Departments

Carrying On A
Family Tradition

If you talk to any of the old-timers around Atlanta, they’ll tell you the original sit-down strike took place at the Lakewood General Motors plant back in 1934. You’ll “hear-tell” all the stories about the brave souls who risked their families’ livelihoods, even their own lives, to stand up for the living wages, benefits and humane working conditions that many workers have taken for granted. The Local 34 sit-downers knew the concept of “it takes a village.”

In 1981, Local 34 lost its night shift at the Lakewood plant. In order to help these brothers and sisters in need, sister-plant Local 10’s then-President Jerry Hall and Shop Chairman Billy Williamson asked the membership at the GM Doraville plant to bring in canned food and a toy. That year, some 50 members of Local 34 members were helped.

In 1984 100 families were helped when Jimmy Hyde, Billy Williamson and Frank Nix, of Local 10, found a wholesale grocery store, borrowed a huge truck, and bought a large quantity of food with the money from selling raffle tickets and homemade crafts.

In 1995 then-President Jimmy Hyde proposed to the company a payroll deduction plan for the Local 10 Christmas program. Donations went up to $103,900 that year. Two years later the program was named the Jacky Leach/Clarence May Care and Share Program, after the union and management chairs who had passed away that year.

In 2004 the program helped 1,300 families with three boxes of groceries, a blanket and two toys each for over 4,000 children. This past year the Local 10 membership approved a $10,000 donation and the company matched it. Local 10’s Care and Share program has grown so large that tractor-trailers deliver the groceries.