"Here are the Keys"

Workers have a union to give themselves a voice in the workplace.

But through an active local union consumer affairs committee, the union also provides workers with a voice in the marketplace.

The UAW's International Constitution calls for each local to have a consumer affairs committee. These committees address issues from pricing to unfair business practices.

Dennis Amendt, one of four members of UAW Local 893's consumer affairs committee in Marshalltown, Iowa, recalled a time when a UAW member wanted to buy a plot of land from a real estate agent in Marshalltown. But when the member submitted a bid for the land, the agent set up his own company and bought the land.

When the member complained to his consumer affairs committee, the committee researched the issue and the proper procedure to file complaints. It talked to disciplinary boards and eventually took the case to the state capital. Finally, the agent was fined and reprimanded.

Through local consumer affairs committees, the International's Consumer Affairs Dept. keeps members informed on its various activities. When asked, international representatives make presentations at locals. The most common topic in the last couple years has been child labor.

When members of Local 893 have a problem, they fill out complaint forms at the union hall. Once a month the consumer affairs committee goes over the issues and picks the best course of action.

"[The committee] gives people the needed resources to help them solve problems," Amendt said. "People will come to us with a problem, and we don't do a lot of the legwork, but we give people what they need to solve the problem."

The committee also receives mailings from advocacy groups and decides which issues warrant action. And along with dealing the occasional rogue real estate agent, Local 893's committee has helped members navigate themselves through Iowa's lemon law, and it denounced the "gas cartel" in Marshalltown, which committee chair Bob Forbes accuses of fixing gas prices.

In his column in the local's newsletter Forbes called for "an honest investigation into Marshalltown's gas cartel, and their pricing methods."

Consumer affairs committees put the weight of the union into helping members find solutions to problems. And the members of consumer affairs are ready to fight to get their members a fair deal.

"We'll do what we have to. If it means research, we'll do that. If it means talking to a business, we'll do that," Amendt said.