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New United Motors Manufacturing, Inc. (NUMMI)-Employee Benefit Plan Specifications, July 1983

 File — Box: 65, Folder: 6
Identifier: B

Scope and Content of the Subseries

From the Sub-Series:

This subseries contains the core of Usery's professional work. The files are also arranged alphabetically by client and/or labor disputes' commonly known names. Through the offices of Bill Usery and his colleagues, these files offer an inside view of American labor conflict and its resolution, plus contemporaneous issues in worker-management relations. The Mediation Files contain correspondence pre- and post- Usery Associates' involvement in labor disputes and their frequently protracted negotiations with the involved parties. There is strong evidence of Usery's cordiality and evenhandedness with management, employee, labor groups, and individuals in each. When multi-folder clusters for different entities occur, their order is retained (Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad Co.-Grand Trunk Railroad, 1983, Folder 1 [- Folder 7]). With other groupings of files, the intention is to place folders with seminal importance first, i.e., Chicago Tribune Company, Chicago Typographical Union No. 16 . . . Bargaining and Strike History . . ., to the Statements of Charges at the end of the sequence.

In Series V, Subseries 2, finding aid information can be truncated for the sake of brevity and to avoid needless repetition. For a full folder entry, without abbreviations and elisions, the researcher is directed to the first entry in that grouping. With particularly lengthy folder titles, the actual folder has the complete title, or one in proximity to it. As outlined above, folders are arranged chronologically and/or thematically within each entity's materials.

The company and union names throughout material in Series V, Subseries 2, offer a window onto corporate and union activity in the late 1970s, 1980s and 1990s. Major groupings are for the Air Line Pilots Association, 1977-1992 (see also Eastern, Northwest, and Trans World Airlines files in this subseries); the Chicago Tribune Company, Chicago Typographical Union No. 16, and Communications Workers of America; CONRAIL plus the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA); Cox vs. United States Steel and the United Steelworkers of America (USWA); General Dynamics and the Quincy, Massachusetts Shipyard Strike; and Mack Truck and the United Auto Workers. Usery's extensive involvement as a mediator between the Major League Baseball Players Association and team owners during the 1994-1995 strike is fully documented in this subseries, and the materials offer in-depth background into the strike. Usery's background work with the Marine Engineers Beneficial Association (MEBA) is evidenced by files for East and West Coast Arbitration Awards from 1942 to the 1980s, as well as actual arbitration case copies. Following the "MEBA" files is the "NUMMI" material, which offers a clear picture of Usery's and Bill Usery Associates, Inc.'s detailed and consistent involvement in the structuring, set-up and operation of the New United Motors Manufacturing, Inc., the pioneer joint venture of Japanese-owned Toyota and General Motors plus the United Auto Workers. The researcher is directed to folders related to the background of the organizations involved, the notebook contents ("Document Notebooks") prepared for analysis and discussion, contract negotiation files, ongoing proposals, settlement agreements.

The "Pittston (Pennsylvania) Coal Strike" materials (1985, 1988-1990), with related United Mine Workers, Pittston Company, Bituminous Coal Operators, and Department of Labor files evidence Usery's ability to keep lines of communication among disparate groups open and productive. The researcher will want to consult these files for extensive background information before any study of the consequent "Coal Commission" records in Series VII, Name and Subject Files. Even such an elaborate consultative effort as the City of St Paul, Minnesota's Negotiated Investment Strategy with the Usery Associates is fully understood from a study of these papers (1978-1979). The Toledo, Ohio Lakefront Dock Company (TLFD), Chessie System Railroads, International Longshoremen of America (ILA) Local 158 and International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local Union 8 complex relationships together evidenced in this series are an example of the inter-working of Bill Usery Associates and a great variety of corporate, government and labor groups. Westinghouse Electric Company files form the significant end of this series, and they embody the panoply of work by Bill Usery Associates with the firm's clients. The Westinghouse papers include material on trips to Japan to meet with people at Mitsubishi Electric (1980), an "Employee Communication Study for the Negotiations Planning Committee" (February 1988)," the "Coordinated Bargaining Committee," as well as files on contract negotiations and their planning.

Dates

  • Creation: July 1983

Creator

Restrictions on Access

Collection is open for research use.

Extent

From the Sub-Series: 35.5 Linear Feet (in 71 boxes)

Language of Materials

From the Collection: English

Repository Details

Part of the Special Collections Repository

Contact:
100 Decatur St., S.E.
Atlanta, Georgia 30303
404-413-2880
404-413-2881 (Fax)