STATE OF THE UNION
Times Are Tough,
UAW Is Tougher
Gettelfinger's straight talk outlines challenges, sets future course
June 12, 2006
Photos: Ben Zimmerman 
UAW President Ron Gettelfinger delivers the State-of-the-Union address on the opening day of the union's 34th Constitutional Convention. |
UAW members roared their approval of the vision President Ron Gettelfinger set in Monday’s State of the Union address.
“Sisters and brothers, we are going to honor our past and forge our future by continuing to fight for workers, not only in America, but in Canada, Puerto Rico and around the world. It is our responsibility, our obligation and what we do best as UAW members.”
This vision leads the UAW as we are challenged by employers using bankruptcy laws to void contracts negotiated with workers and an increasingly sophisticated union-busting industry with support that goes right up to President George Bush.
“What’s at stake is more than our paychecks and benefits,” said Gettelfinger. “What’s at stake is our shared vision of an America that lives up to its promise of freedom, opportunity, dignity and social and economic justice for all. That’s our American dream.”
The stakes are high but Gettelfinger did not waver in his belief in the power of the solidarity.
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“We’re not going to surrender. We’re not going to lower our sights, give up our dreams, or give up our fight for a better world for our children and grandchildren.”
Gettelfinger was frank about the tough times UAW members face.
The UAW has responded with tenacity and creative coalition-building tactics. To fight Delphi’s contract-busting bankruptcy filing, for example, the UAW, along with other Delphi unions, the IUE-CWA, the Steelworkers, the IBEW, the Machinists and the Operating Engineers, created Mobilizing@Delphi.
“We need to stop dead in their tracks those who would seek to void contracts with their workers while lining their pockets with everything of value and uncaringly destroying lives,” said Gettelfinger.
At the same time the UAW had to face the bad financial situation at General Motors and Ford Motor Co. that put retirees’ health care at risk. The union negotiated an agreement to address the huge liability caused by rising health care costs. And active workers had to sacrifice negotiated pay raises to make it possible.
“Although we did the right thing, and in the right way, it was still the most painful decision I’ve had to make as your president,” said Gettelfinger.
The International Union is tightening its belt, too. Over the past four years the UAW has been streamlining operations, reducing spending and focusing more on servicing members and organizing. Since the last convention 14 sub regional offices have been closed and the number of international staff and clerical workers has been reduced by about 20 percent since 2001.
“We have a responsibility and, more than that, a moral obligation to use our dues money efficiently and prudently,” said Gettelfinger.
But the UAW’s challenges aren’t only financial. Union density and membership are crucial. Starting from the first days of Gettelfinger’s presidency organizing has been a priority – from the two-day strike that created a neutrality pact covering 8,000 workers at Johnson Controls Inc. to 4,000 academic student employees at the University of Washington and 6,000 more at California State University.
Since the last UAW Constitutional Convention 66,000 workers have organized with the union. That includes several thousand Freightliner workers in North Carolina who prove that workers in the South will organize unions.
But during that same period, through outsourcing, downsizing and a hostile environment, UAW membership dropped from 676,000 in 2001 to just under 600,000 in 2005.
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Gettelfinger’s solutions for these and other challenges encompass an enormous vision. He reiterated his January call for a “Marshall Plan” to reinvigorate the auto industry. The plan calls for incentives for all automakers and parts suppliers to build flex-fuel and advanced technology vehicles, such as hybrids and clean diesels, and their key components here in the United States.
“This is a win-win,” Gettelfinger said. “The government incentives would be returned through increased payroll taxes generated through job creation.”
New approaches to trade and health care are necessary to turn around America’s manufacturing base.
The UAW opposes so-called free trade agreements that give multinational corporations free rein to pit workers in the advanced industrial nations against those in the newly industrialized countries. These treaties need to be fair trade agreements that include workers rights and environmental protections.
“Our fight is for a global economy that works for working people – that raises living standards, expands freedom, strengthens human rights, improves our environment and lifts people up instead of shoving them down,” said Gettelfinger
When it comes to health care, the United States is the only industrialized nation in the world without some form of national health insurance. That creates an unfair advantage for industries in other countries that don’t have the high health care costs such as those in the United States. It boils down to unfair competition.
In addition, more and more Americans go without health care because they can’t afford it. It’s a national problem that requires a national solution.
“For decades now, the UAW has been a staunch advocate of single-payer national health insurance and we’re going to keep fighting to make affordable, quality health care a right for every American,” said Gettelfinger.
Winning this fight is going to take commitment, dedication and a lot of hard work, Gettelfinger said. That’s the same kind of effort that created the UAW 71 years ago and sustained us through every challenge we’ve faced.
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“As we look back on the accomplishments of our union, it’s worth remembering that there were many difficult days when the odds were long and success seemed uncertain – but solidarity saw us through,” said Gettelfinger. “Even as we adapt to changing times and circumstances, that same spirit of solidarity – and the proven power of collective action – ensure that the struggle is far from over for today’s workers, both union and non-union, who are standing up for justice in their workplaces and communities.”
