Linda Johnson discusses her career as a production worker, newsletter editor and UAW member at the Fisher Body plant in Lansing MI Cheryl McQuaid: [recorder clicking] This is... Female: [Inaudible 0:01]. Male: Shh. Cheryl McQuaid: This is Cheryl McQuaid. I’m with the Lansing Fisher Body Historical Team. [background conversation] We’re preparing to interview Linda Johnson. We’re at the Greenhouse. It is November 23rd, 2005, approximately 10:30 a.m. [throat clearing] Um, first we’re going to introduce everybody else present. Doreen Howard: Doreen Howard. John Fedewa: John Fedewa. Marilyn Coulter: Marilyn Coulter. Cheryl McQuaid: And Linda Johnson. [0:29] What – could you please state your name [background conversation] and spell your last name for us? [background conversation] Linda Johnson: Linda [Knight 0:34]-Johnson, J-O-H-N-S-O-N. Cheryl McQuaid: [0:38] And what’s your address, Linda? [background conversation] Linda Johnson: 2249 North Canal Road, [background conversation] Eaton Rapids, Michigan, 48827. Cheryl McQuaid: [0:46] Are you married? Do you have children? Linda Johnson: I am not married and I have 2 children; I have a son that’s 25 and a daughter that’s 23. Cheryl McQuaid: [0:54] And... Linda Johnson: And I’m a grandmother. [background conversation] Cheryl McQuaid: ...could you tell us a little bit about your educational level? Linda Johnson: Okay. I, uh, graduated from high school in 1968 and went to junior college at [chair squeaking] Kellogg Community College for a year and a half and then transferred to [background conversation] Michigan State University’s journalism program, and I [scratching] finished that in, uh [scratching], ’72 and I went to Nashville and worked for the Methodist Publishing House [background conversation] for about a year and a half, came back [scratching] got married, went back to school [background conversation] and got another degree in, [papers rustling], uh, [scratching] [background conversation] teaching speech and English, and I graduated from that program in ’76. Cheryl McQuaid: [1:36] And did you do any military service? Linda Johnson: No, I did not. Cheryl McQuaid: Okay, Linda, I’d like you to think about the day you hired into Fisher Body, why did you hire in and what day did you hire in? [background conversation] Linda Johnson: Um, my husband, Larry Johnson, had said they were hiring, and at the time, I was waiting tables and working in our own – we had a family business, and I was doing that, and I was clerkin’ in a grocery store. So I was makin’ not a lotta money and I was workin’ 3 different jobs, and, um, there weren’t teaching jobs back in the late ‘70s [scratching] because I – well, I don’t know why [door creaking] why, but there just weren’t a lotta opportunities in the teaching field. So he kinda just gave me the dare and I came down and put in my application and I got hired [background conversation] and I came in in the summer, it was like late June [throat clearing] of ’78, and, um [background conversation], I just remember all the noise [door creaking] and all the people and all the buzz. [background conversation] It was just a big, big facility. Other than that, I don’t remember if it was clean or dirty or anything about that. And that everybody was just very nice trying to help ya feel comfortable. [door closing] Cheryl McQuaid: [2:47] [background conversation] And what job – what shift did you hire into? Linda Johnson: Um, I worked on nights and I worked in Hard Trim on the big car line and, um, [background conversation] I worked, uh – I don’t know, I ra-, I put in BX moldings, that’s what – BMX moldings, that’s what it was, on the bottom of the big car doors, plus a lot of other smaller items inside the car door. Cheryl McQuaid: [3:12] And how long did you [throat clearing] do that job? Linda Johnson: Oh, golly. Um, I don’t know, maybe [coughing] we did for a couple a weeks and then we had changeover, and then, um, [background conversation] I probably did it for another year and a half, 2 years. Yeah. And then I got shipped to the line downstairs where they built the Cutlass because [coughing] someone wanted my job; a injured person couldn’t [door creaking] thought my job she could handle, so she took my job and I was kicked down to the Cutlass line [background conversation] and, uh, started putting on, um, uh, what do they call them, uh, windshield moldings or high, uh, back light moldings; the trim around the window. Cheryl McQuaid: Oh, okay. Linda Johnson: And I did that until about 1982. Cheryl McQuaid: [4:04] And were you still on the second shift? Linda Johnson: Yes. Cheryl McQuaid: [4:08] Do you remember, when you first hired in, any pranks that were played [coughing] on you? Linda Johnson: No, everybody was pretty nice to us. [background conversation] Yeah. I, I don’t recall any pranks. I know that my – I think part of it’s ‘cause I wasn’t as young as some a the others, so, um, maybe that kept me outta the hot seat, but I saw my [background conversation] teammates get shipped in the, uh, trunk to go down the line and that kinda stuff, but it was just things to pass the time. [background conversation] Cheryl McQuaid: [4:42] So you went to the Small Car Line for another year and a half. Where did you go after that? [background conversation] Linda Johnson: Well, after that they were looking for, uh, some-, at that time, we were having a competition with another plant on employee involvement and quality and they were looking for someone to help with a newsletter. At that time, [Larry Cummins 5:04] and, uh, another young man were doing it, but they had a alter-, had problems and they needed another person. [throat clearing] So I said, well, I was a journalism graduate and, uh, [background conversation] they wanted me to show my stuff, so I put a couple a nightshift newsletters out and then they said okay, they’d take me. So I started workin’ on the Line Ti-, or it was called [Comments 5:04] back then and it had been a salaried newsletter done through the Labor Relations Department, so they let us to [background conversation] let us do it and s-, took it outta their hands. Marilyn Coulter: [5:37] And that was about what year did you start that? Linda Johnson: It-, late ’82. Late, yeah. [background conversation] Cheryl McQuaid: [5:47] Do you remember much about the supervisors [throat clearing] that you had? Linda Johnson: Yes. Cheryl McQuaid: [5:53] Did you have a favorite or a not-so-favorite... Linda Johnson: Well... Cheryl McQuaid: ...or? [background conversation] Linda Johnson: On the line, the supervisors were okay. I [background conversation] they w-, ya know, I was there to do my job and, and, uh, they were always good to me, ya know, I mean, as supervisors can be. They give you your check on par-, Friday or Thursday night and say thanks for comin’ in every day, so. Doreen? [background conversation] [throat clearing] Doreen Howard: [6:18] Um, you said you came in in, sometime in June [door creaking] [background conversation] of ’78. What was the environment like in the Trim Area at that time? [background conversation] Linda Johnson: Most everybody that was around me were young people, and it was noisy, and stock was all over the place. It’s not neat like it is nowadays. I can remember climbin’ over both sides a the line lookin’ for the stock that I needed to install. I put in these, uh, door bumpers where the, where you’d shut the door and it’d hit, it’d be, just be a nice item trim piece for it to hit, and we would fight to find the right size because [throat clearing] it was all junky. [background conversation] Cheryl McQuaid: Marilyn Coulter. Marilyn Coulter: [7:04] Um, I want to go back to when you started with the newspaper, and that was when employees first started getting active in management type of activities. How were you received on both, by both the salary and hourly [background conversation] people when you started that job? Linda Johnson: It was pretty funny. I, here I had a journalism degree and [Betty White 7:22] [throat clearing] who was a personnel director, would call me Larry’s helper. And Larry, God rest his soul, he’s a great guy, he had a big heart, he could lay out anything – I mean, you know, a newsletter – he had a great eye for pictures, but I did all the writing, and she’d say I’s Larry’s helper, and it just – I, I said, finally, I said to the boss who I can’t rem-, who was ed-, editing us then – maybe it was [Angelacus 7:47], [John Angelacus 7:48] – I said, “When do I get to become an official person on this paper? [throat clearing] I’ve been doin’ this for over 6 months and I’m still Larry’s helper.” [background conversation] The – out, out of the plant on legal problems, the other person that had been the editor, they were just kinda holdin’ the job for him, that he was gonna come back. [background conversation] Well that poor guy is never gonna come back, ya know? He’s in the hoosegow. So they finally said it was my job. [background conversation] So yeah, I – to Betty White, I was just Larry’s helper. Marilyn Coulter: [chuckle] Is that what you were gonna tell me? [8:21] So [door creaking] when you got that job, um, when you went through [sighing] the plant and your coworkers saw you... Linda Johnson: [background conversation] Mm-hm. Marilyn Coulter: ...did they treat you any differently? Did they... Linda Johnson: They were... Marilyn Coulter: ...were they [receptive 8:29]... Linda Johnson: ...oh, I... Marilyn Coulter: ...to you? Linda Johnson: ...yeah, I thought they were. If, if anybody had a problem with me, I don’t know about it. Marilyn Coulter: [Mm-hm 8:35] Linda Johnson: Um, I liked them and... Marilyn Coulter: [8:39] So, so from that – from 1982 to present day, you’ve just been the editor in the newspaper? [background conversation] Linda Johnson: Right. [See 8:45]? Marilyn Coulter: [8:46] Um, can you, [background conversation] uh, tell us what types of things were your responsibility as a editor? What types of... Linda Johnson: When I started out, we had an art-, a Graphics Department and we had, uh, 3 graphic artists, [background conversation] we had 2 photographers, 2 plant photographers, and Larry and myself worked on the newsletter. Well, as people would move on, Larry moved on to a Safety job. Okay, then I had the newsletter, but I still had the help, if I needed help, from the photographers [background conversation], and then I had the help of the graphic artist people. Well then they, the photographers went away; they went on to the Media Center, and all of a sudden I had no photographers, so I had to take my own pictures, which was fine, I could do that, and then [background conversation] but then I had to move up, step up to the ’80s and the ’90s and that s-, means you had to desktop a newsletter. So they took, again they took – got rid of all our graphic artists, and we used to have 3 fabulous artists that would just do all the – if you had, wanted a sign or anything for a meeting or big shots were comin’ to the plant, our plant could make the best banners [clanking] and they could – they’d have’m up there [background conversation] and our plant was so special for that that nobody realizes what great people we had in our plant to do those things. So now I have to lay out my newsletter, so I had to go back to school and get some training in desktop, ‘cause I didn’t have a graphics person to help lay, help lay it out anymore and I had to take my own pictures. So here ya go from a whole lotta people workin’ on helpin’ on a project down to 1 person. So that really, um, was a struggle for a while, but, ya know, I got there. Marilyn Coulter: [10:30] So did General Motors [background conversation] send you to school for this or did you... Linda Johnson: No, I just... Marilyn Coulter: ...[inaudible 10:33]? Linda Johnson: ...I, I just saw the handwriting on the wall. I knew I had to do it, so. And there was plenty of people in the Education and Training Group to help me along too, so. Marilyn Coulter: [10:45] So... Linda Johnson: Coached me. Marilyn Coulter: ...what would you [throat clearing] say were probably some of your most, um, memorable stories? Linda Johnson: Oh, there’s lots. Lot, a lot a fun, and that was a great thing about my job; I got to meet lots of people from all walks of life, from, ya know, the big shots that came through the plant like Mr. [Smith 11:04] and, [throat clearing] uh, Mr. [Hoagland 11:07] and some a those guys, plus, uh, uh, our great, uh, UAW leadership, [Bieber 11:14]. I have a peecher, a picture of me and [Owen Bieber 11:16] and you don’t know how [writing] big that guy was until you’re standin’ next to him and you’re lookin’ at his, ya know, the buttons on his shirt. So, anyway. Um, I was – at one Christmastime, back in about ninety-, I wanna say it was about ’93, Zub-, J-, uh, Jim Zubkus was our Plant Manager. Somebody had asked me to come up in Paint and shoot a picture [thudding] and it was because the group in Paint had collected a lotta money through their coffee fund over the year and they had done something nice for a family, so their boss wanted me to take their picture. I got up there with my flash camera outside the booths and I was taking their picture. 1 picture was fine, 2 was okay, but the third one was a curse. The [turbo bells 12:05] dumped, and that’s where all the solution comes down, because the booth thinks they’re havin’ a fire. So all this stuff comes down, and it shut down half the plant, and, um, when I saw it comin’ down, I knew I was in trouble, and I turned around to walk the other way and I saw [Randy Thayer 12:21], who was [papers rustling] the Assistant Plant Manager at the time, walkin’ and I thought, “I gotta hurry outta here,” ‘cause this was the day of our Christmas party, my work group’s year-end meeting and Christmas party. So I booked. I packed up my camera, I got outta there, and, and, um, I saw my boss later in the afternoon. I said, “I’m in trouble.” He said, “What happened?” He says, “Okay.” Well, came to work the next day and, uh, everybody was laughin’. They told me I was job security for’m and that, uh, [laughter] and I saw [paper crumpling] Jim Zubkus later on, I was cryin’, and he’s chasin’ – I’m tryin’ not to cry, but he’s chasing me around the accounting office tellin’ me “Don’t cry, don’t cry.” He said, “Yeah, Randy was gonna fire ya, but I talked him out of it,” so. [laughter] He said, “We know you didn’t know,” [throat clearing] and I didn’t, but I had always felt that that Plant Manager – or not the Plant Manager but the Paint Supervisor had set me up. I just felt that way. And I can’t remember his name, and it’s – we don’t need it for this, but so, they – I figured that I cost them about $300,000 shuttin’m down like that. Cheryl McQuaid: Cheryl McQuaid. [13:32] Linda, do you remember how – the place is a huge place. [background conversation] Linda Johnson: Mm. Cheryl McQuaid: How did you get around to, to do all this? Linda Johnson: Well, um, I had to get a driver’s license so I could drive a scooter, which was great. We used to have 1-person scooter [car engine] you could drive around, but then there was an accident and Mr. Zubkus removed all scooters. So then you’d have to borrow a truck, and oftentimes I’d go down to where my, um, husband had worked in, uh, Tooling, and they would, those guys would lone me one a their trucks and I can deliver my newsletter [car engine] that way, and I’d drive it all over the plant. On one occasion, my, uh, truck that they had given me wouldn’t stop, and it was between shifts, and I was in, back in the where they build the quarters [background conversation] and there were, uh, metal quarters, and they were all hanging up, and it’s like a iron curtain that, just think of, uh, those windows with the levers, and I ha-, was goin’ on this cart and it wouldn’t stop, and we went right through that curtain of, of, uh, quarter panels, and I had my arm up over my face, and I cut my arm pretty bad and it, the scooter hit a locker and stopped, and some a the Skilled Trades guys that were workin’ came back to get me and pick me up, and I was bleedin’, so they’re wrapped up me – wrapped me up, I had my arm up over my head, and they took me over to Medical, and I went into Medical, and the nurse in there s-, [background conversation] looks at me, and the rug-, blood’s just rollin’ down my arm, and I’m, ya know, I was laughin’ with the guys, and she looks at me and she says, “Have you got AIDS?” and [laughter] and I said, I said [throat clearing] “No, I don’t have AIDS.” And, um, so she, uh, patched me up. But I thought that so telling about our era though, ya know? It just – you wouldn’t a thought a that. I... Marilyn Coulter: Mm. Linda Johnson: ...it didn’t even cross my mind, but ya know, it was in the news, that kinda stuff, so – and I don’t even know that there was a lot of plans yet for that, how to act if some-, but that was th-, on the top of her mind. Yeah, no, I don’t have AIDS. Marilyn Coulter: So – go ahead. Doreen Howard: During... Cheryl McQuaid: Doreen Howard. Doreen Howard: [15:40] Dur-, during your time of working on the newsletter, do you have a favorite story that you worked on or anything that just sticks in your mind as being... Cheryl McQuaid: Mm. I don’t think I have a... Doreen Howard: ...a wonderful... Cheryl McQuaid: ...favorite... Doreen Howard: ...story? Cheryl McQuaid: ...but I’ve, I always enjoyed the happy stories of the families in the plant. So, ya know, when I first started, we had the, um, 2 families in the plant that adopted, uh, Asian children. That was fun. I mean, it was a nice story. And then later, when we had Vietnamese people come into the plant, I wrote a s-, 4th of July story about their struggles to get here. There was about 3 or 4 families that I interviewed. Larry Cummins worked with me on that and he took some great pictures. Anyways, we did that and that was – I even wrote, I even had taken a graduate class and written that article for my graduate [background conversation] class too. Anyway. That was a cool story, the-, how they had t-, [door creaking] survived. Cheryl McQuaid: [throat clearing] Marilyn Coulter. Marilyn Coulter: [16:50] My, um, my question to you is how did you get your story? I mean, how’d you find out about where you wanted to write about? Linda Johnson: Oh. People tell ya, ya know? “I got this cool guy,” ya know, “He just shot a bear,” or, ya know, “These folks are adopting new kids,” or “Hey’d you hear about this guy? He just f-, discovered his daughter after 23 years,” ya know. [car engine] And people tell ya those kinds a things. Then you [go to 17:14] ask’m and [throat clearing] ask them if they want to share their stories. Marilyn Coulter: [17:19] So were people usually [chair squeaking] readily available and willing to share their stories? Linda Johnson: Mm-hm. [door closing] [coughing] Yeah, they did. [recorder clicking] [background conversation] [clicking] So, besides, um, the neat stories about families and-, I would get calls from the – not the QCAs, what – EPG leaders, at the time. They wanted to have a graduation issue; some a the newsletters fro-, on the 652 side had a graduation issue, would I try it, and I said, “Oh no, that’d be awful. So much work. How many kids? Okay, I’ll do it.” So the first year it wasn’t too bad; it was ninet-, about 1984, ‘bout that-, no, 1987, that was the first one, and, um, maybe I might a had 30 kids. Well, it caught on real quick once people realized what you were gonna do and, um, I’d have as many as 130 kids. Nobody else in GM around here that put out a graduation issue [throat clearing] had that many kids, and we’d put in their picture and write a story about’m, and, um, even though I didn’t wanna do it, it is one a the best things I ever did for getting, um, [throat clearing] accolades for. Ya know, people [sniffing] say, “Oh, thank you,” because everybody wanted you to say somethin’ nice about their kid, which how hard is that, ya know? It’s wonderful. Everybody has a lovely family and, um, sometimes it’s earlier or later, but sooner or later, the kid comes through for’m, so. Cheryl McQuaid: Cheryl McQuaid. [18:57] Linda, could you tell us [throat clearing] a little bit about your bosses while in that, on that position? Linda Johnson: Okay. My first boss was John Angelacus, and he was just like a school teacher. He’d graduated from MSU’s journalism school also and he had written the, um, Fisher Body paper back in the ’60s, for about a year and a half he had done that while he was in Labor Relations. So he edited me like a school teacher and, I’ll tell ya, he really helped me become a better writer. As much as I – I didn’t ha-, ya know, some people don’t like to be corrected. They don’t want ya to put a circle next to somethin’ and s-, ask a question. They want you to say that what they’ve done is good. Because I’ve hurt people’s feelings by tellin’m they needed to switch somethin’ around [coughing] [inaudible 19:44]. There’s a way to do that, but I never was troubled when he would reprimand – not reprimand – when he would correct me because he made me look better and that’s what you wanna do is always try to strive to do better. So he made me a better person or a better writer. And then, um, then I think I got traded off to some other people. [Rent-A-Supervisors 20:06] were brought in and, uh, ‘cause John was really busy with his, uh, Safety job. That was re-, really har-, a lotta work. And then later, [Bob McMonagall 20:19] was, but he didn’t care what you did as long as ya didn’t break the rules [sniffing] and, um, and then later, uh, John Rosendahl was my boss, and he was, he was a pretty good critic. He’s pretty, um, uh, aware of people and he might not say it exactly right, but he has a good [theme 20:40] for how people understand things. So I learned a lot from him too. Cheryl McQuaid: So you said that Bob McMonagall wasn’t, um, [sniffing] wasn’t so bad, but, ya know, just as long as you did the job and you didn’t break the rules. [car engine] [20:55] What were some of the rules? What were some a [throat clearing] the restrictions on you? Linda Johnson: Oh. Well, ya know, you can’t – well, ya don’t, ya don’t debate safety. I learned that. I didn’t learn the hard way; my counterpart learned the hard way. You do not debate safety. It is what it is. And you don’t, um, put [beeping] pit management against management or union against union, so. Cheryl McQuaid: Michael Fleming. Michael Fleming: Um, you talked about, um, the, McMonagall in his MSU days... Linda Johnson: Angelacus. Michael Fleming: Angelacus. [sniffing] Okay, it was Angelacus. [21:35] Can you talk about some of the training and education that you went through to stay within your position on, or, what, what types of – did ya have any [training 21:44]? Linda Johnson: From [sniffing] after? Michael Fleming: E-, just as you [throat clearing] made this journey through journalism... Linda Johnson: Oh. Michael Fleming: ...the types of training... Linda Johnson: Oh. Michael Fleming: ...and, and what was available to you and what you did to st-, to stay on top your writing. Linda Johnson: Okay, at Michigan State, they, um, they have a great j-, one a the best journalism schools, and, uh, um, they just have a regular program for ph-, you get a year of photography, ya do the writing. Um, I worked for the Clinton County News, ya know, that was my job. I’d go to their, uh, [throat clearing] Dewitt Township Meetings, and, ya know [coughing] then I’d write about it and give it to the Clinton County News for their weekly paper. [door closing] That’s what I did in college, or you’d write for the [State News 22:26]. Then after college, I went to the Methodist Publishing House and I, uh, reviewed books and wrote book jackets. Cheryl McQuaid: Marilyn Coulter. Marilyn Coulter: [22:36] Um, Linda, prior to you getting the editor’s job with General Motors [inaudible 22:41] you were on the line. How did it, how did it make you feel after [sniffing] you went through two different programs, you have 2 BA degrees in, ya know, journalism and the speech [throat clearing] and language, and then you come in and you work on a line. How’d you feel about that after you went through... Linda Johnson: Oh. Marilyn Coulter: ...school for that? Linda Johnson: I, well, I didn’t, I never felt bad, ya know. It was nice to be in there. I liked to read, so it gave me an opportunity [background noises] that where I c-, I worked, I did my job, and I could read a book. It really slowed me down, because you rea-, you would read a couple a sentences and you’d do your job, you’d come back, so it made me a slower reader where I used to be a fast reader... Marilyn Coulter: Mm-hm. Linda Johnson: ...and, um, I’d read a couple a books every week and I’d read [throat clearing] 3 newspapers every day. I loved wor-, I really liked workin’ on the line, except, ya know, it was you’re up until 2:00 in the morning and you’re tired and – but it was all right. Marilyn Coulter: [23:36] Um, as, um, as an editor, what types of hours did you have if you were the only – I mean, the-, all your staff got taken away... Linda Johnson: Mm-hm. Marilyn Coulter: ...from you, so what kinda hours did an editor have... Linda Johnson: [sniffing] It was... Marilyn Coulter: ...[to be on 23:48] both shifts? Linda Johnson: ...uh, well that’s what was cool, ya know; I was a young mom and he, John Angelacus, said, “Well, come in couple a days a week and work-, split it. [sniffing] Work midnight-, or noon to [throat clearing] 9 or somethin’ so you can see the night shift. So I got so I would just, I would do that, I did that for a few years, and then I thought, well, I’ll just come in whenever they need me, so I’ll work what suits me and my family. So I did – what really worked out well, I’d bring my kids into the plant. I’d put’m in my office to work. They could do their schoolwork and I’d go out on the floor, I could do a story, I could take pictures, I could do any a that kinda stuff, and it really, it was neat to s-, have my kids – they could see what their mom did for a living, ya know? Marilyn Coulter: [Yeah 24:31]. [24:32] Well, now how often did you put a paper out? [sniffing] Did it come out weekly? Biweekly [inaudible 24:36]? Linda Johnson: When I had-, [sniffing] when Larry and I were workin’ [throat clearing] together that first few years, we w-, did one a week; we did a 4-page newsletter, one a wee-, once a week, and then, um, when Zubkus came in, he put [throat clearing] [background conversation] we became Lansing Car Assembly, which involved the Chasse side and us; they were tryin’ to make us w-, a team. So then [Mike 24:57] would put one out, Mike and [Pauline Oliver 24:59] would put out a newsletter [background conversation] for 2 weeks, and then I-, [papers rustling]1 for 2 weeks, and then I’d put out 1 for 2 weeks, ya know? It’s, we’d split back and forth like that. [papers rustling] [background conversation] So [papers rustling] oof. And then, we got another Plant Manager and she wanted her own newsletter, so then we had Body Plant newsletter, a Chasse newsletter, and a combined newsletter. So it was just a – you were always [sniffing] tryin’ to make somebody happy. [throat clearing] So then I put out [tapping] 2 a month, so. Marilyn Coulter: [25:40] So now, did you – [tapping] you covered, um, in-plant, uh, programs. Did you... Linda Johnson: Mm-hm. Marilyn Coulter: ...also cover UAW... Linda Johnson: Oh yeah. Marilyn Coulter: ...programs? Linda Johnson: I l-, oh those were the most fun, ‘cause there was a lot of, uh, activities goin’ on at the Union Hall. They had their Black History program and their Hispanic program and Christmas programs and picnics and stuff. So that’s... Doreen Howard: [Mm-hm 26:00]. Linda Johnson: ...about the only place you could really get the people element anymore was those kinds a things, so. Yeah, I tried to hit as many a those as I could. Marilyn Coulter: Mm. [throat clearing] [26:14] So was there anything that made your job particularly difficult? Linda Johnson: [sighing] Difficult. No, I, I don’t thi-, it’s just there [sniffing] was always somethin’, and that’s [throat clearing] like any job. Ya know, one week they want ya to pay your bills, the next week they want somebody else to pay your bills and just keepin’ on track a all that stuff, and when I came up to work in John Rosendahl’s group, all of a sudden I wasn’t responsible for everybody’s bills because there wasn’t a clerk around, so I had to take care a my bills plus training bills. It was just... Marilyn Coulter: Did you... Linda Johnson: ...pa-, more paperwork. Marilyn Coulter: [26:55] Because you worked so closely with management, did you ever get a feeling that your other hourly counterparts felt that you were more management than hourly? Linda Johnson: Oh, they might a thought that. I don’t know. I didn’t – they may have thought that but I’m not; I’m a member of the UAW. Marilyn Coulter: Mm. [clicking] [27:16] What is it about bein’ a member of the UAW that you like? Linda Johnson: I like bein’ a part a somethin’ that’s, uh, connected, somethin’ that’s big. It’s not about me; it’s about, it’s about a whole group of people, where, um, I think in management it’s about themselves, bettering themselves, and ya kn-, not, not that that’s bad, it’s just they don’t have the, um, network that we do, [I don’t think 27:44]. Marilyn Coulter: Mm. [27:46] Was there any reason that, since you did have all of that, um, college background behind you, that you never chose to go to management? Linda Johnson: I never considered it. Cheryl McQuaid: Cheryl McQuaid. You worked with John Rosendahl... Linda Johnson: Mm-hm. Cheryl McQuaid: ...and we, we know that John Rosendahl’s kind of the, I’m gonna say party planner but that wasn’t his official title. [28:15] Did you get [throat clearing] involved in any of the, the big cel-, celebrations... Linda Johnson: Oh yeah. Cheryl McQuaid: ...or? Linda Johnson: Oh yeah. We’d a-, we’d have meetings. We’d set down in the morning with our coffee and we’d start talkin’ about like, “Well, ya know, Zub wants to have a big blowout for the [sniffing] [throat clearing] best lunch ever,” and so they we’d start flippin’ ideas back [papers rustling] and forth, and that’s how a lotta that [paper crumpling] stuff would start. [paper crumpling] We’d just start-, [papers crumpling] it might just be me and John or it’d be Mi-, Mike and John and myself, or it might be, uh, ya know, just 4 or 5 people sittin’ around [background noises] tossin’ ideas around and then everybody’d be given an assignment and we’d go for it. So yeah, John, he just, he’s got a lotta great ideas and a lotta good [sniffing] connections and [throat clearing] so. Marilyn Coulter: [29:01] Can you tell us what the best lunch ever was? Linda Johnson: The best lunch ever was, um, congratulations from Hoagland and the gang, wanted to congratulate the people on what a great job of kickin’ off the car that we had done. So we went to, um, John and I went to this place that blows things up to visit with them about, ya know, [papers rustling] talked about getting’ the Wharton Center, we talked about gettin’ [sniffing] or not the Wharton Center, [throat clearing] the Breslin Center, and we talked about other big places in town where you could get everybody there and, um, there was just a lot of – ya had – I to write letters to people all over town, ya know, and I had to invite all the big wigs to come. It was just a big – a lotta work for, uh, 4 hours a whoopee, ya know? It was, uh – and it was the best lunch ever, party we ever had. Cheryl McQuaid: Michael Fleming. Michael Fleming: M-, M-, Mike Fleming. [29:59] When you, when you were – [papers rustling] while you’re talkin’ about that [papers rustling] you wanna talk [papers rustling] a little bit about some a the other things that you did in there? And, uh, specifically I’ll point to when y-, we had Bring Your Child to Work Day... Linda Johnson: [Oh 30:11.] Michael Fleming: ...and the types of the things you did th-, on that particular day... Linda Johnson: [Yeah 30:14]. Michael Fleming: ...and we also had [papers rustling] a, um, appreciation [coughing] for team members, uh, that, that garned, garnered pizza for those folks... Linda Johnson: Mm-hm. Michael Fleming: ...and what ya did there. Linda Johnson: Mm-hm. Michael Fleming: Could you talk about those [too, please 30:25]? Linda Johnson: Oh yeah. Um, the team awards, or when they would award the teams for team spirit or completing a project or problem-solving or any a those things, they’d have a pizza party for the people that have say they’ve had 6 weeks of whatever error they corrected and s-, they’ve had 6 weeks of no, no more errors or no more discrepancies. So they’d give’m a pizza party, and a lotta times they’d invite me to come in and take their picture and, um, and then later I’d bring it back down to their area and they’d post it with their award that they’d gotten from management for, for what they’d done. And, um, every year we’d also have, um, Bring Your Child to Work Day that was usually around the [car engine] April 21st timeframe, and some years it was really big and some years it was just pretty straight [papers rustling] ‘cause we were really busy building cars, but one a my favorite years, we, um, had a lot of people up in the old salary dining room. Uh, we had women there, uh, showing women’s trades in the, women’s works in the auto industry and the Suggestion Department would be there, and just all these different careers available to young people and they could just have a little, uh, tour of that, as well as the plant, and so I’d just go around, take pictures, and, uh, it was fun because everybody would be there with their families. [clicking] [recorder clicking] Cheryl McQuaid: [32:05] So Linda, what kind of office parties did ya have? Did you have anything special for Christmas? Thanksgiving? Linda Johnson: I’ll tell ya, when I got taken into John’s group, John Rosendahl’s group, that’s a best, um, group at recognizing people’s high points in their life. If it was your birthday, John made sure you had a birthday card just from him, and there’d be some celebration with the group. Well, our immediate work grou-, John might a had maybe 25 people under him, that was on his pay screen, so you’d always have at least 15 to 20 people there to wish ya a happy birthday. Or you might go out for lunch for your birthday, but usually it was cake or don-, uh, donuts, or some kinda treat. Never the same thing, but – and then if you were having your anniversary, your 25th anniversary with the company or your 20th, he would have everybody in for that and have your picture taken with him, ya know, gettin’ your award. And, uh, at Christmastime, we’d have our year-end meeting every year at 2:00 and it would be at a local restaurant he and I had picked out and we’d have a menu we’d already fixed and we’d go, we’d play pool, where-, whatever the venue was and play pool or, uh, do something, the whole group together, and he would bring a game and we’d play for little gifts that he had gotten everybody. Plus he would always have a gift just for you too. So he – I don’t know, he just made work, goin’, comin’ to work fun in a lotta ways that, um, nobody else had ever taken that much time to do. Cheryl McQuaid: [33:44] Bein’ in the office environment, what kind of parties did the, the other groups have? Linda Johnson: Well, in, um, in the plant, on holidays and special occasions they’d have dinners at their picnic tables where everybody brought a dish to pass or they would order food in and everybody’d contribute and they’d have a party, and sometimes they’d ask me to come down to those and – this is gonna sound awful – and I would always have so much fun, ya know, especially on the holidays when they’re all havin’ their big parties, and I found that the kindest people were the people that worked in the Body Shop, ‘cause they’d invite me out to their parties and they’d say, “Sit down, Linda. Have somethin’ to eat before you take those pictures,” but people in Paint never asked me to sit down and have food with’m, and, uh, Trim people, sometimes they would. So after a while, ya know, you’re comin’ around and you’re shootin’ pictures at all these parties and ya look at somethin’ looks pretty good; I quit askin’, I just started takin’. So, I think I’s s-, [laughter] that’s what I’s supposed to do anyway. [laughter] Doreen Howard: [34:48] Earl-... Cheryl McQuaid: Doreen Howard. Doreen Howard: ...early on [coughing] you talked about your education. Um, did you ever use any of the bargained benefits from General Motors to further your education? Cheryl McQuaid: Yeah, I y-, I used [Tap 35:01] when I, I knew I had to join the next generation and know, uh, know how to use a computer ‘cause I was such a typewriter girl, and I went into that kickin’ and screaming, but that was probably what saved me was learnin’ how to use that computer and, uh, I learned the desktop publishing, and it was a lotta fun once I had got over my fear of pushin’ the keys on a computer. And, um, and I’d also taken a writing class, a graduate writing class, um, in magazine writing, and I used my Tap for that. Doreen Howard: [35:40] Was, um, keeping up-to-date in furthering your education somethin’ [car engine] that was expected of you in your position or was that just for your personal... Linda Johnson: Uh, oh... Doreen Howard: ...enhancement? Linda Johnson: ...uh, the computer part definitely was expected. I – ‘cause [car engine] I’d a gone away if I hadn’t hopped to it. And um, even, uh, my counterpart on the other side, he finally g-, he would not take a class. He got into a little bit, but I’d have to talk him through things, ‘cause he’d bring his fi-, I would help him with his graduation issue and he’d bring all his stuff over in one continuous file, and if you’re lookin’ for 75 kids’ names and their stories off a one continuous file, I can’t tell ya how hard that is, but it is difficult. Marilyn. Marilyn Coulter: [36:31] Um, did your job ever allow you to travel or go to [sighing] [off-sites 36:34] or anything? Linda Johnson: Uh, not as much as – my counterparts at 652 got to go to all these, um, special events up at Black Lake and stuff and they’d always say, “Well how come you’re not goin’?” and I’d say, “Well nobody told me about it,” and they said, “Well you should tell your Union Hall,” and I said – she said, uh, one a the girls said, and I say, “Well, if they wanted me to go, they’d let me know.” So I didn’t go on those kinds a off-sites, but I did get to go to, um, Saturn a couple a times when they were the king a the world there for about 10 years ago. We went down there a couple a times to special events, which was fun. Interesting too. Got to meet [Gary Cover 37:14] down there, and, um, and saw their beautiful Union Hall. Cheryl McQuaid: Michael Fleming. Michael Fleming: [37:23] When you talk about Saturn back then, when they were thriving, really goin’ strong, what do you think about that their manufacturing process that you could see then apply to the one that we used here and s-, specifically going into where we’re goin’ now, what do you think about those [3 37:40] manufacturing processes? Linda Johnson: Okay, when I was there [sniffing] it was really cool; their train ride and their – and I think about our tours at our plant. When you toured our plant, you really saw stuff. When you toured their plant, you didn’t see anything. They gave ya a great demonstration of their [sniffing] wonderful doors, ya know, they’d ride over’m with a little train your on and the doors weren’t dented or broken or scratched or anything, they’d still look great, and I mean, that was impressive. That made you wanna go buy a Saturn. But then they’d tour ya around the plant, ya couldn’t see anything ‘cause all the stock’s in the way. But they’d tell you what was going on, and every now and then you might see a person, but you didn’t see anything like you can see [throat clearing] in our plant when you’re ridin’ [sniffing] around on the train there. You can really see stuff goin’ on. Michael Fleming: You could see the process here and [couldn’t at, uh 38:25]... Linda Johnson: But what they h-, what they showed there that I s-, saw hope for us is they had these great team rooms where people could go in and, ya know, check, log on to their computers. Ya know, they could do a lotta things that I don’t think our team rooms ever, uh, s-, got to, ya know? They had TVs in there and they had picnic tables and that was it [car engine] where at Saturn, they had places where people could really kinda connect with each other or – so, [sniffing] so maybe in the next facility we’ll be – so I think that’s what Saturn had that we didn’t have. Cheryl McQuaid: Marilyn Coulter. Marilyn Coulter: [39:03] Um, Linda, you’ve covered – you, like you said, you covered union, you cov-, covered the line, you’ve covered the management things. Lansing when al-, was, has always been called the Capital of Quality. What do you attribute that to? Linda Johnson: I think, uh, it’s [sniffing] the people’s work ethic. [throat clearing] I think everybody that comes to work at our plant wants to do a good job and, um, their frustration is when the materials or something is thrown into the mix that isn’t up to snuff, and that gets frustrating. So then, so then you get a angry person that says, “Rats,” ya know? They h-, so when you have that many people and we’re running – ya know, we’re more than one plant. Most plants are just one system, ya know. We had two systems. We had a lot goin’ on in our plant that nobody else [throat clearing] ever did. And it’s a wonderful group of people that can put that all together and still ship’m out every day. Marilyn Coulter: [39:56] Do you feel that, um, once that, like, like back in ’82 when they started getting a lot of employees involved that help, uh, raise a benchmark for us? Linda Johnson: Oh yeah. Marilyn Coulter: [Inaudible 40:08]? Linda Johnson: Oh yeah. I think people saw possibilities that they’ll, their voice would be heard. They weren’t just a number to build that car and ship it out the door. So they saw hope and, um, some of it really worked for’m and it’s just a fountain you gotta keep feeding. Marilyn Coulter: [40:29] S-, so bein’ an editor and a person with 2 degrees [sniffing] and from interviewing people on the line, did you find many people in the plant like yourself that have had a lot of educational background? Linda Johnson: Yeah, I was, I, and I was supri-, there are s-, I’ve – there was a lawyer that worked in there, and there was a woman I interviewed that worked on the night shift, I think she took care of her family too, and she’s like really smart, like [Mark Strohli 40:53] smart, and, um, I hope that child got, went on to s-, bigger and better things, ‘cause she was wasted where she was. I can’t remember her name. I did a story about her too. That’s [awful 41:05]. Anyways. Yeah, there’s a lot of smart people in our plant. Marilyn Coulter: So actually, oftentimes... Linda Johnson: And not just education-wise, but I mean just [door closing] smart. Marilyn Coulter: So there’s a lotta people who are, who had a misunderstanding of what they thought factory workers were. Linda Johnson: Right. Right. Cheryl McQuaid: Linda, I really appreciate this time that you’ve given us and I’d like to [coughing] say thank you. Linda Johnson: Well, you’re welcome. It’s been fun. [throat clearing] Marilyn Coulter: Thank you. Michael Fleming: Thank you, Linda. [recorder clicking] /rt