Transcript

Location: 621 Gillette St.

Archie Currie: And then I believe it was in ‘54 we had a big recession. And that was when I found out—in spite of all that’s been said about La Crosse—La Crosse Auto-Lite plant was the, uh, most efficient plant of the thirty-three plant chain of Auto-Lite because we were wanting some, uh, fringe benefit increase on insurance, you know, a little bit better insurance than the rest of the—than what the rest of the corporation had and they didn’t want to give it to us. Royce Martin was hollerin’ about the depression year and we had a big recession in ‘54. A lot of people laid off. And John Padesky, he looked at Royce Martin and he says, “Why can’t we give it to them?” He says, “We were the only plant you got that was in the blue this year.” So we got that increase in our fringe benefit on insurance on that strength that John pointed out the fact that we were the only plant that was in the blue. 

Howard Fredricks (interviewer): And John was in management?

Currie: He was plant manager. And so then Royce Martin, he just—he used to cuss a lot too–he said, “What the hell,” he says, so we had it. And, uh, we struck that year—

Fredricks: Why did you strike if he gave it to you?

Currie: Well, there were other issues we wanted. But there was a funny issue there that happened. We—they had made us work a few weeks overtime. And, uh, were putting out the information that we were—the company was stockpiling in case we went on strike. And Paul Bigley was on our Auto-Lite counsel bargaining committee that year. We would send one member from each local down for negotiations. Two members belonged to the council, but one was on the negotiating team. So John Padesky had informed Royce Martin that we wouldn’t strike because everybody figured there was a big bank build up for Chrysler products. Bigley was sitting on this airplane in Chicago. He got on and sitting right next to him was a nice young lady. So they started passing the time of day and this lady—she says to Paul, “Who are you with?” Instead of saying the UAW, he says, “Auto-Lite.” “Ohhh,” she says and here she was a secretary to one of the wheels in the Chrysler Corporation. Now this is the first time anybody has told this outside of our own executive board bargaining committee meetings because we didn’t want to get the girl in trouble. She told him who she was with and everything and—I forget the guy’s name, but he was a wheel in Chrysler Corporations—she says, “We sure think a lot of Auto-Lite, because they’re our best vendor. The only vendor servicing us that hasn’t caused a problem on shuttin’ down the line and different things because parts came in too slow or too late or you got behind,” and she says, “We’re not a bit worried right now and you’re only three days ahead of us on Plymouth Panels.” Ohhh my God, that was the best news we’d ever heard ‘cause we were trying to get certain things on fringe benefits yet and there was no way we would get our people on the streets as long as they figured there was a big bank ‘cause it’d be a long strike. But it wasn’t. It was short. 

Royce Martin looked at John Padesky and he says—he mentioned the fact that he’d informed him that he didn’t think we’d strike and he says, “I outta fire you.” And Paul Bigley turned around and looked at Royce Martin and he says, “You fire him and you’ll have a real strike on your hands.” Because Auto-Lite up here in La Crosse was different than a lot of places. It was almost like family. We’d fight like hell over certain issues, but when whoever won, it was forgotten.