Abstract While a graduate history student at the University of Alabama-Birmingham, Edward Savela conducted oral history interviews with retired Detroit-area auto workers on changes in the automobile industry as part of research for his master’s thesis. Collection consists of five interviews with retired UAW members chronicling their lengthy careers in the automobile industry in the Detroit metropolitan area. Transcripts and audio recordings available for each. Interviewees discuss apprenticeship...

Abstract In 1974, Harris Howell, along with Dennis East, interviewed Carl Brown, a foreman at Ford Motor Company and a president of the the foremen's union, Foreman's Association of America (FAA), organized in 1941 at Ford. Collection consists of the interview recording and transcript about founding and development of the Foreman’s Association of America.

Abstract Dan Forchione was an active member of the UAW from the 1940s until his retirement in 1988. He helped organize UAW Local 542 at the Ford Motor Company forge plant in Canton, Ohio, in the 1940s and served as the Local’s president and bargaining committee chairperson. In 1954 he was appointed an International representative and assigned to the UAW Ford Department staff. He transferred to the UAW Region 2 staff in 1957 and serviced local unions around Ohio. Forchione was elected director of UAW...

Abstract Plant worker and graduate history student Richard Feldman interviewed UAW Local 900 members at Ford’s Michigan Truck Plant (many of whom had also worked at Wayne Assembly Plant) for his book, written with journalist Michael Betzold, End of the Line: Autoworkers and the American Dream, on the changing nature of the automobile industry, plant management and working conditions, union activities and status, and worker perspectives in the 1980s. Collection consists of 29...

Abstract John Cole worked for the Ford Motor Company for over fifty years. In 1942 he served as an International Representative from UAW Local 50, the Willow Run bomber plant. The papers of Mr. Cole consist of a typescript copy of the union agreement of November 1942 between the Ford Motor Company and the International Union, United Automobile, Aircraft, and Agricultural Implement Workers of America (UAW-CIO).

Abstract Ken Morris served as president of United Auto Workers (UAW) Local 212 and as director of UAW Region 1B. Mr. Morris was active in community affairs and served in various committees such as the Oakland University Board of Trustees, the Oakland County Mental Health Board, and the National Commission on Unemployment and Compensation. Mr. Morris’ papers relate primarily to his activities as Director of UAW Region 1B, and to a lesser degree, his trusteeship at Oakland University, and reflect his...

Abstract This collection consists of the papers of Kenneth Forbes, a UAW leader in the Saginaw area. Forbes held different offices in the union including the President of Local 455 and was also active politically. His collection covers his active years in the union and his retirement and gives a glimpse into the life of the politics and challenges of an elected official in the UAW.

Abstract 'Bill' Williams was a prominent figure in CIO Local 76 (later UAW Local 560), Ford Motor Co. assembly plant in Richmond, CA., helping to organize workers and serve as an officer. His papers reflect events at the plant surrounding the jurisdictional rivalry between the AFL and the CIO and eventual designation as a UAW shop.

Abstract Local 240 is an amalgamated UAW-CIO local representing salaried and office employees in Windsor, Ontario. This local was certified on March 17, 1944, as the collective bargaining agent for certain salaried and office employees employed by Ford Motor Company of Canada in its Windsor offices. The first collective bargaining agreement with Ford was signed in 1946.

Abstract Donald F. Ephlin became active in the UAW at the General Motors Assembly Plant in Framingham, MA in the late 1940s, before joining the International Union staff in 1960. As administrative assistant to UAW President Leonard Woodcock from 1970 to 1977, and later Vice-President in charge of the Ford and subsequently the General Motors Departments, Ephlin played a key role in negotiations with both companies. He helped launch the Saturn Corporation and create a labor agreement which changed the...

Abstract William Gernaey was born in Detroit, Michigan on February 27, 1903. He attended the University of Michigan from 1920-1923 and majored in political economics. From there he studied one year each of business administration and accounting at Detroit Business University. From 1923 to 1927 Gernaey was employed by the Chrysler Corporation Detroit, as an industrial efficiency expert. From there he transitioned to investigating communist activities as an operative from 1927 to 1936. As...