Having been on the line back in the day, anything is possible.
The union contract at Ford where I worked, had a clause that stated if the line had to be shut down due to a parts problem, the workers went home with full pay for the day.

That clause can explain a lot of mid stream changes that took place. Not sure if it was across the board at all manufacturers but it was in the UAW 1971-73 contract at the plant I worked at