Quality Assured: Auto Worker Stories from the Chrysler Newark, Delaware Assembly Plant
Meave Sheehan
This audio documentary highlights the perspectives of four former employees of the Chrysler auto factory in Newark, Delaware. These auto workers share their thoughts about the value of auto industry jobs, union relations, management-worker relations and the closing of the plant. The interviews are part of the oral history collection at the University of Delaware. The Newark plant was built in 1951 to make tanks for the Army, started producing consumer vehicles in the late ‘50s, and earned a reputation as a quality plant. The interviewers are college students, who meet with the retired workers– Bill Mariano, George Recker, Joseph Parag and Lee Bates– in Spring 2011, nearly three years after the plant has been shut down. These interviews, curated here and placed in greater context, offer the listener the opportunity to contemplate various labor issues through the lens of firsthand experience.
Meave first learned about oral history in 2013 when she was enrolled in a master’s degree program in Liberal Studies. She has held jobs in local journalism, education, and government. During her time at OHMA, Meave Warnock Sheehan curated an audio exhibit on a maritime history topic and completed a thesis on auto workers. Meave’s research interests include local history, labor history, radio history, and podcasting.