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Congrats, you're now a Ford Employee in 1913! (Random history musings)

kiyotekiyote Posts: 5,588 ✭✭✭✭✭
You've just gotten a job earning one of these every day!

image

That's over twice the industry average! Likely, you stood in line for months for chance at the job, and once you got it, you were happy as could be. However...

1. The job was absolutely dehumanizing. Labor was reduced to it's smallest, most minute part. Maybe you screwed bumpers onto a Model T Ford four times a minute for the entire day, no restroom breaks allowed without the boss's permission.

2. Any talk of unions at all got you fired, immediately. Ford employed spies and plants to report on workers' efforts to unionize.

3. I imagine it paid SO much money that any thoughts of quitting were useless. Leave, and you would only make half that money, if that. Most workers were unskilled, they were just trained to do the one small task they were assigned to.

From the Ford's website:

1920: Ford Motor Company employs more African-Americans than any other automotive company. In addition, the company also hires its first Asian Indian employee, who went on to establish Ford of India, opening the door for many Asian Indians in the Ford workplace

That sure sounds warm and fuzzy, but in the first few years after WW1, the amount of European immigrants coming to the US plummeted. It was a matter of necessity. Still, it beats the ten cents an hour (usually paid in local script) the 14 year old boys in West Virginia coal mines were making at the same time.

"I'll split the atom! I am the fifth dimension! I am the eighth wonder of the world!" -Gef the talking mongoose.

Comments

  • BarndogBarndog Posts: 20,510 ✭✭✭✭✭
    car break down today?
  • kiyotekiyote Posts: 5,588 ✭✭✭✭✭


    << <i>car break down today? >>



    Naw, I just watched a show about this in history. image
    "I'll split the atom! I am the fifth dimension! I am the eighth wonder of the world!" -Gef the talking mongoose.
  • Buy GMC..........image
    ......Larry........image
  • mrearlygoldmrearlygold Posts: 17,858 ✭✭✭
    Jeep! Jeep!
  • droopyddroopyd Posts: 5,381 ✭✭✭
    Fuel
    Or
    Repair
    Daily
    Me at the Springfield coin show:
    image
    60 years into this hobby and I'm still working on my Lincoln set!
  • tightbudgettightbudget Posts: 7,299 ✭✭✭


    << <i>Fuel
    Or
    Repair
    Daily >>


    My family used to own a Ford and the last two were definitely true. (Sorry all you loyal Ford customers...)
  • notwilightnotwilight Posts: 12,864 ✭✭✭
    I disagree with your characterization of the work as dehumanizing. Working in an environment like that requires teamwork. One guy lets the rest down and the entire assembly line slows down. Sure it can be monotonous and boring but so can long haul trucking. the best find a way to beat the boredom and make it interesting. It is typical modern american to feel we are too good for such manual labor---try to hire an american to do your gardening. --jerry
  • First
    On
    Race
    Day


    I've always had good luck with Ford, always. Even though my cars are now imports, I do have a big Ford truck that has served me well. 118K on the clock and it runs like it did when it was new.

    Sorry for your troubles, hopefully it will be minor.
    "Lenin is certainly right. There is no subtler or more severe means of overturning the existing basis of society(destroy capitalism) than to debauch the currency. The process engages all the hidden forces of economic law on the side of destruction, and it does it in a manner which not one man in a million is able to diagnose."
    John Marnard Keynes, The Economic Consequences of the Peace, 1920, page 235ff
  • numobrinumobri Posts: 1,473 ✭✭✭


    Worked for FORDs for 35 years and,understand what your saying,but,man it's been a nice ride.Thanks FORD.


    Brian
    NUMO
  • droopyddroopyd Posts: 5,381 ✭✭✭


    << <i>Even though my cars are now imports, I do have a big Ford truck that has served me well. >>



    A friend of mine who is in a position to know sez that the only Fords worth anything these days are the heavy-duty trucks.
    Me at the Springfield coin show:
    image
    60 years into this hobby and I'm still working on my Lincoln set!
  • This content has been removed.
  • I thought it was:
    Fimage
    owner
    real
    dumb



    I wont buy anything with the "F" word on it.
    (Old man) Look I had a lovely supper, and all I said to my wife was, “That piece of halibut was good enough for Jehovah”.

    (Priest) BLASPHEMY he said it again, did you hear him?


  • << <i>I thought it was:
    Fimage
    owner
    real
    dumb



    I wont buy anything with the "F" word on it. >>



    I'm sure Ferrari is pulling their hair out now that you've said this. image

    You don't want a Fiat anyway.
    "Lenin is certainly right. There is no subtler or more severe means of overturning the existing basis of society(destroy capitalism) than to debauch the currency. The process engages all the hidden forces of economic law on the side of destruction, and it does it in a manner which not one man in a million is able to diagnose."
    John Marnard Keynes, The Economic Consequences of the Peace, 1920, page 235ff
  • PerryHallPerryHall Posts: 46,713 ✭✭✭✭✭


    << <i>Fuel
    Or
    Repair
    Daily >>



    It's Fix Or Repair Daily

    Worry is the interest you pay on a debt you may not owe.
    "Paper money eventually returns to its intrinsic value---zero."----Voltaire
    "Everything you say should be true, but not everything true should be said."----Voltaire

  • It was still no "dream" job compared with our working conditions today. I heard too many stories from my Grandfather about what he went through when GM was being unionized. History textbooks tend to leave out the more shameful events in our history.


    image
  • ziggy29ziggy29 Posts: 18,668 ✭✭✭


    << <i>I've always had good luck with Ford, always. Even though my cars are now imports, I do have a big Ford truck that has served me well. 118K on the clock and it runs like it did when it was new. >>

    Ford trucks tend to be among the best of breed. Ford's passenger cars have been, for the most part, crap.
  • kiyotekiyote Posts: 5,588 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Darn it, this was supposed to be more about appreciating what someone had to go through to earn those classic coins you now own than brand-bashing... image

    For the record, I own a Subaru, but my family has a 1930s Ford Tractor that still runs. It's a tank.
    "I'll split the atom! I am the fifth dimension! I am the eighth wonder of the world!" -Gef the talking mongoose.
  • LanLordLanLord Posts: 11,723 ✭✭✭✭✭


    << <i> From the Ford's website: 1920: Ford Motor Company employs more African-Americans than any other automotive company. >>



    Cool, ford had a website in 1920!
  • notwilightnotwilight Posts: 12,864 ✭✭✭


    << <i>It was still no "dream" job compared with our working conditions today. I heard too many stories from my Grandfather about what he went through when GM was being unionized. History textbooks tend to leave out the more shameful events in our history. >>



    My dad quit school in the early 40's to work in a laundry for 40c/hour and support his family (his parents' family). If he had worked instead for a large company like ford I can't help but believe things would have been better for him. As a young man he was talented and hardworking and proud to get more done in a day than anyone else. It is fashionable to bash the large companies who "got rich on the backs of the working man" but they did improve the standard of living for the working man and gave him a chance to realize the american dream of working his way up the ladder. My multibilliondollar company has had executives who started as blue collar labor.

    --Jerry
  • My GMC 2500 HD....4x4....
    image
    ......Larry........image
  • ebaytraderebaytrader Posts: 3,312 ✭✭✭



    .
  • blu62vetteblu62vette Posts: 11,942 ✭✭✭✭✭


    << <i>

    << <i>Fuel
    Or
    Repair
    Daily >>



    It's Fix Or Repair Daily >>



    image
    http://www.bluccphotos.com" target="new">BluCC Photos Shows for onsite imaging: Nov Baltimore, FUN, Long Beach http://www.facebook.com/bluccphotos" target="new">BluCC on Facebook
  • RWBRWB Posts: 8,082
    During the Great Depression, Henry Ford made sure his employees were paid, despite a huge contraction in auto sales in 1931. When Michigan announced a bank holiday in Feb. 1933, Ford personally supported a major bank in Detroit and provided money so employees could be paid in cash. For the duration of the bank holiday (several weeks in many states, 1 week nationally) the only bank-type place to get cash was through the Postal Savings System.
  • ziggy29ziggy29 Posts: 18,668 ✭✭✭


    << <i>My GMC 2500 HD....4x4....
    image >>

    Better you than me at the pump!
  • messydeskmessydesk Posts: 20,220 ✭✭✭✭✭


    << <i>

    << <i>

    << <i>Fuel
    Or
    Repair
    Daily >>



    It's Fix Or Repair Daily >>



    Found
    On
    Road
    Dead
  • >>

    Better you than me at the pump! >>


    ...This truck has a smaller tank of ..only 26 gal..my other GMC has a larger tank of 34 gal...!!!...talk about fillin' up...$$$$$$....
    ......Larry........image
  • ElKevvoElKevvo Posts: 4,133 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Plus back then no paid vacation, benefits, Social Security so the extra $'s in pay went a long way to achieving the 'American Dream'!

    K
    ANA LM


  • << <i>For the record, I own a Subaru... >>



    "Hi, My name is Eric. I collect platinum proof coins and drive a Subaru, too." image
    EAC member since 2011, one third of the way through my 1793 large cent type set
  • droopyddroopyd Posts: 5,381 ✭✭✭


    << <i>

    << <i>Fuel
    Or
    Repair
    Daily >>



    It's Fix Or Repair Daily >>



    But "fix" and "repair" are just synonyms, right? I figured I'd try to get a bit creative image

    Actually, after all of this, I just bought a 2006 Ford Escape Hybrid. I drove a few other Japanese competitors' models (non-hybrids) but liked how the Ford handled better! Whodathunkit?

    Actually, these Escape Hybrids have been used as cabs in NYC and elsewhere, some have gone 175K miles without any downtime.

    Plus, with the price of a gallon of gas now almost as high as the price of a gallon of milk, I'm loving the 30mpg!
    Me at the Springfield coin show:
    image
    60 years into this hobby and I'm still working on my Lincoln set!
  • mozeppamozeppa Posts: 4,431 ✭✭✭
    my ford runs on a tri-lithium fueled warp core underscored by dual impulse plasma drives (for stop and go traffic.)
  • Mmmmmmmmm premium with a splash of JP Red ..... who cares about gas mileage....when I want to save gas, I drive either my diesel flatbed or my diesel dually and still get 19-23mpg.

    image

    image
    This is a very dumb ass thread. - Laura Sperber - Tuesday January 09, 2007 11:16 AM image

    Hell, I don't need to exercise.....I get enough just pushing my luck.
  • numismanumisma Posts: 3,877 ✭✭✭✭

    In the early-mid 90s I worked at the Ford engine design group in the EEE building in Dearborn. It was one of the original buildings of the Ford empire and very historic. It was where Henry Ford kept his office and I was informed that his vault is still in the building. This is where he kept his fortune in the form of hard money and assets. In the front part of the building there were large wooden columns that were heavily engraved by the workers over the years, including some famous people. I was also told by a veteran engineer there that the term "get the axe" came from this same building. Supposedly a manager would lodge a hatchet in the desk of someone who was fired. Not sure if that is true though.
  • TwoSides2aCoinTwoSides2aCoin Posts: 44,507 ✭✭✭✭✭
    A farmer designed a carburetor that got 100 miles per gallon. Ford bought it and scrapped the plans.
    Their slogan during that era was :

    Ford has a better idea !
  • plansimplansim Posts: 185 ✭✭
    I had never bought a Ford until a friend sold me his 1970 Country Squire station wagon for $50 in 1980. The fuel tank had rusted out and I couldn't find a match in the junkyard. After searching fruitlessly for a week, I measured a Maverick gas tank I scavenged and found that the 3rd (fold down) seat in the back of the Country Squire would fit the Maverick gas tank if I took the seat out. I wanted to use only Ford parts to keep its integrity image

    I would always get a double take when I filled the gas tank at self-serve stations by rolling down the electric back window (it still worked) and putting the nozzle deep into the innards of the back.
  • numismanumisma Posts: 3,877 ✭✭✭✭


    << <i>I had never bought a Ford until a friend sold me his 1970 Country Squire station wagon for $50 in 1980. The fuel tank had rusted out and I couldn't find a match in the junkyard. After searching fruitlessly for a week, I measured a Maverick gas tank I scavenged and found that the 3rd (fold down) seat in the back of the Country Squire would fit the Maverick gas tank if I took the seat out. I wanted to use only Ford parts to keep its integrity image

    I would always get a double take when I filled the gas tank at self-serve stations by rolling down the electric back window (it still worked) and putting the nozzle deep into the innards of the back. >>



    And the Pinto fuel system was born! image
  • plansimplansim Posts: 185 ✭✭
    > And the Pinto fuel system was born!

    The whole "exploding rear end" characteristic is another thing I wanted to keep all Ford!
  • I have a Camaro Z28, a Caprice Classic, and a Cobra. My wife has a Grand Prix. Only one of them is worthy enough to sleep in the garage at night.
    Go Ford!

    image
  • I was thinking about buying a new Ford Fusion. Has anybody heard anything about these, good or bad?


    Bob
  • Did you eversee a Pinto rear-ended? The bent bumper popped the gas tank cover just like a bottle opener..
  • Fimage
    over
    rebuilt
    dodge

    Found
    On
    Road
    Dead

    Edited to include a pic of the latest engine we helped build.

    image

    Oh yeah forgot this was about the coins:

    image
    Life member of the SSDC
  • YEA, that things got a Hemi !!!!!!!!!!
    Life member of the SSDC

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