1969 Factory Strike Timeline

[RPOZ11]

Question...

I apologize first for forgetting the strike timeline in 1969.

When did it begin, when did it end, and what plants and models were affected?

[bertfam]

See reply NUMBER 8 from Mark.

In 69 there was one strike at the Los Angeles assembly plant that basically ended 69 production there.  It started April 19th and ended in Mid June.  They only reopened the plant to clear the cars that were actually on the line at the begining of the strike, which was about 1200 Camaros, plus probably the same amount of Chevrolets, and Impalas.

Ed

[RPOZ11]

Was this Strrke affecting ONLY the Van Nuys plant?

[bertfam]

Was this Strrke affecting ONLY the Van Nuys plant?

That's correct.

Ed

[RPOZ11]

So my inquiry was leading towards another following question.

1. Did the Norwwod plant take up the extra work demands while this plant was down?

2. Did the Van Nuys plant do the same after the strike ended?

The reason I ask is I was wondering if any of the plants ever worked weekends during the 1969 year.

If so, what known plants, and or work group areas did weekend work?

[bertfam]

1. Did the Norwwod plant take up the extra work demands while this plant was down?

If you look at the PRODUCTION TOTALS, you'll see that Norwood really didn't ramp up any more than usual, so no, Norwood didn't do anything extra when the LA plant went on strike.

2. Did the Van Nuys plant do the same after the strike ended?

LA just completed the cars that were on the line when the strike was over.

The reason I ask is I was wondering if any of the plants ever worked weekends during the 1969 year.

Yes, there were times with both plants worked weekends, but I don't know when those times were.

Ed

[JohnZ]

So my inquiry was leading towards another following question.

1. Did the Norwwod plant take up the extra work demands while this plant was down?

There was no way to do that other than scheduling overtime, and that wouldn't come close to making up the volume of units lost from Van Nuys; the line speed never changed.

[RPOZ11]

So my inquiry was leading towards another following question.

1. Did the Norwwod plant take up the extra work demands while this plant was down?

There was no way to do that other than scheduling overtime, and that wouldn't come close to making up the volume of units lost from Van Nuys; the line speed never changed.

I was looking at that timeline. Just wondering how the Factories handled the orders.

Unfortunately, I wasnt there then to know.

Is there any other irregularities that happened during the 1969 run/year that can be shared here.

So Saturday workdays are possible; other things?

[william]

Since I plan production for a living I have been able to duplicate Norwood production through March 1969. Easy to do as we know the month end/start VINs and the production rate. All bets are off after March when Firebird moved to Norwood-one knows what was produced, just not when.

BTW you can't work OT whenever you feel like it. Materials are planned well in advance of production start-up and the supply chain is not all that flexible. Working a Saturday could run the plant out of certain parts for the following week so OT has to be very carefully considered. Even in those days I doubt there was more than a couple days supply on hand at any time. At 57 cars per hour that's 4,560 wheels and tires per DAY.

With all the options, paint and trim combos scheduling Norwood must have been a constant headache.

[bertfam]

I know that suppliers also worked weekends, but I'm not sure if this was normal or not. I've seen transmissions, mirrors, intake manifolds, etc... with assembly dates that were on Saturdays and even Sundays.

Ed

[william]

I've maintained a '69 Z/28 engine database for many years. There are several Saturday build dates.

But all it takes is one outage to stop production. In his book DeLorean stated Chevrolet led GM in costs for premium interplant freight shipments and obsolete parts at the end of production. He also stated for 1969 Chevrolet could have built 1,000,000 cars without two being exactly alike.

[LM69Z28]

Our 69 DZ block has as a build date of 0130 which is (was) a Thursday. This date being used as a point of reference one of our cylinder heads is dated A 25 9 which would be the previous Saturday. Another confirmation of weekend shifts being pulled on sub-assemblies.
LM69Z28