Autoworkers mischief and thievery?

[Mo_Gearhead]

Attended an auction last weekend, guy was a mechanic, had huge selection of early Chevelle parts, manuals, NASCAR stuff, etc. Lots of gear-heads there swapping stories.

One guy about my age (late 50's) tells of working for a G.M. factory in Detroit in the late 60's thru mid 80's.

Example 1: Frame department. He told of workers being told by management to keep their work areas cleaner. Soooooo, at least one (perhaps more) guy
starts putting scrap/loose bolts inside the frames before they are welded up. Can you say... mysterious rattles?

Example 2: He said one guy whose job was to 'stage' parts pick-ups on the shipping dock would arrive at work early, would have a list of parts his 'friend who had a repair shop' needed. Would pull said parts from inventory, make a fake shipping manifest (for local pickup) set the pallet on the dock with many others. All appeared normal. Trucking company picked up pallet, delivered new parts to his accomplice, he got kickback in cash.

Example 3: Parts to steal secreted into door panels (car manifest #, model, color, etc. noted by thief on assembly line). After shift over, thief drives his car through completed car staging area until correct car is located, quick removal of door panel, parts retrieved.

I only stood by a few moments listening, then moved on. But if he was not just full of B.S. I began to wonder how things could be so lax at such facilities?

Anyone here ever work for one of the major manufacturers? Similar stories?

[craigster59]

[Porsche_monkey]

Re-inforced lunch boxes. The guys were filling them with assorted copper parts and selling it for scrap.

Card-board held over the head when leaving the plant in a rain storm. They had radios duct-taped to the bottom which they supported on their skull.

[pwd72s]

I didn't know Johnny Cash actually had a car built to match the song...how cool!
Loved the video, thanks!

[DaveE]

I worked at a GM assembly plant in Wilmington, DE briefly in late 1974. We had to file out through a narrow walkway when we left, with our lunchboxes open so they could be visually inspected.

There was a guy who was sneaking out radios somehow while I worked there, but he was caught and fired. I don't remember the details.

[the]

Reminds me of the funny old joke about the guy who works in a factory mill. Every day, he leaves work with a wheelbarrow full of sawdust. The guard at the gate suspects he is stealing, so he carefully runs his hands through all the sawdust, but there's never anything there. This goes on for years.

Finally, after they retired and having a beer in the pub, the guard asks the worker "What were you doing with all that sawdust??" Worker says: "Stealing wheelbarrows!"

[MBAtarga]

How about the guy that leaves the construction site each day with a wheelbarrow of bricks. After this goes on for several weeks someone pulls him aside and accuses him of stealing bricks. He is adamant that he is not stealing bricks - and admits in his defense - he is stealing wheelbarrows

EDIT: Aghh! Work called me away while typing the above. "the" stole my glory!

[MRM]

I once had a client that built fire truck bodies. They had to fire about 10 guys once when they found out they had been building a race car out of spare parts. Someone stumbled on the almost-built race car and the gig was up. Union shop, too.