had short hair, he was going to give me a “good” job. I was placed on the press line that stamped out tie bars for the 1974 Chevrolet Impala. A tie bar is a piece of sheet metal that goes on the front end of a vehicle. It used to go between the hood and the grille. Nowadays, this part is incorporated into the hood itself.

My job turned out to be painting die goop all around the perimeter of the part as it came out of what I think was the trim die. So I had a bucket of goop and a long-handled brush, and I painted this gooey substance around the perimeter of the entire part. Poor Joe,  though, because if he could have seen how I anticipated having my hair long in about six months, he wouldn’t have given me the “good” job. I hated my Marine Corps haircut; it was high and tight in an era of long hair. When I was home on leave in 1972, I was mildly harassed in a local bar because of my short hair, and I was determined to grow it long enough to have a ponytail. I wanted to fit back into society.

I don’t remember how my first day ended, but for the start of my second day, I knew I had to “punch in” my time card to start my shift. The words I remember my foreman saying at the end of the shift were, “Don’t be late. It’s a violation of the shop rules.” I became very nervous, thinking that I might not be able to find my way to my department in the morning. Then a brilliant idea hit me. I noticed there was a set of train tracks right near the time clock. Feeling good about my discovery, I left the two-million-square-foot facility for the first time. I thought it would be a snap to return quickly to my department time clock location first thing in the morning.

When I got to my car in the parking lot, I realized I hadn’t anticipated the shift-change activity. The second shifters were still coming in, and the first shifters were leaving. There were well over four thousand hourly employees working at the plant, round the clock on three shifts. We had full employment at the time. The parking lot was a nightmare, and I learned that when the hourly employees left the plant, you’d better get out of the way because all hell broke loose. There was the revving of engines, the squealing of tires, the curses, and the shouts to move in a quagmire of gridlock. After being under lock and key all day, the animals had been let free. That first day, I sat in my car and waited for the parking lot to clear before I ventured safely out. Later, I was no different in revving my engine and squealing my tires. I was finally free, and this animal was in control of his life again.

The next morning, I arrived at the plant forty-five minutes early. That left me plenty of time to walk to the time clock and get punched in. I followed the train tracks for what seemed like forever, but I couldn’t locate my department. I was starting to feel uncomfortable, but I still had twenty minutes or so left to get to my time clock. Then I discovered another set of train tracks in the plant. Now things were looking up; I could find my way. Maybe this was the right way to go. I followed this set of tracks for what seemed like an eternity, but I still couldn’t locate my department. There was now less than three minutes to go before punch in. Just great, my second day in the shop, and I’m going to be late. Holy Crap!, I thought. I had been a sergeant in the Marine Corps. I was always the responsible one. I was always in charge, and I took care of everything. We always said in the marines, “Don’t be a worthless piece of shit,” and that was how I felt at that moment. I was a “shit bird,” just like all of the other guys who couldn’t get themselves squared away in the Marine Corps! We marines never desired to be a shit bird.

Another employee must have seen the panic on my face because he asked if he could help me. I told him I was looking for the time clock for my department and it was located by the train well. He told me there were three main train wells and a couple of smaller ones located throughout the plant. He said that you had to go by the column locations. I had no idea what he was talking about. He told me to look up and see the markings on each of the lamb’s-wool green ( that’s the General Motors paint color)  column posts. I looked up, and sure enough, a letter from the alphabet and a number marked each one. He asked me which department I was assigned to. I told him department 176. He was kind enough to walk me to my department and to the time clock. Waiting there for me was the foreman, and he wasn’t very happy. The kind soul explained the situation to the foreman, and the foreman told me he’d let me go this time but never to be late again. Thank you, kind soul, who helped me so long ago.

---

Here is more evidence of the state of my home town Flint, Michigan. Did you know that at one time GM employed 80,000 people in Flint alone. I write about Flint in my book "Life Inside the Factory" and what it was like growing up there. It is sad to see Flint in the condition it is in. I rarely go in there now and if I do I leave as quick as I can.

Flint named among nine cities nearly destroyed by recession

Published: Saturday, January 28, 2012, 7:00 AM

 By Khalil AlHajal | The Flint Journal 
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FLINT, Michigan — In a list of nine cities nearly destroyed by the recession, 247wallst.com, an analysis and commentary site for equity investors, named Flint fifth.

Citing a study commissioned by the United States Conference of Mayors and prepared by IHS Global Insight, the report projects that the Flint area will have 131,700 employed residents by the end of the first quarter of 2012, compared to 151,300 employed residents in the first quarter of 2007 — a 13-percent drop.

"Recovery, is seems, will also be slow as only 600 jobs are projected to be recovered by the end of the year, or just 2.8% of jobs lost," 247wallst.com reported. "The value of exports from the region has dropped 81.9% since 2005 — one of the largest decreases in the country... Poverty rate in the area has risen to 21%, one of the worst rates in the country."

Read the full report here.

Have you ever wondered why the auto industry treated its labor force like they did? My father-in-law always told a story that when he came north to work in the factory he was physically picked up and thrown out of the building because he simply talked back to his foreman and refused to buy him his alcohol. He ended up in the middle of Saginaw street and had to pick stones out of his hair from sliding in the gravel. 


I believe the United States developed its labor tactics from England where they treated their workforce like indentured slaves. It wasn't until the 1960's when Japan began emerging as an industrial giant that   the world saw how a labor force could be treated and if treated correctly it could become an asset rather than a burden.


In my book "Life Inside The Factory" I detail my time spent as an hourly worker inside a GM factory. It is worth your time to read it. It is a first hand account of the way I found it to be in 1973.

FLINT, Michigan -- With the Sit-Down Strike of 1936-37 four weeks old and workers refusing to leave General Motors' Fisher Body plants,  GM President Alfred P. Sloan took his case directly to employees 75 years ago today.

In a full-page Flint Journal advertisement on Jan. 27, 1937, Sloan said the company had "earnestly striven to do everything possible to develop negotiations with the group that has attacked us" and said idled workers had been "deprived of the right to work by a small minority who have seized certain plants and are holding them as ransom to enforce their demands."

View full sizeAlfred P. Sloan Jr. is shown addressing a Buick sales meeting in this 1937 Flint Journal file photo.

Sloan, the son of a wholesale tea, coffee and cigar merchant,  had come to GM as a vice president in 1918 and became president in 1923, according to the book "Sit-Down" by the late Sidney Fine.

"The tall, gaunt, impeccably dressed and very abstemious Sloan was a non-nonsense type who worked at his tasks with single-minded devotion," according to "Sit-Down."

"Tending because of his slight deafness to be rather quiet in the presence of people he did not know, Sloan became known in the GM organization as 'Silent Sloan.' At the time of the Sit-Down Strike he was the highest paid corporation executive in the United States."

Sloan's Flint Journal letter said that there had been efforts "to make you believe General Motors is responsible for the breakdown of negotiations; that we refuse to meet with representatives of our own employees; that we are shirking our moral responsibility; that we have no respect for the public interest.

"You know that this is not true. So, why all these charges? Simply because we refuse to negotiate with a group that holds our plants ransom without regard to law or justice, thus depriving over 100,000 of our peaceful and law-abiding employees of their inherent right to work. That is the reason and the only reason."

Fifteen days after Sloan's message appeared in The Journal, GM and the UAW signed the first agreement between the two parties, and the company recognized the union as the collective bargaining agency for workers.

Other key moments of the strike can be seen here.

Related topics: Ron Fonger, sitdown75

Would you buy a Chevy Volt? Once again GM rushes a product to market only to severely hurt it due to poor engineering. It reminds me of the Corsair. When they finally got that car right no one would buy it. Good Luck on this one.

GM: Bad publicity hurt Volt

Ad seeks to recharge reputation, sales in wake of fed fire probe

• BY DAVID SHEPARDSON 
• DETROIT NEWS WASHINGTON BUREAU
 
• 1 COMMENTS

General Motors is trying to bolster the Chevy Volt’s image with a new commercial that prominently features the vehicle’s Hamtramck home. (GM)

Washington— The day after a congressional hearing into a fire in crash-tested Chevrolet Volt, General Motors Co. acknowledged that sales of the carhad been hurt by bad publicity.

And as the carmaker stepped up its efforts to rebuild the reputation of the Volt, it began airing a commercial titled "Morning in Hamtramck" that portrays the extended-range electric car as part of the fabric of the Detroit enclave in which it is built.

Asked Thursday if Volt sales have taken a hit in January, General Motors North America President Mark Reuss said, "Oh, yes."

Reuss, on the sidelines of the Washington Auto Show, said bad publicity from the government's investigation into fire risks is "definitely a component" of the Volt's sales decline.

GM had its best sales month for the Volt in December with about 1,530 sold. GM sold about 7,700 in 2011, but its sales target was 10,000.

Reuss said when GM restarts production in February at its Detroit-Hamtramck Assembly plant, it will build Volts in a "very reasonable" volume. He said there is some export demand.

GM is focused on rehabilitating the vehicle's reputation. "It's a tough road, but we've got to do it," Reuss said.

On Wednesday, GM began airing a commercial filmed in Hamtramck touting the Volt as "the car America had to build" and saying GM built it "for our town, for our country, for our future."

The ad shows a Chevy Volt assembly line running through the streets of Hamtramck's blue-collar neighborhoods and downtown, while workers install battery packs and put finishing touches on cars. Dogs give chase, and residents and shopkeepers pause as Volts roll down the line.

The commercial is scheduled to run for a month.

Chevrolet ad executive Rich Martinek told The Detroit News the commercial was released to coincide with GM Chairman and CEO Dan Akerson's congressional testimony Wednesday, and his "open letter to America," which ran in newspapers nationwide.

Akerson defended the Volt as safe, and said the car has become "a political punching bag" for some in Congress.

Reuss sent a letter to Volt owners Thursday, thanking them for their support.

Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said Thursday at the Washington show that he was satisfied the Volt is safe. He denied the government gave GM preferential treatment in not revealing that a crash-tested Volt had caught fire for nearly five months after it had occurred.

He also rejected GOP criticism, saying it was inappropriate to disclose the Volt fire until its investigation was complete.

dshepardson@detnews.com

(202) 662-8735

Bryce G. Hoffman contributed.

Looks like GM still can't get it right. It isn't helping my old company being referred to as Government Motors. I wonder if the volt will now quietly go away and become yet another failure for GM?

JANUARY 25, 2012 AT 4:47 PM

Akerson: GM to restructure Volt's image

• BY DAVID SHEPARDSON 
• DETROIT NEWS WASHINGTON BUREAU
 
• 16 COMMENTS

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General Motors CEO Dan Akerson testifies during a House Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. (Mark Wilson/Getty Images)

Washington— General Motors chairman and CEO Dan Akerson strongly defended the safety of the Chevrolet Volt before Congress, saying the plug-in hybrid has become "a political punching bag."

Akerson told a House Oversight and Government Reform panel Wednesday that the events cast "an undeserving, damaging light on a promising new technology.

He added that the Volt has suffered "collateral damage" from the negative publicity and denied that government safety regulators gave GM "a free ride."

"We engineered the Volt to show the world the great vehicles we make at General Motors," he said. "Although we loaded the Volt with state of the art safety features, we did not engineer the Volt to be a political punching bag. Sadly that is what it's become."

Akerson said GM never asked the Obama administration to keep the June Volt fire that occurred three weeks after a crash test a secret, and that GM had no discussions with the White House about the Volt.

Akerson said the company had gone through a painful period of bad publicity. "We're going to have go about reconstructing the image of the Volt," Akerson told reporters after the hearing, noting the company is running newspaper ads touting the Volt.

Akerson told reporters the Volt fix cost was in the "hundreds of dollars" per vehicle.

He also said the June fire of the Volt would not occur in the real world. In September, further tests could not replicate the fire.

"As one customer put it, if they couldn't cut him out of the vehicle in three weeks, he'd have bigger problems to worry about," Akerson said.

Akerson said he drove to Washington in a Volt for the hearing after taking a train from New York to DC. GM and other auto CEOS came under harsh criticism in 2008 for flying in private jets to the hearing.

Akerson recently bought a Volt that had been returned by an owner after the fire investigation.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration chief Wednesday also defended the agency's decision not to disclose the fire in a crash-tested Volt for more than five months.

NHTSA Administrator David Strickland rejected criticism that he should have disclosed the fire earlier.

"We pulled no punches," Strickland said, denying that General Motors Co. was treated differently because it is 26 percent government-owned as part of a $49.5 billion bailout.

NHTSA was in a "pre-decisional posture" and it would have been "irresponsible" to disclose the fire before the agency had determined whether the Volt posed a risk to auto safety, Strickland said.

Strickland said the Volt was safe and added he would drive a Volt.

"Not only that but I would drive my mom, wife and baby sister," Strickland said.

But Republicans hammered Strickland, noting that many Obama administration officials have gotten in a Volt — and lavished praise on the vehicle.

"We are disappointed that NHTSA could have done a better job," said Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., the committee chairman. "The truth is they should have been more aggressive."

They repeatedly questioned why NHTSA waited until after Bloomberg News disclosed the fire on Nov. 11 to make the news public.

"Your agency dropped the ball on this, sir," said Rep. Mike Kelly, R-Pa., a Chevy dealer.

Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, chairman of the subcommittee that held the hearing, praised Akerson's appearance.

"We've got some real concerns with the way NHTSA did this but I think Mr. Akerson handled himself very well," Jordan said.

Jordan trained his fire at NHTSA for not disclosing the June fire earlier.

On Oct. 11, Strickland testified at a hearing on fuel economy standards — where the issue of mass and safety were discussed. But he said the Volt fire wasn't relevant to that hearing, in explaining why he didn't disclose the Volt fire at that hearing.

NHTSA rejected the idea that the agency had treated GM differently than Toyota Motor Corp., which faced intense scrutiny in 2010 over sudden acceleration issues.

Strickland said NHTSA would have disclosed the fire "fairly soon" — even if it hadn't been reported.

GM this month agreed to a voluntary fix — adding new steel to the battery pack and new sensors — to prevent a battery intrusion in a severe side crash. But NHTSA didn't require a recall.

Akerson said GM plans to restart production in "a few weeks" at its Detroit-Hamtramck Assembly plant — about a month after it halted production. When it resumes production, it will include the new safety measures. It also expects to get parts to dealers next month.

GM didn't meet its sales target of 10,000 Volts for 2011, selling less than 8,000. The company also abandoned its sales target of 45,000 for 2012, saying it will match "supply to meet demand."

dshepardson@detnews.com

Good news for General Motors. I hope they do well as that is where my pension check comes from.

JANUARY 20, 2012 AT 1:00 AM

GM again world's largest on strong Chevy sales

Automaker sells 9 million vehicles as disasters hobble Toyota

• BY BRYCE G. HOFFMAN 
• THE DETROIT NEWS
 
• 2 COMMENTS

Peggy Burnside inspects a Chevrolet Sonic at the end of the assembly line at GM’s Orion Assembly Plant in Lake Orion in September. Chevy sold nearly 4.8 million vehicles in 2011, and its growth has become a focus for GM. (GM)

General Motors Co. says it sold more than 9 million cars and trucks worldwide last year — a 7.6 percent increase that allowed the company to reclaim the title of world's largest automaker.

The company said those gains were driven by the Chevrolet brand, which sold nearly 4.8 million vehicles in 2011. That was a record for the brand, which has become the focus of GM's global expansion efforts.

"Chevrolet's impressive growth in both established and developing markets is the result of a strong new product lineup that meets the diverse needs of consumers around the world," GM CEO Dan Akerson said in a statement released Thursday. "In addition to Chevrolet's record-setting sales, the entire lineup of GM vehicles is meeting customer needs for fuel-efficient cars and work vehicles as well as unmatched luxury."

But analysts said GM also benefited from the string of natural disasters that afflicted its archrival, Toyota Motor Corp.

Like other Japanese automakers, Toyota's production was dramatically disrupted by the devastating earthquake and tsunami that struck the island nation last March. Then, just as its factories were getting back up to speed, flooding in Thailand forced key suppliers to suspend parts shipments.

Toyota, which snatched GM's crown in 2008, saw sales tumble in the United States and other key markets. Now, GM appears to have taken it back.

Toyota has yet to report its full-year tally, but its sales in the first three quarters of 2011 were down 8.8 percent. For a while, Volkswagen AG appeared to be outselling both GM and Toyota, but it ended the year with 8.16 million vehicle sales.

"The impact of the earthquake, the tsunami and the floods was significant," said Michael Robinet, managing director of IHS Automotive Consulting. "But I think it's a combination of a number of factors. GM's been doing extremely well in this market, but also making huge strides in China."

In fact, General Motors again sold more vehicles in China last year than it did in the United States. GM and its joint-venture partners sold more than 2.5 million units in China last year, up 8.3 percent from a year before.

The company said its sales were up in each of its four global regions. GM's share of the global automobile market climbed to 11.9 percent in 2011, up from 11.4 percent, GM said.

"The real test will be how well Toyota can come back this year and in coming years," Robinet said. He added that the Japanese automaker is lagging behind many of its rivals — including GM — in terms of new vehicle introductions and styling, and has to deal with the challenges posed by a strong yen. "A lot of their competitors are making significant progress," Robinet said.

One of those competitors is Ford Motor Co.

While its global sales results have yet to be released, the Dearborn automaker last year reported a 2.4 percent increase in Europe — a region that has seen a significant decline in demand.

"Despite the serious economic challenges we all faced in the region, 2011 was an exciting year for the Ford brand in Europe," Ford of Europe chief Stephen Odell said in a statement.

"We made a commitment to relentlessly deliver new products and technologies even in the toughest of times, and it's paying off."

Ford's sales were up 11 percent in the United States as well.

Chrysler Group LLC also has yet to release its full-year numbers, but said sales of its Jeep brand — its most important international marque — climbed 61.8 percent last year in Europe.

bhoffman@detnews.com

(313) 222-2443

MORE ON THIS TOPIC

<

• GM's ‘neglected stepchild’ Saab never fully given a chance to thrive

• ‘Old GM’ buried with bad assets of ’09 bankruptcy

• GM CEO Dan Akerson touts Volt plans

• GM CEO to Congress: Volt is safe

• NHTSA closes Volt fire probe, accepts GM fix

• General Motors comes on strong in Iraq 21 years after war derailed market prospects

• GM picks N.Y. man’s ad to air during Super Bowl

• GM takes crown, selling more than 9 million vehicles in 2011

• Akerson to testify in Volt probe

• GM’s Tom Stephens to retire

• NHTSA: White House had no role in Volt fire disclosures

• GM to repair Volts amid NHTSA probe

• GM to idle plants for truck retooling

• GM to extend most warranties for Saab

• In China, OnStar system drives GM sales

• GM's ‘neglected stepchild’ Saab never fully given a chance to thrive

• ‘Old GM’ buried with bad assets of ’09 bankruptcy

• GM CEO Dan Akerson touts Volt plans

• GM CEO to Congress: Volt is safe

• NHTSA closes Volt fire probe, accepts GM fix

• General Motors comes on strong in Iraq 21 years after war derailed market prospects

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