This Goodyear Tire Employee Just Retired After 72 Years Of Work
By Paulo Acoba
When 90-year-old Sidney Richardson punched the clock for the final time and left work, he had put in over 72 years of service.
The United States and the job market during the early 1940’s was definitely a different time period compared to today. America was entrenched in war, lots of our working force was off in Europe fighting the Axis power and Sidney Richardson punched his clock card (No. 0912) for the first time. According to Alabama.com on their news piece earlier today (Nov. 3, 2015) one of Gadsen Goodyear’s longest tenured employees, Sidney Richardson, punched his time card for the last time and entered a well-deserved retirement after 72-years on the job.
During his time at the Goodyear Tire plant, Richardson saw the completion of World War 2, saw our country go through that period we call segregation and saw his plant form its first union. According to their Union’s president.
"“Sid came from our greatest generation.One that knew hard work and had to work hard to get by in life, a generation that was grateful to have a good job and took pride in their job by coming to work and doing their job to the best of their ability.”"
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According to Forbes, the average millennial will move on from a job every 2 years with the average American staying at a job for just 4.4 years. The job market is highly volatile and with many families surviving on dual incomes, moving from one job to another isn’t a matter of loyalty as much as it’s a matter of better pay elsewhere. When Sidney Richardson entered the workforce, his generation (aka the greatest generation) had a different understanding of the job market where a single income was sufficient to raise a family and loyalty to a company was above all else.
So the next time you think about switching jobs just because, take a lesson from Sidney Richardson and consider that the grass might not be exactly greener on the other side (but if there’s better pay, it probably might be.)