American Automobile Industry

Due to the difficult working conditions in the auto production plants, auto workers began to seek representation to help improve conditions and ensure fair pay. The United Auto Workers union won recognition from GM and Chrysler in 1937, and Ford in 1941. In 1950, the automakers granted workers a company-paid pension to those 65 years old and with 30 years seniority. In the mid-1950s, the automakers agreed to set up a trust fund for unemployed auto workers. In 1973 the automakers agreed to offer pensions to any worker with 30 years seniority, regardless of age. By then the automakers had also agreed to cover the entire health insurance bill for its employees, survivors and retirees.
• The decline of the independent automakers
The only major auto companies to survive the Great Depression were General Motors Corporation, Ford Motor Company, Chrysler Corporation, Hudson Motor Car Company, Nash-Kelvinator Corporation, Packard Motor Car Company, Studebaker Corporation and Crosley Motors. The former three companies, known as the Big Three, enjoyed significant advantages over the smaller independent auto companies due to their financial strength which gave them a big edge in marketing, production and technological innovation. Most of the Big Three's competitors ended production by the 1960s, and their last major domestic competitor was acquired in the 1980s.
Crosley Motors ceased auto production in 1952. Packard Motor Car Company and Studebaker Corporation merged in 1954, but ended production of Packard branded cars in 1958 and ceased all auto production in 1966.