"Work Stoppage" At The St Louis Plant

[Terry M.]

Re: "Work Stoppage" At The St Louis Plant

I recall seeing a list of work stoppages in Peter LeCastro's book "Birthplace of Legends" I can not tell you that his list is exhaustive, but why reinvent the wheel.

[John H.]

Re: "Work Stoppage" At The St Louis Plant

Verne -

It was a strike by the Chevrolet workers at the big passenger/truck plant; since the Chevrolet side of the passenger/truck plant and the Corvette plant had the same union local, Corvette was also on strike. There was never a strike at St. Louis initiated by the Corvette plant workforce.

[John H.]

Re: "Work Stoppage" At The St Louis Plant - Add-On

It was strictly a local Chevrolet strike - not a national stoppage.

[John H.]

Re: "Work Stoppage" At The St Louis Plant - Add-On

The union local that represented the Chevrolet workforce was famous for that sort of thing; almost, but not quite, as radical as the Norwood union. When I was in the "big" St. Louis plant in the late fall of '68 launching the new '69 Impala/Caprice, the union had already written a "Paragraph 78" (too much work, a strikeable issue) grievance for every single one of the 2,000+ employees. At the precise moment that the linespeed reached full line rate (65 per hour), all the union committeemen hit the line and had every single worker sign his individual grievance, and by the end of the shift presented thousands of signed grievances to Labor Relations. They did that every year.

[Verne Frantz]

Re: "Work Stoppage" At The St Louis Plant

John,
Thank you very much for the information. As I understand it, it was the union "local" that stopped the work, which included both full-size and Corvette plants, but not a wide-spread union action against "Chevrolet" that affected other plants. My research into production totals at other plants confirms that. I have no indication of slow-downs at other Pass plants in Nov. I'll assume that I have that clear now, unless I hear from you otherwise.

As always, I truely appreciate your accurate and historically correct information. For your sake, and the sake of our hobby, I hope you remain healthy for a VERY long time. Don't let it go to your head, but you are an extemely important resource in our collective archaeological dig into the history of these cars we love.

Thanks again
Verne