News: Loss of Corvette a turning point for St. Louis manufacturing

[Rob]

Loss of Corvette a turning point for St. Louis manufacturing

by Steve Giegerich
Posted: Sunday, July 10, 2011 12:05 am
STLToday.com

BOWLING GREEN, KY. • In his 'Vette City office, the Cardinals memorabilia on the walls gives the only hint of Eldon Renaud's former life in St. Louis. Renaud, the longtime head of the United Auto Workers here, is a proud Kentuckian now.

Things might have gone another way, both for him and the former Corvette plant at the corner of Union Boulevard and Natural Bridge Avenue, which churned out the iconic American sports car for the first quarter-century of its history.

Renaud still remembers the last-ditch trip to City Hall when he and other UAW officials begged St. Louis officials to match Kentucky's offer of tax breaks to General Motors. City officials listened politely before brushing the entreaty aside. Back then, losing one auto plant with 1,000 workers didn't seem such a big deal for an manufacturing hub then surpassed only by Detroit in production of cars.

Read more: Loss of Corvette a turning point for St. Louis manufacturing

 

[bill81vette]

Funny,how one seeming inconsequential decision can bring about a major change in things!!!!

 

[67vet]

We visited the Assembly plant and the Museum last year. Bowling Green is a very nice city. Spent money on hotels and resturants.

The story of the move reminds me some of when the company my Dad worked for moved from Brooklyn NY to Dickson TN in 1965.

 

[killain]

The slow death of manufacturing ?

Funny,how one seeming inconsequential decision can bring about a major change in things!!!!

Good point. The NAFTA tread agreement is close to twenty years old. I have yet to see where Americans get anything profitable out of this useless piece of legislation. But that's just my $0,02. another "Inside the Beltway" taste. . . Bitter. :eyerole

 

[bill81vette]

Good point. The NAFTA tread agreement is close to twenty years old. I have yet to see where Americans get anything profitable out of this useless piece of legislation. But that's just my $0,02. another "Inside the Beltway" taste. . . Bitter. :eyerole

NAFTA is the big corporations going after the cheap labor and using the excuse 'it will lower prices'
BULLS&^%...it just gives the corporations bigger profits while screwing the American worker!!!!

 

[67vet]

by the way, the company that my Dad worked for that moved from Brooklyn to Dickson Tn was A. Schrader & Son. Also know as Schraders. Due to competition and EPA rules the company is now gone for foreign companies.

 

[catbert]

St. Louis was also home of some of the most rabid and unproductive union worker in the country. This was before most unions wised up and understood the implications of a totally unproductive workforce. I was part of a committee that recommended abandoning all production in a number of Mississippi basin areas because the unions just would not work with initiatives to get any degree of productivity. Example: facility rehab and modernization was almost three times more expensive that our country-wide experience, and took twice as long. End result, all facilities were phased out over 20 years, and 20,000 positions were eliminated or moved. I have no doubt the auto industry had the same experience, because many of our workers came from their factories. Most of you know I'm far from anti-union, but in the case of St. Louis back in the day, it was hell to run a large business.