Michigan. Gov. Jennifer Granholm addresses the delegates. Photo by Rebecca Cook.

Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm welcomed UAW delegates Monday to the Wolverine state at the union’s 35th Constitutional Convention and offered some keen observations on keeping jobs in America.

She pointed to how Ford Motor Co. recently brought jobs from Mexico and Japan to its Rawsonville, Mich., plant with the help of local, state and federal governments that received tax incentives and grants.

“Competitive taxes reward companies for bringing jobs back home instead of sending them offshore,” said Granholm, who leaves office this year due to term limits. “It’s a necessary partnership in this global economy.”

“But the fourth partner was you – the UAW. And it’s a formula we must replicate all over the nation,” added the governor, who also urged manufacturers to build products in UAW-represented states. “If you want to win quality awards, you’ve got to have the talent: UAW worke rs. You hold the keys to quality.”

UAW Local 600 member Anthony (Tony) Richard, unit chair at the Dearborn (Mich.) Diversified Manufacturing Plant where they produce frames for several Ford vehicles, had high praise for Granholm’s leadership.

“Gov. Granholm’s always been a positive force for the UAW, and she understands our issues and what we need for the future,” Richard said. “We hope the new governor has the same interest in our members and for all of us in the state of Michigan.”

Winston Williams Jr., a UAW Local 652 body shop worker at General Motors’ Grand River facility in Lansing, Mich., believes the governor inherited some hard times and wants people to remember her as “a hard-working, sincere leader who represented Michigan extremely well. “We’re going to miss her. She did everything she possibly could within her power to help workers.”

Granholm, elected to office eight years ago, said the UAW must pick up the mantle for the rest of the globe, stressing the importance of international worker rights.

“We must level the playing field up,” she said. “Your brothers and sisters in other countries are counting on you.”

Her remarks ended on a high note, paraphrasing former UAW President Douglas A. Fraser: “Presidents come and go, governors come and go – but the UAW goes on and on.”

Jennifer John