MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY – SHAWN NICHOLSON RENIDA (R.T.) TAYLOR DISCUSSES HER CAREER AS A PRODUCTION WORKER AND MEMBER OF THE UAW BARGAINING COMMITTEE AT THE FISHER BODY PLANT IN LANSING, MI [recorder clicking] Marilyn Coulter: [Go 0:00]. [thumping] [knocking] Cheryl McQuaid: This is Cheryl McQuaid with Lansing [tapping] Fisher Body Historical Team. It's January 6, 2006. It's approximately 8:30 a.m. We're at the Greenhouse preparing to interview Renida [tapping] Taylor. First, we'll [papers rustling] identify everybody else in the room. Marilyn Coulter: Marilyn Coulter. Earl Nicholson: Earl Nicholson. Jerri Smith: Jerri Smith. John Fedewa: John Fedewa. Cheryl McQuaid: [0:21] Renida, would you please state your name and spell your last name for us? Renida Taylor: Renida Taylor, T-A-Y-L-O-R. [tapping] Cheryl McQuaid: [0:27] And what is your address? Renida Taylor: I live at 16916 Ingersoll [tapping] Road, Lansing, Michigan. Cheryl McQuaid: [0:34] Um, are you married? Renida Taylor: No. Divorced. [papers rustling] Cheryl McQuaid: [0:37] Any children? Renida Taylor: One daughter, one stepson. Cheryl McQuaid: [0:42] Um, [clicking] what did your parents [papers rustling] do? Renida Taylor: My father was butcher by trade and [clanking] my mother, uh, did Stanley Home Products and [papers rustling] worked in a little PennyWise, which is similar to a Woolworth’s, back in Endicott, New York. Cheryl McQuaid: [0:57] And so you were born in New York? Renida Taylor: I was born and raised, graduated from high school in, uh, Endicott, New York. Uh, came out here in 1972, January of ’72, uh, because my new husband, who I married in ’71 had an older brother already established out here, so came out here so he’d have a job. Cheryl McQuaid: [1:18] And could you give is a little bit on your educational background? Renida Taylor: Uh, yeah. I graduated from Union-Endicott High School in Endicott, New York, and I have taken numerous college credit courses. I should really, uh, get together with somebody and figure out where I'm at as far as a degree goes 'cause over the years, I've taken an awful lot. Cheryl McQuaid: [1:37] And any military background? Renida Taylor: No. Cheryl McQuaid: [1:44] Why did you come to Fisher Body [background noise] for employment? [throat clearing] Renida Taylor: In November of 1980, I was laid off from my then job, Cook Herman Volkswagen-Volvo-Mazda and [knocking] in – on February 21st of 1981, after having been laid off for 3 months, my, uh, neighbor called me on a Sunday morning and she had already been employed at Fisher Body for [thumping] 10 years or so and said she knew that I was looking for a job and that they were hiring. So I gathered up my sister and the 2 of us went and stood in the line at the South Lot for about 6 hours in the freezing, sleety rain and we both got hired. Started March 27, 1981. Cheryl McQuaid: [2:29] Do you remember that first day? Renida Taylor: I certainly do. There was about 200 of us that hired in to populate the nightshift, second shift out in C Trim. And, uh, the thing that impressed me [engine humming throughout audio] the most was how huge [clinking] the building was. Seeing trains inside of the building just – I was in awe. It was remarkable. [thumping] Cheryl McQuaid: [2:50] And you hired in on second shift? Renida Taylor: On the second shift. Cheryl McQuaid: [2:53] What department? Renida Taylor: Trim – C Trim. Cheryl McQuaid: [2:56] Do you remember the job that they put you on? Renida Taylor: Yeah. I was hired in on Utility. Cheryl McQuaid: [3:01] What is Utility? Renida Taylor: Which is absentee replacement. Uh, I was told to learn all the jobs in the supervisor’s area. And at that time, it was actually 2 supervisor’s areas. It was anything that included [thumping] the urethane jobs, which was back glass, [throat clearing] uh, front windshields, some – and, and the line came outta Paint. The first part was a urethane area. Eh, then it went down and swept w-, around and they put vinyl tops in. So some back glass couldn't be put in till after the vinyl tops were on. So once you got back down to the other end towards the Paint shoot, that was considered [thumping] urethane again and they put some back glass in back there. And that’s what I hired in on. Cheryl McQuaid: [3:42] So you had a large area… Renida Taylor: Yeah. Cheryl McQuaid: …of jobs to learn? Renida Taylor: Right. [thumping] Cheryl McQuaid: [3:46] How many jobs? Renida Taylor: Oh, God. I couldn't tell ya for sure. I'd have to think about all the jobs that were in those 2 areas. Uh, but what was funny was that I was told I had to learn all the jobs except urethane by George Burdette because I was left-handed and all the guns that you used to put the urethane on the glass were right-handed. [clanking] Well in those days, they did swap and after about, I don’t know, a month, [Verlin Ward 4:13] came to the nightshift and said how many jobs ya know. I said all of’m. He says all of'm. Well except urethane. And he says go learn it. I said well [George 4:22] told me I didn’t have to learn it 'cause all the guns are right-handed. Go learn it. [laughter] So it took me about a month [coughing] and I learned it. I was covered from head to foot in urethane [thumping] for a while but [clicking] I got it. [rattling] Cheryl McQuaid: [4:35] What did you think of the supervisors then? Renida Taylor: Oh, they were a different crew back then. [rattling] Uh, there was a lot more power on the floor. If they gave you a decision, it stood. None of what goes on now that the first line supervisors – they don’t give you an answer. They have to go check with their boss or, eh, eh, you know, you can't even give, eh – there's no use even presenting a grievance at the first step to a supervisor today because they won't answer it. They have to get a – an answer from their boss. Back then the supervisors, even though they were, eh, you know, the old school where they might wanna burn ya just for, eh, looking crosswise at’m, they, [throat clearing] they, they had some integrity. They said what they meant and they meant what they said. Female: [Mm-hm 5:16]. Cheryl McQuaid: [5:17] Do you remember any of the people that you hired in around? Renida Taylor: Oh, yeah. Sure. [Kendra Bailey 5:21] hired in the same day as I did. [Jean Wicker 5:23], [Shannon Cole 5:24], uh, eh, and I can tell ya the people almost out of the shoot everybody that was in that area. Uh, Wayne Duncan [throat clearing] and uh, uh, the windshield guys were [Jimmy Lock 5:37] and Gail Crandall who doesn’t work there any longer, Uh, [tsk] oh, who else was it? Oh, what was her name? [Tina Snyder 5:46]. Um, there was [Diane Spekene 5:52] and Donna Holbrook, Linda Johnson. Uh, let's see who else. Oh, [Marty 6:00], um, [Plowman 6:01], [tsk] Doug Young, uh, [Georgia Yallis 6:05], Animal, which is [Jim Skazawak 6:09], was our pickup man, which is equivalent today to a coordinator. Um, there was a ton a people. It was a big area. [tapping] Cheryl McQuaid: [6:19] What did you think about the people you worked around? Renida Taylor: Well I immediately liked’m, eh, everybody. Uh, uh, I'm kind of a social person anyways but just having that common thread, which, uh – the sense of equality that you only find in a unionized shop. It's not like where I had worked previously. Somebody had status, if you will, if they were, [thumping] you know, the parts manager or the service manager versus a common mechanic or the office manager versus a receptionist. Everybody was the same. Cheryl McQuaid: Marilyn Coulter? Marilyn Coulter: That was, um, s-, part of my question. [6:56] Uh, since you – as you just got through telling us what the, uh, [sighing] management was like at the previous plant that you were in, how were [coughing] the people different from your coworkers in the Mazda facility and also, um, what were, um – yeah – what type – what did you know the difference about the 2 cultures? Renida Taylor: Well, eh, it wasn’t a Mazda facility. It was Cook Herman Volkswagen-Volvo-Mazda dealership. Marilyn Coulter: Oh, okay. Renida Taylor: And I hired [throat clearing] in there as a receptionist… Marilyn Coulter: Oh, I see. Renida Taylor: ..and then I was a, a service writer and then one day [tapping] the owner walked up to me and said go back and run the body shop. [thumping] Uh, he was the boss. You did what he told ya. Uh, I worked in the office. There as, as I said, the structure was a little different. If you were the office manager, although you might've been my friend, there was a status thing. Female: Mm-hm. Renida Taylor: Uh, if you were a mechanic versus the service manager. Service writers were considered a little bit above the, uh, uh, say the, the oil change boy. But when you walked in the doors at Fisher Body, everybody was the same. Marilyn Coulter: [8:10] How did it work for you going from being like an office manager to working [rattling] on the assembly line? [8:16] What was it like for you to work on an [rattling] assembly line? Renida Taylor: Uh, it didn’t really bother me in any way [throat clearing] other than eventually any job gets boring. I, eh – for me, it's always been the social – the people, meeting new people and exchanging ideas. So, eh, eh, actually I, I really thought for the amount of money we made, which was $9.32 an hour when I hired in, uh, it was great. I couldn't believe it. I had been doing what I had been doing [clanking] [thumping] and being required to work on Saturdays when the salespeople were the, uh, just an awful lotta responsibility without the pay at my former place [throat clearing] [inaudible 8:57] place of employment. So I was tickled pink to get hired in. Female: [Mm-hm 9:01]. Marilyn Coulter: [9:02] So what was it like to work on the nightshift inside Fisher Body? Renida Taylor: Uh, eh, I, uh, eh, eh, aside from the fact that I had a 9-year-old daughter made it very difficult for her formative years to be stuck on the nightshift, I, I actually enjoy nightshift better. Marilyn Coulter: [9:25] What made you enjoy it better? Renida Taylor: Well I think, eh, f-, first of all, there’s way too many big cheeses walking around on the dayshift. Uh, they're stumbling over themselves and I've always felt management was top heavy. Uh, they leave you alone – obviously on the nightshift, there’s a lot less of'm. You can make a decision on the nightshift and get something [tapping] done a lot better than you can on the dayshift. And for me personally, I think if you work the nightshift, you have a whole day to take care of things. [throat clearing] N, now today m-, everything’s open 24 hours but 25 years ago, [thumping] they weren't and if you had business to take care of, you had to take care of it on the dayshift. So if you were a dayshift employee, it was hard to t-, get anything gone. That’s why there was even provisions in our local a-, agreement to – for doctors a-, appointments, etc., because dayshifters [background noise] had to do it on the dayshift. Cheryl McQuaid: [tsk] Cheryl McQuaid. [10:17] How old were you when you hired in? Renida Taylor: 28. Cheryl McQuaid: [10:21] So this might be tough, Renida, but could you think about when you first hired in walking into the plant what a typical day was like for somebody in [extra] [inaudible 10:32], um, Utility. Renida Taylor: Yeah. Uh, they had a process that you reported to the supervisor’s office and you didn’t even necessarily [thumping] have to talk to the supervisor because anybody who wanted the day off at that time went in and wrote their name on a piece a paper. So the Utility people knew and usually the supervisor would tell ya hey, uh, Susie, Bobby and Tom are going home, those are the 3 jobs you have to cover. And then amongst themselves, the Utility people would say okay, I'll take Bobby’s job; you take Susie’s job; [thumping] so and so t-, takes Timmy’s job. Uh, and that worked pretty well in most areas unless you got a supervisor who decided they preferred [tapping] a person, uh, you know, a personal friend or whatever and then they l-, allowed them to take [throat clearing] the favor-, favored job every time. And that was changed and addressed the, uh, ’87 Negotiations Local Agreement to rotate Utility, to alleviate that, uh, uh, disparity. [clanking] Cheryl McQuaid: [11:35] Do you remember who trained you on some of the jobs that you had [tsk] to learn. Renida Taylor: Well the employees were – trained you. E-, uh, each [coughing] individual job. [Diane Spekene 11:42] [throat clearing] taught me how to put back, uh, moldings on the Cutlasses [clicking] back in those days on the right hand si-, or – excuse me – the left-hand side of the car and Donna Holbrook on the left [clicking] [clanking] or – excuse me – [laughter] right. [thumping] Uh, and each employee – eh, when you went to learn urethane, you had to get Craig Johnson outta the way – he hired in same day as, day as me – uh, outta the way and he’d show your – you'd try to run a practice glass, etc. Eh, so the employees taught ya. [thumping] Cheryl McQuaid: [12:12] Do you have any other family members that work at Fisher Body? Renida Taylor: Yeah. I have a younger sister that works in the Body Shop. Cheryl McQuaid: A-, oh, that’s right. She hired in with you. Renida Taylor: S-, she has 2 days more seniority than me. And she didn’t wanna get outta bed that day. [laughter] [tapping] Cheryl McQuaid: [12:29] What was it like standing in that line for 6 hours? Renida Taylor: Well it was s-, for me it was just hopeful. Uh, I was a single mother. I was getting no child support and I was working for $5.65 an hour before I’d gotten laid off 6 weeks before Christmas. So I was hopeful and desperate and hoping that I’d get the job. I didn’t care it was cold. [popping] Uh, it was an opportunity [papers rustling] for me. Cheryl McQuaid: [12:52] Did you meet many people in that line? Renida Taylor: No, not really, just the common how long have you been standing here, you know, did you know anybody [clanking] because rumors had been about, uh, you could go – if you knew somebody or [tapping] knew a supervisor, etc., you'd have – they’d pull your card, your application, eh, eh, just general conversation. [pen clicking] Marilyn Coulter: Um… Cheryl McQuaid: Marilyn Coulter? Marilyn Coulter: Marilyn Coulter. [clicking] [13:17] R.T., you came in 19 – in the ’80s. Um, there's some certain things about you that we'll get into later that [had that 13:26] but during your time there, what were some of the biggest [papers rustling] environmental or working conditions that changed over those th-, s-, from there to 2007? Renida Taylor: The one that sticks out in my head the most is that, eh, back when I hired in, there was no, [tapping] um, ergonomic matting. Now you – when you stood and built windshields [tapping] all day, uh, that was done on the concrete and I can tell ya that my legs hurt for about 6 weeks and I was in really good [laughter] physical condition. I was a tennis player. They hurt for 6 weeks. Until it finally hit me it was standing on the concrete. And today there’s very few spots that doesn’t have ergon-, or, or at least before the plant [clicking] went down that didn’t have ergonomic matting. Made all the difference in the world. Marilyn Coulter: What – and you just said something. Before you, uh – so [tapping] I'm gonna digress a little bit. [14:19] Before coming in to the Fisher Body plant, had you heard anything about the plant or Fisher Body before you came in? Renida Taylor: Yeah, of course, uh, just like everybody out there now that has, has no experience, uh, with actually being an autoworker. I heard the overpaid, uh, beer-drinking, lowlifes, etc., and th-, within, within a couple a weeks, I realized how hard the people really worked and what a, what a toll it would take on your body over a period of time, which it has on an awful lotta people that are now up there close to my age. Um, it's, eh – there was a lot of drinking. There was a lotta drugs in the ’80s, way worse than it is today. But, uh, I think part of that was just the monotony of it. Marilyn Coulter: Mm-hm. Renida Taylor: But the jobs w-, most of those jobs really do take a toll on ya. You earn your money. Marilyn Coulter: [15:13] W-, were there other things about the people, your coworkers that the public might have believed about'm but you found [knocking] that it was untrue? Renida Taylor: [tsk] Uh, the a-, another thing that I remember really [coughing] simply was the, the impression before you go in there is that everybody’s, uh, uneducated, illiterate and just in my own area, I know I – Linda Johnson [clanking] who’s been our newspaper editor for oh, I would say it was probably [tcho-tcho-tcho] ’84 when [Louis Schultz 15:43], [tapping] uh, [tapping] put her on that job. When I hired in, she was on the line putting on front windshield moldings and she had a degree in journalism. There was an attorney, who’s no longer there – um, oh, I can see’m right in front of me. Eh, I'll come up with it in a minute. There was, there was a couple of attorneys actually. Um, there was quite a few educated people who chose to come in there just because the, the wages and benefits were so good. And there, there were a lot of educated people. Dave Brown has a degree. Female: Mm-hm. Marilyn Coulter: Um, so I know that you said that there were, [coughing] there were some drugs; there was some drinking. [16:28] What, what, what types of things did you – when you were working on the average day, did you notice any pranks or things? [16:34] What types of things did people do [clicking] to get them through their day other than maybe drinking and occasional [thumping] [drugging 16:39]. Renida Taylor: Oh, well, eh, when it was hot in the summertime, we had water fights. [laughter] No question about that. ‘Cause I had a guy come up with a butt can one time, [thumping] a big 5-gallon butt can full a water and threw it at me [laughter] across the car and hit me. [laughter] Well that was, as I said earlier, that was before you could put the back glass in. It had to go to [tapping] vinyl tops. Well by the time it got to vinyl tops, which was what f-, sixty yards away, they couldn't put the vinyl top on, so they had to stop the line because that car was full a water and, naturally, nobody knew who did what to anybody but I was standing there covered with water. [laughter] [coughing] [thumping] Yeah, they do pranks and stuff like that. That was a l-, that was fun. Marilyn Coulter: [17:23] Were there other things? I know that they had things like in-plant vending and… Renida Taylor: Eh, in-plant vending? Marilyn Coulter: Mm-hm. Renida Taylor: Well you had people like [Daryl Mangles 17:34] that would, uh, go around and sell pop and ice cream in the summertime and sandwiches and you had, uh, uh, [Daryl Bruner 17:43] that was always running, eh, 1 raffle after another f-, uh, there was all kinds a people. [Terry 17:51] – [snapping] oh, what was his last name? [Terry 17:54] – remember he got caught in the scam that he raffled off a car and then it ended u-, he ended up giving it to his own cousin or brother? Oh, I can't think of his last name. Anyways there was always somebody trying to run some scam making money. You know… Marilyn Coulter: So… Renida Taylor: …extra money. Marilyn Coulter: There were different things. Now, um, one thing that I know about you is that you became union active in the plant and, um, and you moved up quite the ladder. [18:31] Um, what made you want to become involved [clinking] in your local union and how did – [clanking] you want to tell us a little bit about how that happened and some of the changes you were able to make happen for your coworkers on the floor? Renida Taylor: Well [sighing] Gary t-, Bernath doesn’t like me telling this story but he’s the reason why I ran for election the first time because back in, uh, ’83 I was on Utility still [thumping] and George Burdette walked up to me and told me report over to Ken DeRosa’s area, the next area over. I said why, eh, the contract says the low man gets reassigned, which I'd already read our Local Agreement. And he said I don’t care what it says; get over there. Well, of course, I put a committee call in. My committeeman at that time was [Joe Cerna 19:14] but, uh, Gary Bernath was the alternate. So Gary Bernath came out and I explained the situation to him, that I wasn’t the lowest seniority because Tim, uh, even though he had ’78 corporate seniority, had come over from, uh, the parts plant. So at that time – remember our separate seniority? We had corporate seniority and you had in-plant [tapping] seniority. Gary went away and was gone a couple hours and came back and told me that naw, that’s the way it is R.T. and I just knew that that was wrong and I well I could do a better job. So when the next election came up about 3 months later, I ran and to my advantage, [Joe Cerna 19:53] [knocking] had gotten disciplined for [laughter] being drunk in the plant. Got a week off [laughter] about 1 week before the election. And there was 6 of us running. So I just squeaked by 36 to 30 was my first election. [laughter] Marilyn Coulter: [20:07] And it was your first election but now with you being [clanking] a female, were there [clicking] many females who were committee representatives? Renida Taylor: When I first got elected in ’83, no [zipping] there wasn’t. It was all men on the nightshift. But I was thinking about that on the way over here. In, uh, the ’86 elections, there was a lotta women. [Elaine Lee 20:26] was a district committeeperson. Marilyn Coulter: Mm-hm. Renida Taylor: [Debbie McNichols 20:28] dayshift Paint or [Debbie Clements 20:30] today. [background noise] Barb Johnson was Dick Bennett’s alternate. Um, [Marcia Ralia 20:38] – remember [Marsha Soblisky 20:40] and she got married… Marilyn Coulter: Yeah. Renida Taylor: …[Marsha Ralia 20:41], she was a fulltime committeeman. Um, oh, what's her name? I can see her right in front of me. In QC – beautiful black woman, uh, [Hazel 20:56]… Marilyn Coulter: [Hazel Hosh 20:57]. Renida Taylor: [Hazel 20:57]… Marilyn Coulter: [Hazel Hosh 20:59]. Renida Taylor: So, eh, eh, back then up – eh, in ’86 there was quite a, quite a shift. All the sudden you had 5-6 women that were in positions – [thumping] elected positions. Marilyn Coulter: [21:11] And even though the population, which was predominantly men, elected you, how did that work for you and the other women? Renida Taylor: Uh, I don’t think it bothers me at all, uh, 'cause I've always been tomboyish. I think there was a definite sexism that you could feel and some people were blatant about it – well [tapping] you don’t belong in that job; that’s a man’s job, uh, with some of the old timers. But the people out on the floor certainly accepted [thumping] it fine. [clicking] They didn’t have a problem with it. And, and in fact, I'm not trying to take credit for it but I think it might've showed some of these other women that they could, in fact, run and get elected because 3 years later quite a few did, [thumping] did run and did get elected. Marilyn Coulter: [21:55] So were there, um, [coughing] specific things that you remember as far as helping the work life of the employees, that things that you knew as an employee needed to be worked on that you were able to help change? Renida Taylor: Well I'd like to think [tapping] I did that on a daily basis. I mean, uh, eh, I, uh, I know I complain today that – [tapping] the way I was taught and that was under – [Ron McKeever 22:21] was may zone at the time – [background noise] that you checked your book every hour on the hour. If there’s nothing there, okay, you can sit in the work center but you gotta go check it every hour, uh, and the attitude today is oh, we have 3 days to get a committee call, which is nowhere in writing anywhere. [background noise] So my point being that we were [clinking] on top of what was going on. [tapping] We stuck together. If, if there was an issue up in Paint, [tapping] [there was 22:44] many times us trimmers, Dick Bennett, myself, [Ron Perry 22:48] would go walking up into the Paint Department to, to show a strength, a [rubbing] sense of unity that we're the union and [tapping] and this is not gonna happen to our people. Whether it was heat relief, even though I'm a district committeeman down in Trim, we're marching up to Paint. Uh, I used to write health and safety grievances all the time. You know, remember rarely the line stopped. Well one time it did stop [clicking] and I was right out there watching and all the sudden it started a minute or so later and somebody almost got knocked over by an open [background noise] door and I wrote that to [Tom Roth 22:20], was the [MC 23:21] at the time, and got the – [beeping] got it in writing that they would announce before they ever started up a – the line again [clanking] that the line would be started up. Female: Mm-hm. Renida Taylor: Uh, so we were doing that on a [thumping] constant basis. If there was a fire in the Body Shop, we would all tear out down to the Body Shop. Female: Mm-hm. Marilyn Coulter: [23:38] Can you explain to us what a heat relief is? Renida Taylor: Yeah. In, in the Paint Department, uh, they had an agreement that if it got over 88 degrees in the clean rooms, they were given additional relief, time away from the job. So Paint Department, uh, historically carried additional relief people for that purpose. Well, of course, management would always argue when it was implemented. We finally – I can't remember what year this actually went down in writing but it ended up p-, being put in writing like May 15th and it ended September 15th. But for years, you had to argue over it's extremely hot up there, uh, put – give them some additional relief. And you'd have to argue. They’d wanna pull the relief people out early [thumping] when you know there’s obviously some hot days still in September. But that was to give them some, uh, uh – what's the word I'm looking for – break from the excessive heat that was generated because those clean rooms were right off the ovens. Marilyn Coulter: [24:36] Now [throat clearing] you became a [throat clearing] union member and a, a, a union leadership in the ’80s, right? Renida Taylor: Yes. Marilyn Coulter: And, um, during that time, that’s when as far as the industry changed, they started coming up with a lotta different projects and programs that got the hourly [rank and file 24:55] line worker employee involved. [24:59] Um, were you instrumental in any of those programs? [25:02] What did you think about it? [25:03] Did it change the environment that we worked in? Renida Taylor: Uh, yeah. I was still on the line. I got elected in June of ’83 the first time and I remember [Dean Crosston 25:12] [throat clearing] walked up to Indian who’s [Jerry 25:16], uh, [thumping] [pause] oh… Marilyn Coulter: [VanAlstein 25:23]. Renida Taylor: [VanAlstein 25:24]. There you go. Uh, I was gonna say [Aiming 25:27]. [Jerry VanAlstein 25:27] – and said hey, uh, you – we gotta new program; you wanna be the EPG leader. And I listened for a minute and he explained that it was called the Employee Participation Group leader and that people were supposed to elect their own out of a supervisor’s area, etc. And I'm listening to this whole explanation as he’s asking a guy does he wanna be it. So [Jerry 25:51] said yes. He took the job and, uh, I knew right then it was just one more program of the month. [tapping] And then, of course, [background noise] once I got elected they st-, sent us to, uh – th-, this, this program was under the cu-, QWL, Quality Work Life, umbrella and it was in the ’84 National Agreement. And it used to talk about improving the quality of work life of employees and it talked about equality of sacrifice between management and union workers. That has since dropped from the contract and, eh, in subsequent years, they’ve altered it a little b-, eh, you know, they had the Main Street [thumping] School in ’84 when the conversion from the Cutlass and the 98s and 88s happened to building the M car, the, [clicking] uh, Grand Ams. They’ve had a program every couple a years and it's not designed to do what it was intentionally or intended to do [tapping] initially. [recorder clicking] Cheryl McQuaid: [26:51] So, Renida, were you Utility up to the point where you were [pen clicking] elected as a committeeperson? Renida Taylor: No. I was on Utility about, oh, 15 months. In the summer of ’82, uh, they put me on station wagon side glass [tapping] build and install. [thumping] Cheryl McQuaid: [27:09] And how long did you do that job? Renida Taylor: Until it got el-, until they went away actually. Actually, they went away before I got elected. I was on the line on Utility again. They – we only ran’m for not quite a year, [background conversation] the station wagons. Remember that? Marilyn Coulter: You're right. [background conversation] [rubbing] Cheryl McQuaid: [27:27] And [sighing] what did you think about being a committeeperson? [27:33] Did you enjoy that job? Renida Taylor: I loved it. I, eh – in, in all the jobs I've ever done, it was the hardest I ever worked. [background conversation] You had more responsibility. I got pages at all hours of the night and day, calls, phone calls at home and on the weekends. But I liked, I liked learning anyway. So for me, in the free time, it was sitting down reading umpire decisions, reading the back of the National Agreement, the different documents and, uh, appendix letters and the educational outlines. Uh, went over all the memos that had ever been written comparing one contract to the next, what they got, etc. So I, I loved that job. [background conversation] I loved writing the contentions, uh, in [inaudible 28:16] for what 3 years, 4 years I was a district, uh, I never had to run a grievance past the second step because I would write a contention. It's like a brief – [coughing] a legal brief and, uh, I would refer back to umpire decisions and research it and, and I just had a good time. Cheryl McQuaid: Marilyn Coulter? Marilyn Coulter: Now you were a committeeperson and you were also a zone. [28:46] Can you tell for those people who don’t – who are – who don’t know, can you tell the difference between a committeeperson and a zone as far as the jobs [or 28:54] responsibilities? Renida Taylor: Sure. A, a committeeperson, you're elected by up to 250 people in a given geographic area and your responsibilities start [tapping] at the beginning of the shift, uh – well actually they’ve changed it now [thumping] in the National Agreement. Prior to [2 back 29:09] – I think it was the ’99 agreement, prior to then you were technically supposed to be on the line the first hour of the shift and the first half hour after lunch. Locally we never did that. So it was understood that you didn’t go out on the floor for the first hour [thumping] at the beginning of the shift and the first half hour. Um, but as soon as your hour was up [papers rustling] back when I was a committeeman, we all headed out, checked our respective books, uh, and [clicking] started taking committee calls and it was nothing to have 20-25 committee calls a day and got them all in a given day. Uh, you referred people to the EAP, which was a fairly new program back then. We only had Ralph [Beg 29:53] and [Louie Schultz 29:54] was a chairman, uh, in ’84 [tapping] and he appointed Ralph [Beg 29:58], so it was a fairly new program. Cheryl McQuaid: [20:02] What was EAP? Renida Taylor: Uh, [tapping] Employee Assistance Program. At the time, uh, [squeaking] with very little knowledge about [thumping] the drug problem in the work environment or out in the world, [thumping] it was basically dedicated to alcoholism. [clanking] Uh, and it grew. [squeaking] I think it was ’86 they put [Mark Laport 30:20] on on the [squeaking] nightshift [background noise] [banging] and, uh, that was – [clinking] [recorder clicking] um, and around that same time, Martha Adams went on and, uh, within a year or two the Chaplaincy Program went on. [Louie Schultz 30:39], uh, in-, initiated a lotta [thumping] programs back then, between ’84-’87, [clanking] those 3 years right in there. But a zone, your responsibilities are entirely different. You get e-, elected plantwide and although you're, you're given a specific area, whether it be the Body Shop, Paint Department, Trim Department, uh, the only reason why you don’t serve – [if 31:05] someone – say if I'm the Trim Zone and a body shopper walks in the work center, it's basically outta curtesy to the other zone who is supposedly representing them but many times we did do that. We'd cross over. Your responsibility as a zone is basically to process grievances at the set-, once they hit the step and a half, which is a local – that’s not in the National Agreement. Uh, it's a step that we – we've developed at our location that kinda gets an awful lotta stuff settled before you hafta to reduce it to writing at the second step and exchange contingents, etc. So a, a zone goes into the step and a halves and, if need be, then, of course, you go – has to write the contention and, and pursue the grievance in the second step. A, a zone sits on the Bargaining Committee, so a lotta times, uh – I kinda had the reputation for being the memo queen, uh, kinda sarcastically because oftentimes the – no matter how good a job you try to do during negotiations you overlook something or something comes up between contract years. Uh, so I would go to management and say you recognize this is a problem; I recognize this is a problem; it's not specifically addressed in the Local or National Agreement, so let's get a Memorandum of Understanding together. And then you would reduce it to writing; you'd sign it and you'd present it at the union meeting [throat clearing] and it became part of your Local Agreement. Um, you would research issues that were broad in nature, uh, such as hospital calls. Uh, you know, it wasn’t something specific to your own zone, maybe a h-, Trim zone but people that come from the Body Shop and go to the hospital have the same [papers rustling] issues. So you'd research, [background conversation] you know, generic issues, things that a-, [papers rustling] affected everybody. Uh, but the immediate, uh, relationship with, with the people [papers rustling] out on the floor isn't there as a zone like it is as a district and I, I missed that. I really enjoyed being the district. I liked’m both but the district was, eh, was actually the hardest job I've ever done. Cheryl McQuaid: Cheryl McQuaid. You said that as a district you would get typically 25 calls a night. [33:12] What type of calls would you get? [33:14] What were some of the problems? Renida Taylor: Well there were things back then th-, like I said initially, the supervisors, they might've been old school well – where they would have, uh, the union ain't telling me what to do and maybe you just negotiated something in the new ’84 agreement, Local Agreement. They didn’t know about it. They didn’t care about it. So they were gonna violate it regardless. Uh, for instance, eh, eh, under – this is actually National Agreement, it says when s-, an employee puts in a [thumping] committee call they will [thumping] be sent for immediately. The committeeperson’ll be sent for immediately and no discussion. Well when you report in a given area, th-, a supervisor’s area and say hey, I want [tapping] Joe Schmo on here for a committee call and they tell ya well, no, I've got’m [tapping] over there doing repair, [thumping] no, your committee calls get top priority and that’s by agreement. So I would get that a lot, where a supervisor felt that their obligation [clicking] to supplement the Repair people, uh – remember we used to have Group 20 and Group 25, the Hard Trim Repair and Soft Trim Repair? Well I got a pickup man down doing repair work. [tapping] Marilyn Coulter: [Mm-hm 34:23]. [laughter] Renida Taylor: So there might be 7 or 8 calls outta that area because they wanted their committee call and either the, uh, supervisor [clicking] said well you can't have one. That was another thing they’d like to say because they felt that they could discuss it and, uh, they just had a different attitude back then. A lot of'm might be safety [tapping] issues. A lot – a lotta times back in those days, supervisors would threaten people, so, eh, eh, I'd get a lotta committee calls. Cheryl McQuaid: Marilyn Coulter? Marilyn Coulter: [34:56] Do you have what would – what you would call like during your time as a happiest moment, a saddest moment? Renida Taylor: Uh, [sighing] I don’t know. I'm kinda pretty a steady person and can take pretty much everything in stride. I th-, the, the moment that sticks out in my mind is in September of ’92 when we went on strike and when we walked out that front door, I, I just can't explain it to you the overwhelming sense of responsibility that when you're on strike, you're actually out of a job… Female: Mm-hm. Renida Taylor: …and when you walk people out, I know the attitude is all right, finally giving’m hell but it was overwhelming for me to think that my God, I'm really helping put 4,000 out of – I mean [thumping] I, I thought we would win and so on but if you really understand how, how serious it really is, that was, that was just overwhelming to know that I was walking 4,000 people outta the plant. That’s when I started smoking again. [laughter] Marilyn Coulter: [35:57] Um, [throat clearing] what about one of your happiest moments? [tapping] Renida Taylor: Well I, I don’t know about happiest moments because, like I said, to me it was all, uh – [tsk] there's certain little victories that I remember. Marilyn Coulter: [36:14] One that stands out that you [really 36:15]…? Renida Taylor: Well the one that stands out in my mind is in the ’93 negotiations when, uh, they brought in [Tom Tiviarz 36:20], uh, Princeton, uh, master’s degree, 28 years old, in Labor Relations to whip our butts because, [tapping] eh, you know, management does go to school. They are very well trained, Labor Relations staff, and they assume that we're all uneducated idiots and can't hold our own with them. So they brought this hotshot in and that’s when they wanted to go to full team build. Well we designed the First Time Build Program and we got there but then he started really, eh – we thought we were over with, we were done and he really, really said hey, look, they're gonna close this plant, etc., etc. – you know, the threats coming like they’ve always been – if we don’t have Full Team Build. And we'd argued it so many times. Uh, Dick Bennett went to open his mouth. He was the chairman at the time. I said – he was sitting next to me. I said, Dick, eh, can I say something. He said yeah, go ahead. So I just leaned across the table. I said, Tom, you know what, I think you better find a way to tell Detroit that this is what's good for this plant because it's not gonna happen and, guess what, if this plant goes down, you're out of a job and I pointed to each one of'm successfully or successively, John Couthen and Mary Watson and you're out of a job and you're out of a job and you're out of a job too. [background conversation] So save your threats. It's not gonna happen. Well he flushed beet red and they called for a recess but then they came back in and got off of it and that was the end of that negotiations. And th-, that felt good because, [tapping] you know, they loved to do that. They loved to threaten you. Eh, how many years did they threaten that they were gonna close that plant? And I always said that they would not close that plant based on what type of Local Agreement we had here in Lansing. If you’ve got a board of directors sitting around in Detroit trying to decide whether you're gonna spend $2 billion in Lansing, Michigan, [tapping] they're gonna say hey, hey, Joe Schmo, uh, what’d you do on the federal government level for the EPA, air quality checks, etc. Oh, we, you know, did good. You're gonna go, uh, hey, Joe Schmo, how’d you get on tax abatements? What are you doing there? Oh, yeah, the City of Lansing’s agreed to this and that. They're not gonna say hey, Joe Schmo, do they have Team Concept. [laughter] That’s not gonna be a deciding factor [tapping] [laughter] in whether they invest $2 billion in Lansing, Michigan. So I was just sick to death of the threats and [tapping] I'd seen a few cave-ins prior to that when I wasn’t in a position to stop [inaudible 38:47]. That was a victory as far as I was concerned. [background conversation] Cheryl McQuaid: [38:52] What did you feel… [papers rustling] Male: Cheryl McQuaid. [tapping] Cheryl McQuaid: Cheryl McQuaid. [laughter] [38:56] Um, what did you feel made a good supervisor? [tapping] [39:02] And what is the difference between supervisor then and now? Renida Taylor: Uh, to me integrity is number one. [tapping] Uh, I don’t care if you're gonna disagree with me, if you're gonna say I don’t think that job is too heavy or if you're gonna tell me, uh, well I think I need to burn that guy 'cause I don’t believe the reason why he’s absent if that’s what you sincerely feel. But, eh, and in – back in the day – back in my day, that’s the kinda [thumping] answer you'd get. Now you might have to fight like hell with that supervisor but they were telling you [thumping] what they really thought. Today none of'm make a decision on their own. [background noise] Male: Mm-hm. Renida Taylor: They get direction from on high and right before I, I lost [thumping] in ’96, my attitude was don’t take a first-step grievance answer from a… Male: Yeah. Renida Taylor: …first-line supervisor. Go take it right to the [MC 39:51] and when they [thumping] raise hell, what are you doing, you tell'm hey, you're giving them the answer anyways. And when I go to have a step and a half, I won't have it with you. I might have it with the superintendent [thumping] and a few [tapping] times [coughing] I'd get a committeeman who would do that and it [throat clearing] kinda helped a little bit. But ever since about ’86 when the invasion of the – I s-, I say it, for me it started with [Bud McCurdy 40:11] coming over from the Chassis side, uh, trying to direct traffic, uh, macro-manage, you know. Sit up here and tell everybody what to do down on the floor. [tsk] Uh, [background conversation] that’s the way they operate today and, eh, it's not the way it's intended. It's not the way it's designed under the union [tapping] agreement and I think they let’m get away with it way too often. Cheryl McQuaid: We're, uh, getting ready to go to a new plant. Renida Taylor: Mm-hm. Cheryl McQuaid: [40:38] What do you think, um, it's gonna be like? Renida Taylor: [tsk] Well, [sighing] eh, eh, I'm, I'm a little cynical 'cause I've heard a lotta things I don’t like and matter a fact, I've heard things that would be, would be illegal if they come to pass but, you know, you hear stuff all the time. So I'm, I'm just kinda sitting waiting to see what happens, uh, and how it's gonna operate because, uh, [background conversation] under, under law, some of the items I'm hearing and some of the direction these new, uh, team leaders are supposed to – some of their job responsibilities, if they do what people are alleging they're gonna be doing, it will be illegal. It won't be against the contract. It'll be illegal. Cheryl McQuaid: Earl Nicholson? Earl Nicholson: E-, Earl Nicholson. [41:30] Are you talking about NLRB violations… Renida Taylor: Yes. Earl Nicholson: …or [UPL 41:33]… Renida Taylor: Yes. Earl Nicholson: …violations? Renida Taylor: Yes, NLRB. Earl Nicholson: Okay. Cheryl McQuaid: [41:38] What is NLRB? Renida Taylor: National Labor Relations Board. Earl Nicholson: Oh, boy, I'm just, uh, uh – that, that’s, uh, under national – that’s – and, uh, politics has a – plays a lot to do with that. [41:52] Uh, is it possible [coughing] that the one of the reasons that they think they can get away with it is because we have a republican president and the NLRB is packed with pro-business… Renida Taylor: Uh, th-… Earl Nicholson: …that would allow them to get away with [UPLs 42:06]? Renida Taylor: Not in my opinion. I mean there was republican presidents during my tenure. Regan was in. He fired the PATCO workers. Uh, I don’t think – I mean all – like, like they say, all politics is local and you're only as strong as your weakest link and if, if your leadership, uh, does not direct or teach the, the [tapping] people that have the direct relationship [thumping] with the supervisors on the floor or [clicking] if they're sitting a room negotiating and agreeing [thumping] to things without knowing [thumping] that they're illegal or, or, [throat clearing] you know, for just flat out saying oh, I don’t care if it's illegal, we're gonna agree to this, that’s where you have a problem. And, and I think that’s the direction that has changed. The politics in that plant used to be, in my view, used to be directed towards impressing your constituents and, and now they seem to be – everybody’s impressing [tapping] the leadership. Jerri Smith: Jerri Smith. [43:02] Can you give [clicking] us example of things that you think are illegal? [clanking] Renida Taylor: Yeah. One thing, any condition of your employment, uh, as far as your absenteeism, etc., has to be a supervisory function and I have been told and, again, you – you're – you hear a lotta things. That’s why I'm cynical but, uh, I'll [thumping] have to wait and see but I'm told that, uh, these team leaders will be taking attendance. They won't be taking attendance on me. They will know nothing about my attendance record. That’s a super-, by law, that’s a supervisory [thumping] function and that’s the number, number 1… [clicking] Female: Mm-hm. Renida Taylor: …thing that I've heard from a lotta [thumping] people, that they're being directed that they would be doing. Jerri Smith: And I've heard also, eh – I don’t know how true it is – that the group decides when you get to take a vacation. [43:51] How is that gonna work? Renida Taylor: Eh, I hadn't heard that one but, [throat clearing] eh, I just – [background conversation] you know, you can model – General Motors can, can go and, and spend millions of dollars sending people all over the world and to Japan to see how they function, uh, to be-, become more productive, etc., and maybe their manufacturing style includes some of these things. [background conversation] Doesn’t mean they're legal and it's up to our leadership to know the difference. Cheryl McQuaid: Marilyn Coulter? Marilyn Coulter: R.T., you had a model of 3 things [tsk] that made a good union person, a good, g-, good union leader or, or good committeeperson. [44:35] Can you share those things with us and also, um, you know, you know, talk a little bit about that? Renida Taylor: [tsk] Well I've al-, I've always said, uh, that it takes 3 things [tapping] to be a good union leader – knowledge, integrity and guts. [background conversation] Uh, and in-, integrity, I guess is the bottom line because I've had examples over the years and you guys might know different people that didn’t appear to be all that knowledgeable th-, I mean they couldn't [tapping] quote paragraph 62 says like I might be able to do but they knew it was [thumping] somewhere in there but they have integrity; [tapping] they didn’t lie for somebody; they didn’t lie to management [background noise] and, uh, they [squeaking] had the guts enough to represent you at, at every turn. And the other [banging] side of the coin I've seen [squeaking] is – [recorder clicking] um, and as I was saying, o-, on the [throat clearing] other side, uh, you can have somebody that doesn’t appear to be, you know, a stomping and screaming [tapping] at management and we, we know of 1 example of an excellent committeeman by the name of [Kenny Michaud 45:41] that the perception was well, he’s a milk toast. Well the guy made up f-, in, in the area of stomping and screaming at management, he made up double in, in his ability to write contentions and, and, uh, make detailed, uh, records of what happened and s-, but the guy had integrity. You can balance a little knowledge. You can balance a little guts. But [thumping] if you don’t have the integrity, [papers rustling] you're just not gonna be a good committeeman because you're, you're not in there for the right reason. [tapping] Female: Mm-hm. Renida Taylor: You're, you're there to get off the line or you're there, [tapping] uh, [clanking] on a power trip [tapping] or you're there just to play politics with your buddies and that-, that doesn’t get the job done for the membership. [tapping] Cheryl McQuaid: Earl Nicholson? Earl Nicholson: [45:31] Uh, okay, we've, we've covered [clanking] a lot about the external politics [clicking] involving the UAW and, uh, General Motors but I'd like to talk about a little bit right now would be the internal politics [tapping] of the [thumping] UAW specifically and, uh, the, the follow-up question of that would be how do they directly affect you? Renida Taylor: Well I've never, eh – you know, if you define politics, it's called the, the art of persuasion and I guess for a while I was able to pursued people that my way of thinking was the right way of thinking and in the last 9-10 years, [tapping] uh, I've been unsuccessful and other people have been successful and that's politics. They, they have used whatever means necessary to gain power and maintain power and, uh, you know, there's been dirty politics. I've never subscribed to the idea of, of letters out on the floor, unsigned and we n-… Earl Nicholson: [47:29] What is a – what is a letter out on the floor? [thumping] Renida Taylor: Well, you know, at election time, we've seen’m. We've seen’m as far back [thumping] as far back as, uh, [Curly Jones 47:35]. He had a bunch blasted at him and I know who wrote’m and, eh, eh, [tapping] it's just not right. If you don’t have the courage to address somebody either at a union meeting or man to man, face to face, [rattling] uh, then – [coughing] or sign [thumping] your letter that you're trying to impress people, uh, then you shouldn't do it. Unfortunately, uh – and it's – I've had one directed at me. We all know that [tapping] in ’96 and… Female: Mm-hm. Renida Taylor: …my first reaction to that letter – [clanking] it was on a Saturday morning. My sister called me 'cause the plant was working at 6:00 in the morning in the Body Shop. She called me at 6:15 in the morning and said you won't believe this and, and read this gawd-awful letter to me and my attitude was nobody’d believe that. Well, uh, that was kinda naive on my part because – I mean peop-, don’t people read the National Enquirer? [clicking] Don’t people get the Globe? Don’t they get the Star? [rattling] Don’t we listen to rumors and, and fight very hard not to pass them on. Uh, so [tsk] that’s th-, what politics has become in the last few years and I'm not saying anything negative about, uh, [Steve Bramos 48:42] but we all know that [thumping] there was a campaign directed against [thumping] [Doug Taylor 48:47] for a good 6-8 months – we will repay [thumping] [clanking] in May; we will repay in May, unsigned letters coming out about once a week prior to the 2002 elections. Well I don’t think [thumping] elections should be based on that and [background noise] and shame on those people that do it [coughing] but there’s a responsibility on the part of the voter too to, to check things out and, unfortunately, we don’t do that. We don’t do it in local politics and we don’t do it in national, state and federal politics. We, we pick one idea or we listen to what somebody else told us. We don’t investigate on our own and, and [thumping] so we get stuck with who we have. I mean how, how did the majority of people vote [thumping] for George Bush? [clanking] Hello. [laughter] Female: Mm-hm. [knocking] Earl Nicholson: [42:31] So w-, what was your position in the UAW when that unsigned letter came out? Renida Taylor: [tsk] I was a zone committeeperson and I was running for chairman against [Bob Grissom 59:41] and [Doug Taylor 49:42]. [throat clearing] Earl Nicholson: [49:43] And what was the effect of that unsigned letter? [thumping] Renida Taylor: Well the effect was I got squashed. [papers rustling] [laughter] I was soundly, soundly defeated. And it's actually reared its ugly head in several elections since then. I've had people still tell me that certain people that have maintained power pull that letter out every May, every time there’s an election. [tapping] [clanking] Cheryl McQuaid: Cheryl McQuaid. Renida, you, eh, kinda touched on it, um, rumors in the plant. [thumping] [50:18] Could you discuss [knocking] the rumor mill and a little bit about why it happens and what kind of effect it had on? Renida Taylor: Well I, I think it's human nature to some degree to gossip. Like I said, uh, I'm not gonna say I never have. Eh, you have to catch yourself. It's really hard to say [clanking] shoot, I shouldn't be [knocking] repeating that [tapping] because too often [clanking] out of boredom, people will, will relay information whether it's factual or not or you go – you get into – you dragged into a discussion, oh, really I couldn't believe that a her blah-blah-blah but, eh, the seed is already planted. There, there may not be any truth to it and it just goes. It just goes like wildfire. I don’t know if that’s human nature or out of boredom. Uh, it, it happens that way and so that’s what makes it so unfortunate that you might have, uh, well-qualified, well-intentioned people that are destroyed [background noise] by this, this smear [thumping] campaign with no factual basis and it – it's unfortunate because I think the membership suffers. Cheryl McQuaid: Marilyn Coulter? Marilyn Coulter: [51:26] And, um, and, and, and not to actually make comment on your, um, interview but it's like any – the rumors, unfortunately, are anything from we're going home early on a hot day… Renida Taylor: Sure. Marilyn Coulter: …based on nothing [background noise] to destroying someone’s career… Renida Taylor: Right. Marilyn Coulter: …based on a lie because it's easier to believe a lie than it is the truth… Renida Taylor: Sure it is. Marilyn Coulter: …and irregardless of what good you have done… Renida Taylor: And, and how are you always… Marilyn Coulter: …will likely destroy you. Renida Taylor: …throughout [thumping] history m-, so it must be human nature. How does a, a – white people suppress blacks? How did, uh, white people suppress Italians? [thumping] When my father told me the story of being a-, an Italian, that he couldn't go on the south side of town and I was [thumping] absolutely flabbergasted why. It was like [sighing] 'cause we're Italian. I shoulda just understood that. Well how does everybody who wants to be in power suppress [thumping] the next person? It's, it's by [coughing] blastin’m and putting them down. Makes you feel like you're bigger and better. And it's the same thing in the rumor mill. Eh, eh, if you want to get ahead and you can't stand on your own 2 feet, what do ya do? You blast the next person. Marilyn Coulter: Make the person out to be a monster. Renida Taylor: Right. Marilyn Coulter: Um… [thumping] Cheryl McQuaid: [52:36] Renida, is there anything that we've not asked you that you'd like to share with us? Renida Taylor: Uh, [sighing] [ta-ta-ta] [clanking] no. I've seen an awful lotta changes over the years, uh, some of'm are f-, for the better. They're an improvement but an awful lot of it, I think, we've gone way backwards. I wish we would get back to, back to our strength, to our roots, to, uh, uh, the integrity behind it, t-, to saying what we mean, mean what we say, representing the people. We don’t represent management. [sighing] We don’t care, eh, when – in ’96 [clicking] or so, eh, I started hearing the term well, you know, management has the right to manage, from union representatives. Before that our attitude was no, they don’t; we’ll [laughter] manage. You know? Eh, eh, and, eh, to me that’s a better way to go. You're representing your people, eh, if you take their side every time. Marilyn Coulter: Um… Cheryl McQuaid: Marilyn Coulter? Marilyn Coulter: [53:37] Um, one thing with, uh, and it's, it's just coworkers and through your time being there at the plant, has there been coworkers who have become like family that has impacted you and you’ve c-, extended it outside of the worksite? [background conversation] [53:58] Do you look at your co-, your fellow brothers a-, your workers as a family? [background conversation] Renida Taylor: Eh, I, I don’t know if this is everybody’s experience or if it's just mine. When I make a friend, almost invariably they're friends forever. I've had people – now I haven't been in an elected representative position since [papers rustling] ’96 and I still get phone calls at home over issues – y-, I, I knew you'd know R.T., would you look for me, you know. Uh, and I don’t mind that at all. I, I like doing that for people and I do socialize with a lotta people outside a work. Marilyn Coulter: Mm-hm. Renida Taylor: Eh, it wasn’t just a well you're my coworker but I don’t like ya because there's very few people I d-, over the years that I don’t like… Marilyn Coulter: Mm-hm. Renida Taylor: …a-, and the ones that I make it very well known that I don’t like are people with no integrity. So, eh, yeah, I, I kept a lotta relationships for years and years. Cheryl McQuaid: Cheryl McQuaid. [54:55] Renida, Fisher Body in Lansing have been considered the Capitol of Quality, I guess I'd like to know w-, why do you think that? [55:05] Why do you think [zipping] we are the best? [thumping] Renida Taylor: I think [thumping] we always have been the best. From the day I hired in, like, like we talked a little bit earlier, I remember my preconceived notion that well they were lazy, overpaid, beer-swizzling losers. That was what I was told [zipping] [throat clearing] before I ever hired in. Well immediately I looked around and I watched the job people were doing or trying to do and they had such a good work ethic. If anything – and once I got in a position to, eh, to blast management about this, I would tell management that if there’s any quality problems, it's because you hold people [tapping] back. People point out to you hey, [tapping] you know, uh, eh, I don’t know, the windshield’s not fitting properly. Instead of you getting a hold of Fab and saying hey, this, this frame is off, you say just put shims in it or put extra urethane in it and a year or so down the road, the thing is leaking or, or wind leaks or air leaks. The people were always pointing stuff out, a better way to do it and management wouldn’t listen. Their, their goal has always been get it off the end of the line, get it off the end of the line. And even though they, they [zipping] so-called made all these changes just in time delivery and, eh, eh, eh, that’s a-, talking outta 2 sides of your face 'cause at the same time [clanking] they added lines up in [17-2 56:21] to hold more to bank more cars. They added banks [thumping] in the Body Shop,. So there’s still goal – [zipping] their goal is still [throat clearing] to get that car [thumping] off the end of the line, car off the end of the line even though you're supposed to be able to stop the line and fix stuff. They’ve got so many banks built in [clanking] to – so as to not stop production. Uh, and if they woulda listened to people 20 years ago, 25 years ago, I don’t think they'd be in the bind they're in now. Marilyn Coulter: Mm-hm. All right. Cheryl McQuaid: Thank you so much, Renida. Renida Taylor: Okay. Thank you very much. Marilyn Coulter: Thank you. John Fedewa:: Thank you. Jerri Smith: Yes. [thumping] [recorder clicking] /lo