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Title: UAW Ford Department Collection

Type  :  Records                  

Date  : 1941-1981                 

Size   : 62 linear feet

ID    #:  105-uaw             

OCLC:                 

©Walter P. Reuther Library of Labor and Urban Affairs

HEFA.01d.update

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SCOPE & CONTENTS

Ø     Subjects

Ø     Correspondents

Ø     Transferred

CONTENTS

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Scope & Contents

The UAW signed its first contract with Ford Motor Company in 1941 after years of confrontation between labor and management.  The first director of the UAW Ford Department was Richard Leonard, a welder from Ohio who had been active in organizing automobile industry workers since the 1930s.  A casualty of UAW factionalism, Leonard lost his position to Highland Park Local 400 president Ken Bannon in 1947, who remained director until his retirement in 1980.  The UAW Ford Department achieved many gains for Ford employees, including a pension plan, health care benefits, workplace health and safety protection, skilled trades recognition, a shortened work week, more paid days off, supplemental unemployment benefits, and a guaranteed annual income credit.

 

Subjects

Apprentices--United States                    

Automobile industry and trade--Safety measures

Automobile industry workers--effect of automation on                         

Automobile industry workers--health and hygiene

Collective bargaining--Automobile industry                

Ford Motor Company

Industrial hygiene

Industrial safety                  

Insurance, Health

Pensions

Skilled trades

Social security

Strikes and lockouts--Automobile industry

Wages--Automobile industry workers

 

Correspondents

Ken Bannon

Jesus Chantres

Malcolm Denise

Dan Forchione

John Forsythe

Richard Leonard

Emil Mazey

John Orr

Vern Parrington

Eugene Prato

Victor Reuther

Walter Reuther

Nelson Samp

Carl Stellato

Peter Vranich

 

Transferred

A large number of Ford local contracts have been placed in the Archives Library, and a few photographs, audio tapes and buttons may be found in the Archives Audiovisual Collection.

 

Contents

18 manuscript boxes

53 storage boxes

Part 1

Manuscript Boxes

The papers in Part 1 of the UAW Ford Department Collection consist of contract negotiations, correspondence with locals, and other files related to department affairs under the leadership of Richard Leonard.

Part 2 [Large Files]

Storage Boxes

The papers in Part 2 of the UAW Ford Department Collection consist of general correspondence, reports, minutes, correspondence with locals, negotiations material, especially relative to the 1976 contract, benefits packages, and other files documenting the activities of the department under the leadership of both Richard Leonard and Ken Bannon.

Series I, Administration, 1948-81, Boxes 1-6, To Series Index

Series II, Locals and Regions, 1942-81, Boxes 6-30 and 47-53, To Series Index

Series III, Negotiations, 1941-76, Boxes 30-35, To Series Index

Series IV, Subject Files, 1941-78, Boxes 35-47, To Series Index

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