Job security and diverse organizing
“What I remember most about Steve was one of the early meetings we had when he was vice president of General Motors and I was UAW president. It was a time when GM was seriously downsizing in the late 1980s. We both agreed that we would have to accept the fact that they were not going to just build cars to keep our members working and then grind them up to build some more.
“We decided then that we had to work out some agreement that at least protects those UAW members still there. He came to my office to find out where my head is, as he would say. We met for an hour and came up with what became the Job and Income Security provisions of the UAW-GM contract in 1990.
“We were also on the same side of the debate when it came to the issue of organizing Michigan state workers in 1985. Steve was the head of our Organizing Department then. Although we already had a number of Technical, Office and Professional members at Chrysler, Northern Michigan University and Cornell, there was still a lot of opposition inside the union from those who disagreed with us going outside our traditional turf.
“Steve and I argued that the auto industry was shrinking and if we wanted to keep up our numbers we need to look at other arenas. We won the drive for Michigan state workers and brought more than 20,000 new members into the UAW.”
Owen Bieber was UAW president from 1983 to 1995.
Face-to-face bargaining
During the UAW’s often contentious history with farm equipment manufacturer Caterpillar, Steve Yokich helped Local 974 members through difficult negotiations.
During the local’s seven-month strike in 1982 and 1983, then-Vice President Yokich, who led the Agricultural Implement Department, was the UAW’s lead negotiator.
“He was great to work with,” recalled UAW Skilled-Trades representative Jerry Brown, a former Local 974 bargaining committee member. “Steve was a tough negotiator, and you have to be tough when you’re dealing with a company like Caterpillar. But he stood up to them well. He was a leader who didn’t go behind closed doors and try to work out his best deal. He did his bargaining across the table, face to face, in front of the committee. And the committee really appreciated him for that.”
The strike ended after the local gained contract language that prevented management from dropping white-collar workers into the bargaining unit and bumping union workers from their jobs.
Jerry Brown is an international representative in the UAW Skilled Trades Department and was president of UAW Local 974.
Others want election holiday
“Steve was the right man for the times. With all the attacks going on against the working-class men and women, he was a visionary in winning the Election Day holiday.
“I have seen a lot more of our members get out and vote since then. I think it is because they feel that, ‘Hey, I get this day off with pay so I have this responsibility.’
“Now a lot of people who aren’t even union members want this same privilege. And that’s a good thing. An Election Day holiday is in the best interests of all working-class people. Everybody understands that there is a direct connection between the bread box and the ballot box.”
Larry Simmons is president of UAW Local 7.
