| Page 2 of 2 < |
UAW Chief Warns Workers of Tough Changes Ahead
|
TOOLBOX
   Resize
COMMENT
 Discussion Policy
 CLOSE
Comments that include profanity or personal attacks or other inappropriate comments or material will be removed from the site. Additionally, entries that are unsigned or contain "signatures" by someone other than the actual author will be removed. Finally, we will take steps to block users who violate any of our posting standards, terms of use or privacy policies or any other policies governing this site. Please review the full rules governing commentaries and discussions. You are fully responsible for the content that you post.
Who's Blogging  |
"Ron's always been the kind of guy who wants to be part of the solution for as long as I've known him," Ryan said. "He's saying the union will be a full partner in that process, whatever the process takes. I think that's why he's attacking Delphi's approach of just trying to void that partnership."
Some of those who watched Gettelfinger's speech from the convention floor praised the message as on-point and invigorating. The only problem, they said, is the "what next?"
"The speech itself was excellent and certainly pointed to a lot of the problems facing the union," said Mike Parker, a member of UAW Local 1700 in Sterling Heights, Mich., and one of the 1,300 delegates at the convention. But, he said, "the convention is not addressing these problems."
Eldon Renaud, president of UAW Local 2164 in Bowling Green, Ky., said he was waiting for a strategy to emerge. He expects the union to announce today that it will set aside $60 million from its estimated $880 million strike fund to support organizing activities and help it respond more quickly to crises.
"We're watching everything going on with Delphi and GM," Renaud said. "But it's going to take more than what we can do at the bargaining table. There are failed [political] strategies that have failed to protect our jobs."
To that end, the UAW is pushing a proposal on Capitol Hill that would make it more difficult for a bankrupt firm to cancel its contracts. It also wants incentives granted to automakers and suppliers that build fuel-efficient cars in the United States.
Gettelfinger devoted much of his speech to berating the Bush administration for an agenda that attempts to dismantle the union's past gains on trade, health care, workers' rights and taxes. The union will put up a fight on all those fronts, he said.
Whatever strategy emerges, Gettelfinger said it will be done with fewer members because of the failure to expand the base and organize the U.S. plants of foreign-based automakers. The union, which had 1.5 million members at its peak in the 1970s, had nearly 600,000 active members last year.
"We're not going to surrender," he said. "The skeptics who say this is the twilight of the UAW, that we're toast, that our epitaph has already been written, don't know who we are and where we came from."
