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UAW 1112 retirees talk life at Lordstown
By Kalea Hall
LORDSTOWN
Behind the 16 million vehicles that have been produced at the General Motors complex in 50 years are the Lords- town workers, both active and retired.
The United Auto Workers Local 1112 started the same time the assembly started at the plant.
It has about 15,000 retirees.
Those retirees all have their stories; some they are willing to tell and some they aren’t.
BILL BOWERS
Bill Bowers, president of Local 1112 from 1983 to 1994, started at the plant in October 1966.
He had returned home to Warren from Cleveland and learned that all of his high school friends were going to apply at the plant.
“At that time, they were putting a second shift on, and they hired about 3,000 people,” Bowers said.
Hours after he applied in October, Bowers found out he got the job.
He was a seat builder, and the job was not easy. It was repetitive work that kept you on your feet all day long.
“It was tough work,” Bowers said. “I still got scars.”
At one point, Bowers wondered if this job was the job for him.
“After about one month the soreness went away,” Bowers said. “You get used to the repetitiveness.”
In December 1966, Bowers received a notice of indefinite layoff. His concern led him to call union leadership. After that call he was given a date to go back to work.
He saw how the union fought for jobs, and he wanted to be a part of the fight for workers. He rose through the ranks of the union to president.
The plant’s culture was very pro-union. The mentality was if you “cut one, we all bleed.”
Bowers, who retired in 2002, wasn’t certain the plant would last to celebrate its 50th anniversary.
“As the heart makes the bodies function, our plant makes this body function,” Bowers said. “It’s the heart of the Valley. We keep it alive.”
STERLING JAMISON
Sterling “Smiley” Jamison, a retired GM Lordstown employee with 40-some years under his belt , also sees the prosperity the plant has brought to the Valley.
Smiley earned his nickname at the plant because he was always happy.
“I was fortunate to have a good-paying job and good benefits,” he said.
Jamison started on Valentine’s Day 1966 as a utility man who worked in the trim shop, supplying the workers on the line with what they needed.
“It was very hard,” he said. “You didn’t want to make a mistake because you’d be gone.”
In ensuing years, Jamison said he would spend more time at the plant than he did with his family.
He has fond memories and not-so-fond memories of his Lordstown GM years.
A fire at the van plant left Jamison with burns. He also remembers a pipefitter who died after a furnace exploded.
“You had to be careful,” he said. “Some say it’s a piece of cake.
“Most of the guys who told me that wouldn’t have been able to cut it.”
CHARLIE ZINS
Before Charlie Zins got hired at GM Lordstown in August 1970, he had 11 jobs in 13 years.
“It did wonders,” Zins said of the plant. “The steel mills were closing down. It was a good thing they were there.”
Zins was an electrician at the plant who fixed broken machines when needed.
“I enjoyed the whole 35 years,” he said. “I got along with everyone.”
He retired in 2005.
“It was a good place to work,” he said.
ROGER BLEVINS
Roger Blevins is another retiree who wears visible scars of a tough job.
Blevins was cut on the job while installing glass back in the 1970s.
After that, he left the plant, but then came back to it in 1979. He worked there until December 2014.
He was born into the automotive world.
His father moved the family to the Valley after he was hired to work at the new Lordstown plant in 1966.
“Being brought up by a man who worked for GM, I couldn’t find myself doing anything else,” Blevins said. “GM has put food on my table and on my father’s table.”