2006 Fall Issue - UAW-Chrysler.com

Real People
BY MEGHAN LITTLE
Father Knows Best
For Local 372’s Maurice Graves, company loyalty is all in the family
If you passed by a home with a fleet of
Chrysler Group vehicles parked outside,
you might think you had happened
on a commercial shoot. But not if it’s the
home of Maurice Graves. A DaimlerChrysler
worker for 34 years, Graves is proud to
buy his company’s vehicles — and he insists
that his family members do the same.
Buying what he builds is very important
to this UAW Local 372 member from
Trenton Engine. “I want my friends and
neighbors to know that I support the
company I work for,” Graves says.
Though the sentiment is not unique
to Graves, it does warrant regular
reinforcement, as evidenced by the
occasional competitor-built vehicles that
turn up in the plant’s employee parking
lot. Graves is happy to oblige.
Recognizing that people have the right
to buy whatever car they like, Graves wants
his co-workers to look closely at the sleek,
quality cars made by the Chrysler Group.
As a PQI trainer, he takes advantage of his
classroom time with workers. “I tell them to
think about their retirement,” Graves says.
“Every time they spend money on a Toyota,
they’re providing profits for Toyota to take
back to Japan.” When explained in a way
that shows the effect on
their own future, Graves
says, employees can
understand the
importance of
supporting their
company.
Outside the
classroom, Graves works
Maurice Graves poses
proudly in front of his
Dodge Ram 1500.
hard to keep workers up-to-date on all
Chrysler Group vehicles. One important
step in achieving this was getting the P3
(People, Pride and Product) Team into
Trenton Engine (see “Making Conquests,”
on page 7). During P3 open houses,
workers learn about various Chrysler,
Dodge and Jeep models by speaking with
the P3 sales ambassadors. But Graves says
it’s not enough to look at a vehicle’s
exterior and peer through the windows.
“We have an open-door policy during the
P3 visits,” he says. “Workers can sit in the
vehicles, look at the features and really take
it all in.”
Instilling brand loyalty among Trenton
Engine workers is one thing, but how did
Graves get his family to pledge the same
loyalty? He admits it took the threat of
withdrawing college tuition from his
daughter, Tiffany, whose friends were
encouraging her to buy a foreign car. But
that’s just how important loyalty is to
him — and it worked. “Tiffany drove a
Plymouth Horizon during college, and
she discovered it was a good, reliable car,”
Graves says. Once he convinced the first
child, the others followed suit. Now his
three kids are on their own — and still
driving Chrysler Group vehicles. “Right
now they seem to like Jeeps and Durangos
most,” he says.
“I have no regrets buying what I build,”
adds Graves, who has driven a Plymouth
Reliant, Jeep Wrangler, Chrysler Sebring,
Dodge Spirit, and clocked 160,000 miles on
“I tell [the workers] to think about
their retirement. Every time they spend
money on a Toyota, they’re providing profits
for Toyota to take back to Japan.”
— MAURICE GRAVES
LEFT: DWIGHT CENDROWSKI; TOP RIGHT: JOHN SOBCZAK
6 TOMORROW FALL 2006 www.uawdcx.com