Factory Holidays

[Rich Puleo]

Does anyone know for certain what days off were granted at the factory during production runs? This is probably a silly question, but how many wonder about this while calculating the build date for their car, but don't ask? I've worked for a few small factories, union & non, each having different guidelines. So what was GM's practice? I would guess there would be one day off for each major holiday. Christmas Day, Thanksgiving, July 4, Labor Day, Easter, New Year's Day? If the holiday falls on a Saturday or Sunday, it's the Friday or Monday off, something like that? What about labor laws? Were they in effect in, say, 1953? I question this because I've worked in places that would give the Thurs & Fri for Thanksgiving, no time off for New Year's, some places give time for Election day, some don't. I've worked for 2 places that would shut down for a week for July 4, to make repairs with a skeleton crew (I've never heard of GM doing that).
So, when your done laughing at me (either through knowledge or embarrassment), some thoughts, please.
Thanks

[William C.]

Re: Factory Holidays

I know that when I started at GM, (1963) the practice for Christmas and New years was 1/2 day of on the day before and the full day of the Holiday. I forget when GM went to the current practice of full shutdown in this period.

[Loren L.]

The St Louis U.A.W should lknow *NM*

[John H.]

Re: Factory Holidays

UAW Local #25 in St. Louis was history many years ago (fortunately) when the passenger/truck plant closed; I agree with Bill - I started with Chevrolet at Willow Run in 1964, and Holidays were very brief - not like today. Somewhere in my old files/boxes I have the GM-UAW National Agreement for those days which specifies the Holidays (every Foreman had one in his desk) but I wouldn't know which box to dig through

[Steven B.]

Re: Factory Holidays

The only true way of finding this would be to request a copy of the Paragraph in the UAW-GM National Agreement which details the agreed upon Holidays for the year or period in question. You can either contact the UAW Solidarity House which is located on Jefferson Ave. in Detroit, MI, or write me directly with the exact period that you are questioning and I will gladly, in time, research the GM Corporate Labor Archives for your answer.

Steve

[Ralph E.]

Re: Factory Holidays

If you use the birthday calculator it takes into account days off. I believe it also includes strike days. You can easy check each day’s production for your year. Simply keep entering VIN nos. in sequence and you will see when the birthday date changes. You will also see holidays taken etc. I think this is what you are asking? More knowledgeable people can explain this better, I'm sure.

[Chuck L.]

Re: Factory Holidays

I don't know how accurate the Corvette birthday book is with regard to Holidays, but I suspect that is the best resource. If you have an exact time period in mind, the GM Industrial Relations Staff might be able to pull out an old GM_UAW National Agreement and give you an answer. The GM Corporation information number is 1-313-556-5000 for a GM operator. Whether they will connect you or not is anybody's guess. Chuck Lyman

[Art A.]

Re: Factory Holidays

I doubt very seriously that GM will respond, because they couldn't find it if they had it.

As far back as I can remember, each year, GM produced----for internal purposes only-----a heavy stock paper calendar, a one pager, which had the "holidays" depicted for that year in red ink. It changed almost every year because of where the legal holidays fell and the whims of the UAW.

Art

[Rich Puleo]

Re: Factory Holidays

Just wanted to say thanks for eveyone's input. When I get the big picture, I'll post results.
Thanks,
Rich