Factory Floor:  South Charleston, WV (December 2017)

Acrylic on Canvas

18” x 24”

In the 1970s, David had a union job at Volkswagen of America in a stamping plant which cut sheet metal for doors and hoods for the Volkswagen “Rabbit.” In this picture, painted from memory, David shows the black puddles of oil on the floors near the giant cookie-cutter stamping machines.  Not so visible are the pits on the floor which held the jagged pieces of metal after each car part was cut out.  

The sharp edges of this metal led to many injuries.  David and others received severe cuts; the average number of stitches was 33 per worker.  David was one of the leaders of a strike to protest the injuries in the plant.  They compiled a “Stitch List” of injuries to support their claims.