Career Reflections from Inside a Corporate Giant 1964–1981

Experiences in an American Automobile Plant

This book is about my experiences at a, now closed, General Motors metal casting plant in the Buffalo, New York area. It follows my journey from apprenticeship training in a skilled trade, to becoming a journeyman in the trade, to going back to school for my college degree, and finally being promoted to supervisor of a critical department in the plant.

When most people key the ignition switch or push the start button, they really do not have any idea what is involved in the engineering, technology, equipment, and human labor required to produce a motor vehicle. Heavy manufacturing, especially casting facilities, were and are dangerous places to work. I reluctantly have given the reader examples of several instances of human suffering which took place during my eighteen years of employment as well as many stories from within that GM plant.

For the better part of three decades I carried the material for this book with me and did nothing until our Government decided to bailout GM and Chrysler. At that point I dusted off the attach case and began this journey. You see, GM was not going to go out of business but going into bankruptcy would mean revamping retiree pay and medical benefits for the UAW and that was not going to happen. Six decades of questionable management and union relations at the corporate and plant levels had finally caught up with them.