On this date in Automotive History: July 30 1985 Saturnine Workers The Saturn Corporation announced that their first plant would be built in Spring Hill, Tennessee, on this day in 1985. In 1982, General Motors (GM) initiated a small car project code-named Saturn. Once the design was set a new idea was posed--that Saturn should become a unique factory experiment. In January 1985, GM announced Saturn as a subsidiary to function with relative autonomy from other GM divisions. The first Saturn car was driven off the assembly line in 1990. The company announced its “Saturn Philosophy,” detailing a unique attitude towards manufacturer-dealer-customer relations as well as providing for a labor contract with the United Auto Workers (UAW), separate from GM’s existing contract, in which Saturn employees were to have direct input into the management of the company. Saturn was an attempt to break down the historically vertical management structure of U.S. car companies. After its release, Saturn scored high marks with J.D. Power and Associates rankings of quality by consumers, setting an historic trend of customer satisfaction for the company. In May 1993 Saturn had its first profitable month, and in 1995 Saturn enjoyed record sales, expanding its operation to Japan. After a successful three-year stretch, 1998 saw Saturn’s first year-to-year sales decline, dropping 9.9% in volume from 1997. The auto manufacturer announced that operation would cease, in order to reorganize inventory and respond to the downturn. That same year saw Saturn’s unique labor contract suffer. After a bitter, hard-fought feud within the union membership, Saturn workers voted overwhelmingly to retain their original UAW contract rather than adopt the master contract used at other GM auto plants. Just a few months later, Saturn workers went on strike, protesting that the automaker had failed to live up to its promise to give workers a voice in the plant’s operation and strategy.
Posted on: Tue, 30 Jul 2013 23:57:49 +0000
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