Lloyd Wolever discusses his career as a production worker, skilled trades Tinner and UAW member at the Fisher Body plant in Lansing, MI Cheryl McQuaid: This is the Lansing Fisher Body Historical Team. Today is May 2nd, 2006. It’s approximately 10:30 a.m. We are in Vermontville, Michigan, [clinking] and first let’s introduce the team. John Fedewa: John Fedewa. Jerri Smith: Jerri Smith. Cheryl McQuaid: And I’m Cheryl McQuaid. Um, today we’re going to interview d-, Lloyd Wolever, and we are in his home in Vermontville. [0:31] Would you please state your name and spell your last name for us? Lloyd Wolever: Lloyd A. Wolever, W-O-L-E-V-E-R. Cheryl McQuaid: [0:38] And what is your address, Lloyd? Lloyd Wolever: 135 Washington, Vermontville, Michigan. Cheryl McQuaid: [0:43] And are you married? [throat clearing] Do you have children? Lloyd Wolever: Yes. [shuffling papers] [clicking] Cheryl McQuaid: [0:48] Uh, where were you born and raised? Lloyd Wolever: I was born in Battle Creek; I was raised all over. [laughter] Folks moved a lot. Cheryl McQuaid: [0:55] And what did your folks do? Lloyd Wolever: Farmer most a the time. Um, durin’ the war, my dad worked in Battle Creek. [loud tap] [throat clearing] Cheryl McQuaid: [1:03] Uh, what is your educational level? Lloyd Wolever: Well, I had, I had high school and 2, 2 years of LC-, uh, LCC. [throat clearing] [clicking] Cheryl McQuaid: [1:18] Um, Lloyd, were you in the military? Lloyd Wolever: Yes. Cheryl McQuaid: [1:22] And... [clinking] Cheryl McQuaid: ...what year did you hire into Fisher Body? Lloyd Wolever: 1950. Cheryl McQuaid: [1:29] Was that like right out of high school or? Lloyd Wolever: Seven days after I got back from the senior trip. Cheryl McQuaid: [1:34] Really? How did you know they were hiring? [clinking] Lloyd Wolever: Well, friends a mine was hirin’ in here at the time. [clinking] Cheryl McQuaid: [1:40] And what was the hiring process like? [clinking] Lloyd Wolever: Well, you just went down to employment office and put in an application and... Cheryl McQuaid: [1:47] No lines? Lloyd Wolever: Huh? Cheryl McQuaid: No lines? Lloyd Wolever: No. Well, there was a few there, but yeah, not, not no big lines like they have at... [clinking] Cheryl McQuaid: [1:57] And so you hired in with a buncha your friends from school or? Lloyd Wolever: Well, day after and stuff like that, yeah. Cheryl McQuaid: So you knew a number of people when you did... Lloyd Wolever: Yeah. Cheryl McQuaid: ...come into the plant. [2:10] Do you remember, um, your first day walkin’ into Fisher Body? Lloyd Wolever: Yeah. Cheryl McQuaid: Could you... Lloyd Wolever: Little nervous. Cheryl McQuaid: ...tell me about it? Lloyd Wolever: [laughter] Cheryl McQuaid: Were ya? Lloyd Wolever: Uh, yeah. I, uh, got assigned up to Trim and, uh, first job I had was puttin’ dash mats in. And I had a number of jobs; puttin’, uh – well, doin’ some sealer and truckin’ jobs around the corner. At the time, the tr-, tracks was all flat, flat chains, so any turn you had to make, you had to push’m around. And, uh, [throat clearing] and I, uh, well, I spread – sprayed raid-, [red-eye 2:54] and put the [fender 2:56] in [jobs 2:57]. Cheryl McQuaid: [2:59] What is red-eye? Lloyd Wolever: A glue. Cheryl McQuaid: Oh, okay. Lloyd Wolever: [Yeah, they call it that, but 3:02] real sticky stuff. Cheryl McQuaid: [3:07] But the very first job that you hired in on was... Lloyd Wolever: Dash... Cheryl McQuaid: ...dash mats. Lloyd Wolever: ...dash mats. Cheryl McQuaid: [3:11] Could you explain maybe a little bit about the process of puttin’ in a dash mat? Lloyd Wolever: Well, ya had to sit on the floor in the job, put ya – put the dash mat up there, put your feet against it, and then find the hole with a [scratch-all 3:23] and try to put these little forks in there [clinking] to hold the dash mat in... [clinking] Lloyd Wolever: ...which, uh, was, was a little troublesome tryin’ to find the hole after you c-, even after you [clinking] found the, found the hole with a [clinking] scratch-all, it’s hard to get them [clinking] fishhooks in there. [clanking] Cheryl McQuaid: [3:40] And how many a those did you have to put in? Lloyd Wolever: ‘Bout 8 or 10 of’m. [scraping sound] Cheryl McQuaid: Really? Lloyd Wolever: Yeah. Cheryl McQuaid: [3:46] And did you do every car? Lloyd Wolever: No. Every third car, every third car. [clanking] Cheryl McQuaid: Oh, wow. [clinking] Lloyd Wolever: But it was hard to keep up. [clinking] Cheryl McQuaid: [3:56] Do you remember any of the other people [clinking] on that team with you? Lloyd Wolever: No. Cheryl McQuaid: [4:02] How long would – do you say did you... Lloyd Wolever: [coughing] Cheryl McQuaid: ...[do 4:04] that job [inaudible 4:04]? Lloyd Wolever: Well, not too long. And then, uh, [clinking] well I only worked in [clinking] Trim a year and a half and [clinking] I got laid off for a couple weeks and I got called back into, uh, Cut and Sew. [clinking] Cheryl McQuaid: [4:20] So you worked in the Cushion Room. Lloyd Wolever: Well, I was – most a the time in the Cutting Room down in Building 9. And [throat clearing] then I, I [clinking] was a cutter went – [clinking] got called to service. [clinking] [clicking] Cheryl McQuaid: [4:35] So what all did you do in Cut and Sew? Lloyd Wolever: Well, checker first. Cheryl McQuaid: [4:39] Checker? What’s a checker? Lloyd Wolever: Well, like a-, in the Cutting Room, we’d, we’d – the cutters would cut the material in patterns they laid out, dust it with, with chalk and then cut’m out and then we’d tie it up and put it in a – in, uh, baskets to go to the Cutti-, Cushion Room and the door, door panels and all that stuff. Cheryl McQuaid: [5:00] Oh, I was always in the – under the impression that Cut and Sew and Cushion Room were the same place. Lloyd Wolever: Well... Cheryl McQuaid: Totally different areas. Lloyd Wolever: Oh yeah. Cheryl McQuaid: Okay. Lloyd Wolever: Building 9 was – it was – the Cutting Room was in Building 9 and the Door Department was upstairs in Building 9. Door and then – and, uh, [throat clearing] convertible tops was upstairs, and then the Cushion Room was over in Building 15. Cheryl McQuaid: [5:24] So how long were you in Cut and Sew? Lloyd Wolever: Till they went out in s-, 1960. Cheryl McQuaid: Okay. [5:31] So how many years did you work in Trim before Cut and Sew? Lloyd Wolever: Year and a half. Cheryl McQuaid: A year and a half. Lloyd Wolever: Yeah. Cheryl McQuaid: And then you were in Cut and Sew. Lloyd Wolever: [Hm 5:38]. Cheryl McQuaid: [5:40] Could you explain maybe a little bit about the atmosphere of the plant? Um, what was it – was it clean? Were there different [clanking] fumes? Lloyd Wolever: I, I didn’t think it was all that dirty. [I thought 5:55], you know, fairly clean. Cheryl McQuaid: [Mm. Mm-hm 5:55]. [5:58] Was there stock sittin’ all over or... Lloyd Wolever: Oh yeah. Cheryl McQuaid: ...did they have ... Lloyd Wolever: Yeah, they [did 6:03]... Cheryl McQuaid: ...spaces for it? Lloyd Wolever: Huh? Cheryl McQuaid: Did... Lloyd Wolever: Well, they [throat clearing] – it was more than it is today because they s-, they’d put it up to the line, you know? [And, uh 6:14 ]. [throat clearing] Cheryl McQuaid: [6:23] Some a the people that you worked around, did you have any minorities working around you? Lloyd Wolever: [N-, I don’t 6:31], don’t recall not in, not in, uh, Cut and Sew, but in, eh, uh [inaudible 6:37]... Cheryl McQuaid: [6:37] Were there a lot of women there? Lloyd Wolever: Yeah. Cheryl McQuaid Were there? Lloyd Wolever: Yeah. Women, women [done 6:41] run the sewing machines. Cheryl McQuaid: [6:45] Were there any new-hire initiations or pranks pulled on you? Lloyd Wolever: No. Cheryl McQuaid: [6:49] Did you pull any on other people? Lloyd Wolever: No. John Fedewa: [laughter] Cheryl McQuaid: [No 6:53]? [6:54] What kinda things... John Fedewa: [throat clearing] Cheryl McQuaid: ...did you do for breaks and lunch? Lloyd Wolever: What ti-, kinda what? Cheryl McQuaid: What type of things did you do at break time... Lloyd Wolever: We just... Cheryl McQuaid: ...and lunchtime? Lloyd Wolever: ...we just, we just sat out and had a bit to eat and get back up’n go again, ‘cause you didn’t have that long a break. Didn’t have it like they do today. Cheryl McQuaid: [7:10] Do you remember the wagons bein’ in there? Lloyd Wolever: Yeah. Cheryl McQuaid: [7:13] Could you tell me a little bit about havin’ a wagon? Lloyd Wolever: Oh, they had, uh, they had different things on the wagon, like cakes and cookies and stuff like that. Coffee. Milk. Cheryl McQuaid: [7:25] Was it somethin’ that you looked forward to ev-, every day or? Lloyd Wolever: Oh yeah, yeah. [clinking] Cheryl McQuaid: [7:30] Did you ever go across the street to Harry’s? Lloyd Wolever: Not very often. No. Cheryl McQuaid: [7:36] But you did know of the place? Lloyd Wolever: I knew of the place, yeah. Cheryl McQuaid: [7:39] Many of your co-workers go across the street... Lloyd Wolever: Oh yeah. Cheryl McQuaid: ...or? Lloyd Wolever: Yeah, quite a few a them went over. Cheryl McQuaid: [7:45] Did they have good food or back then... Lloyd Wolever: [At Har- 7:48], at Harry’s? Cheryl McQuaid: ...were they – yeah. Lloyd Wolever: I have no idea. Cheryl McQuaid: [7:50] Did they have a cafeteria in the plant at that... Lloyd Wolever: Yeah. Cheryl McQuaid: ...time or? Lloyd Wolever: Yeah. Cheryl McQuaid: Did they? [7:55] [tsk] Um, how l-, after you left the Cut and Sew, where did you go then? Lloyd Wolever: I went back to Trim. Cheryl McQuaid: Did ya? Lloyd Wolever: [throat clearing] When Cut and Sew went to, moved to Livonia and Grand Rapids. I had a choice to go there but I didn’t really wanna go, so I went back to Trim and I ended up, uh, Water Test Repair. Cheryl McQuaid: [8:18] That’s a pretty good job, isn’t it? Lloyd Wolever: Yeah, [it was pretty good 8:21], yeah. Cheryl McQuaid: [8:22] What kind of repair did you have to do? Were there a lotta... Lloyd Wolever: [Inaudible 8:25]... Cheryl McQuaid: ...leaks? Lloyd Wolever: ...the leaks was, you know. Cheryl McQuaid: [8:27] What was a... Lloyd Wolever: [Seal 8:27]... Cheryl McQuaid: ...typical leak? Lloyd Wolever: Uh, windshield back glass. Was quite a lotta them. Cheryl McQuaid: [8:36] Did you view your... Lloyd Wolever: [throat clearing] Cheryl McQuaid: ...co-workers as brothers and sisters? Lloyd Wolever: Well, we all got along, but yeah... Cheryl McQuaid: Watched eith-... Lloyd Wolever: ...[You know, I 8:43]... Cheryl McQuaid: ...each other’s... Lloyd Wolever: ...tried to... Cheryl McQuaid: ...backs and... Lloyd Wolever: ...tried to have a little fun while I was – [as it 8:47] went along, you know? Cheryl McQuaid: [8:50] Now, I know you were a Tinner. When did you and why did you get involved in the Skilled Trades arena? Lloyd Wolever: Well, I, I didn’t wanna work on a line all my life. I, uh, applied for Skilled Trades. Cheryl McQuaid: [9:04] Was that a lengthy application process or? Lloyd Wolever: Well, it wasn’t [such a 9:09] lengthy there. I got called down for, uh, a test, a 4-hour and a half test. I passed that all right, but then when I got called down for an interview, they said they would really like somebody with, with s-, more experience in that type a stuff. Want, you know, like blueprint reading and welding, and I did welding in high school, but it’d been a number of years. So I went to LCC and took that, and, and drawing, drafting. I got in, I got into Skilled Trades in ’65. Cheryl McQuaid: [9:46] How long after your interview process did you get into the... Lloyd Wolever: Oh, it was in the-, within a year. Cheryl McQuaid: Within a year? [9:55] And what trade did you go into? Lloyd Wolever: I started out in the [millwrights 9:58], [throat clearing] and then, uh, then they was havin’ a lay-off, a cutback, and, uh, I was right on the bottom. There was a tinner retirin’ and the superintendent called me in and wanna, wanted to know if I’d take that ‘cause he didn’t really wanna lay me off, and, uh, so I ended up in the Tin Shop. Cheryl McQuaid: [10:20] What does a Tinner do in the plant? Lloyd Wolever: Uh... [banging] Lloyd Wolever: ...all the ductwork – anything to do with 1/8-inch metal or thinner was duct-, was tinners’ job. Cheryl McQuaid: [10:36] So you worked on the ductwork. What else? Lloyd Wolever: Well, we cut metal for, for the millwrights when they made different things, you know, and stuff like that; [‘bout 11-gauge 10:48] and stuff for them. Cheryl McQuaid: [10:51] In the... Lloyd Wolever: [throat clearing] Cheryl McQuaid: ...main offices they had like metal walls. Was that... Lloyd Wolever: [Yeah 10:55]. Cheryl McQuaid: ...a Tinner... Lloyd Wolever: Yeah, we installed them, took’m down, rearranged’m. Cheryl McQuaid: Over and over and over. Lloyd Wolever: Over and over and over, yeah. Cheryl McQuaid: [laughter] John Fedewa: [chuckle] Lloyd Wolever: [throat clearing] They always seemed to have money to move them offices. Cheryl McQuaid: [11:14] How many tinners were in the Fisher Body? Lloyd Wolever: Well, when I went in there, there was only 6, 6 of us; 2 on each shift. [clinking] Cheryl McQuaid: So 2 on 3 shifts. Lloyd Wolever: 2 on 3 shifts. [clinking] Cheryl McQuaid: Okay. Lloyd Wolever: But then they – before I left, they had, they had more of us. Only 2 on our shift. I never had more than 2 on our shift. Cheryl McQuaid: [11:36] What shift did you work most a the time? Lloyd Wolever: I, I normally stayed on the 2nd shift. I didn’t – well, I, I had, I had 5 houses that I took care of besides my own, rentals. Cheryl McQuaid: [11:49] Oh, so you had rental properties? Lloyd Wolever: Yeah. So you know, on the day shift, it’s dark when you go to work and dark when you get home; you can’t do nothin’. [clinking] [Inaudible 11:59] lumber yard closed right afterwards, so worked out better for me for 2nd shift. [throat clearing] Cheryl McQuaid: [12:10] Has a co-wor-, has a co-worker ever impacted your family life? Lloyd Wolever: What are you talkin’ about impacted? Cheryl McQuaid: Um, made a lasting impression, done somethin’ special for you. Lloyd Wolever: Not so much a that [at all 12:28]. No, my, my partner at work was the longest to last there. He liked, he liked, uh, pie pretty well. I’d make – wife’d make a pie and take it in. It’d be a lemon pie. He’d say, “I’ll bet she can’t make a peach pie.” [laughter] John Fedewa: [laughter] Was that [Joe 12:52]? Lloyd Wolever: No, [me 12:54]. [laughter] Cheryl McQuaid: [laughter] Lloyd Wolever: So I’d tell-, come home and tell her so she’d make a peach pie. [laughter] Cheryl McQuaid: [laughter] Lloyd Wolever: And she’d make, uh... Jerri Smith: Jerri Smith. [13:04] Did you have friends in the plant that you did things with out of the plant? Like... Lloyd Wolever: Not a lot, no. Jerri Smith: Not a lot? Lloyd Wolever: Uh-uh. No. I was too busy. Jerri Smith: Yeah. Lloyd Wolever: I mean, you’re – when you’re workin’ 7 days a week and, and, uh, got 5 rentals, you don’t have a lotta time for social activities. [throat clearing] Cheryl McQuaid: [13:29] Did you participate in the department dinners? Did the tinners have a... Lloyd Wolever: Yeah. Cheryl McQuaid: ...Christmas dinner or... Lloyd Wolever: [Inaudible 13:35]. Cheryl McQuaid: ...was it a whole Skilled Trades dinner? How did they work that? Lloyd Wolever: Most a the time it was all Skilled Trades dinner, yeah. Cheryl McQuaid: [13:45] Did, um, did you spend – we know that you were in Cut and Sew and... Lloyd Wolever: [coughing] Cheryl McQuaid: ...[Trim 13:50]. Did you spend any time in the Body Shop or Paint departments? Lloyd Wolever: [No 13:54]. Cheryl McQuaid: Even as a Tinner, you didn’t have to... Lloyd Wolever: [No 13:56]. Cheryl McQuaid: ...go out... Lloyd Wolever: Well, I had to... Cheryl McQuaid: ...in those areas? Lloyd Wolever: ...go out there and do work, yeah. Cheryl McQuaid: [13:58] What’d you think a... Lloyd Wolever: We worked all over... Cheryl McQuaid: ...those areas? Lloyd Wolever: ...the shop. Cheryl McQuaid: Did ya? Lloyd Wolever: [throat clearing] Yeah. We worked everyplace. From the roof to the s-, basement. Most a the time we work underneath the roof in the summertime when it’s hot, and on top a the roof in the [laughter] wintertime when it’s cold. Seems like that’s always the way it worked out. Cheryl McQuaid: [14: 19] What kinda work did you have to do on the roof? Lloyd Wolever: Install ductworks, exhaust fans. Cheryl McQuaid: Oh, okay. [14:29] What was your – what was the best job when you’ve – were puttin’ on – put on a spe-, specific job, what was the best job, as a Tinner, that you were okay with doin’? Lloyd Wolever: I, I was okay with all of it. I liked, I liked the job. [Yeah 14:46]. Cheryl McQuaid: [14:48] Do you have a happiest moment in the plant? Or a saddest moment? Lloyd Wolever: [Well 14:57], I had a good time all the time. Cheryl McQuaid: Did ya? Lloyd Wolever: [Yeah 15:00]. Cheryl McQuaid: [15:00] What’d you do to pass the time, to make it work? Lloyd Wolever: Doin’ somethin’. I don’t know what, but... Cheryl McQuaid: [chuckle] Lloyd Wolever: [chuckle] ...it was – uh, I kept busy. [throat clearing] Cheryl McQuaid: [15:17] When they didn’t need you to do Tinner work, did you do government work for people on the line? Lloyd Wolever: Once in a while, yeah. And then, uh, sometimes on, on the weekend they didn’t need, uh, all the tinners, they needed more help in the millwrights, so I’d go and help the millwrights. Cheryl McQuaid: [15:37] What was the difference? Oh, they worked with thicker steel? Lloyd Wolever: Yeah. Yeah. They had a conveyor chain and all that stuff, yeah. Cheryl McQuaid: So probably a little bit heavier work? Lloyd Wolever: Oh yeah. And greasier, dirtier. [chuckle] [throat clearing] Cheryl McQuaid: [15:53] Um, did you ever participate in the plant vending of food and – like there were people that brought in burritos and... Lloyd Wolever: [No 16:04]. Cheryl McQuaid: You always – you got a fine cook here; you brought in your own food. Lloyd Wolever: Yeah. She make, uh, cinnamon rolls, sourdough. I’d take couple trays a them in, set’m on the bench and everybody helped themselves to’m. [throat clearing] Cheryl McQuaid: [16:27] Do you know of anybody that was ever hurt in the plant? Lloyd Wolever: Well, yeah, there was, but I can’t think right now. I know a Tinner got hurt here si-, since I retired; got his fingers in the brake and the other guy shut the brake down on’m. Cheryl McQuaid: Ooh. Lloyd Wolever: Yeah. Cheryl McQuaid: What’s a brake? Lloyd Wolever: That’s – a brake is what bends the metal. Hydaul-, hydraulic brake, just squeeze, squeezes the stuff right outta your finger, you know? Cheryl McQuaid: Ow. Lloyd Wolever: Really goofed him up. Cheryl McQuaid: Mm. Lloyd Wolever: [throat clearing] Cheryl McQuaid: [17:05] What part of, uh, impact did the union have? Did you – were you – did you ever have to call your committee man or did you... Lloyd Wolever: [Yeah 17:17]. Cheryl McQuaid: ...ever attend union meetings? Lloyd Wolever: I have. I had to call a committee man sometimes. Usually got resolved. Cheryl McQuaid: [17:25] What was the typical problem in the plant that you may have had to call your committee man about? Lloyd Wolever: Well, up in Trim there they, you know, they, they’d, uh, put you on a job where, uh, actually you had more seniority than, than, uh, somebody else, but they, they moved you and left him on, on the job, you know. Get’m back into the line. [throat clearing] Cheryl McQuaid: [17:57] And so that would be a typical reason you’d... Lloyd Wolever: Yeah. Cheryl McQuaid: ...call the committee man? Lloyd Wolever: Yeah. Cheryl McQuaid: [18:03] Um, do you have any other family that works in the, in the plant? Lloyd Wolever: I got a daughter that works there. Cheryl McQuaid: [18:10] You have a daughter? Lloyd Wolever: [Yeah 18:11]. And a son-in-law too. Cheryl McQuaid: [18:16] And do – are either a those in, in the Skilled Trades arena? Lloyd Wolever: No. Cheryl McQuaid: [18:21] They work on the line? Lloyd Wolever: Yeah. S-, uh, son-in-law works up in Paint and [Nancy 18:26] works in Trim. Cheryl McQuaid: [18:28] Do you think that you had a – were able to influence them gettin’ hired in or? Lloyd Wolever: Yeah, I know I was. Not, not the son-in-law, but my daughter I was. Cheryl McQuaid: [18:40] So that was back when they hired family, then. Lloyd Wolever: Yeah. Cheryl McQuaid: [18:47] What is your most appreciated bargained benefit now that you’re retired and have been for how many years? Lloyd Wolever: Uh, 16 years. Cheryl McQuaid: [18:58] Is there a benefit that was bargained that you feel you appreciate more than others or? Lloyd Wolever: Well, my pension and my benefits, uh, health insurance and. [throat clearing] Cheryl McQuaid: [19:17] Can you tell us what one of your best memories of Fisher Body is? Lloyd Wolever: Oh, hell, I [chuckle]... Cheryl McQuaid: [chuckle] Nothin’ really stands out? Lloyd Wolever: Nothin’ really stands out ‘cause I – you know, I enj-, I enjoyed goin’ to work. John Fedewa: [coughing] Lloyd Wolever: That’s why, that’s why I don’t like retirement. Cheryl McQuaid: [19:39] Oh, you wish you were still workin’. Lloyd Wolever: Oh yeah, it’s – I’d go back in a minute. Jerri Smith: Jerri Smith. [19:47] What do you think now that they’re tearing down the Plant? Have you seen... Lloyd Wolever: It’s... oh yeah, I seen some of it, yeah. It’s pretty sad, yeah. Jerri Smith: Yeah. [19:57] Did you think you’d ever see the day that they’d tear it down? Lloyd Wolever: No, not really. Jerri Smith: I know it’s pretty sad for us that work there now and the... Lloyd Wolever: Yeah. Jerri Smith: ...even though we’re going into a new plant, it’s still – I never thought they’d tear the building down, so. But, uh, yeah, it’s sad. Lloyd Wolever: [Inaudible 20:17] see that shipping building, they just [all down 20:20]. Jerri Smith: Yeah. Lloyd Wolever: I put ductwork up in that [clearing of a 20:24] ceiling, you know? Quite a long ways up there. Cheryl McQuaid: Well, Lloyd, I’d like to thank you so much for this interview. Is there anything you’d like to share with us that we didn’t ask you about or? Lloyd Wolever: No, I really can’t think of anything. Cheryl McQuaid: Okay. Well, I thank you for your time. Lloyd Wolever: You’re welcome. Jerri Smith: Thank you very much. Lloyd Wolever: Mm. John Fedewa: Thank you very much. Lloyd Wolever: Yup. [throat clearing] /rt