UAW Local 892-1B was established on July 23, 1941 at the Ford Motor Company in Brooklyn, Michigan. The original officers of the local were Gilbert Aiken, President; Andrews Engle, Vice-President; Charles Heiler, Virgil Rodlund, Harvey Blakeman, Fred Weidlick, Howard Ambler, Clarence Wolf, Raymond Showers, Robert Hess, Leo Hammond, Ralph Tilden, Jene Eddy, Ward Myers, Alvin Mohr, Kenneth Prentise. Only two of the original members are still living and remain in the Brooklyn area, Raymond Showers and Monty Wolf.

The first contract with Ford Motor Company contained only a few pages, but the most important statement made was that the workers would now have the right to organize and bargain. The unity of our founding fathers took a lot of courage. During this period employees would be discharged for not driving a Ford or not having to go to the bathroom when relieved to do so.

According to sources, employees came from Rawsonville and Brooklyn and there was a lot of discussion about whether the Local should be 892 or Local 898. We were told that Virginia Stokes was instrumental in the negotiations for Local 892 members to transfer to Saline with their seniority.

Judd Marr, according to his son Don Marr in dept. 4002, was the first hourly employee to run production parts in the Saline plant. The plant manager had a bet that production would run in Saline early in 1966, so the Temperature Sender was brought to Saline and plastic was placed around the machine and production began. The floor was still dirt and the building was not completed yet.

We would like to give personal recognition to the following active employees who came to Saline from Brooklyn when the plant opened in 1966. We apologize to anyone we may have missed.

NAME

James Roles

John Fish

Calvin Durkee

Dick Friday

Bob Rumsey

Vince Honeywell

Gerald Davis

Robert Soulliere

Larry Aiken

Edward Kline

Frank Boike

Ed Gilmore

SENIORITY

10/19/56

06/07/63

07/11/63

07/11/63

03/26/64

06/03/64

06/03/65

06/03/65

06/04/65

07/13/66

08/11/66

07/13/66