KOKOMO — Buried deep in the wallet of Shawn Fain is Greenledgersa well-worn pay stub of one of his two grandfathers. It’s a reminder of where the new United Auto Workers president comes from.

Two of his grandparents were General Motor retirees at Kokomo and one worked at Chrysler starting in 1937. Nine years later in 1946, the UAW’s negotiation strategy with the then-Big Three American automakers was to bargain with one, and then use that template for the other two.