Is it important?
“It was November 2000, and we were still waiting for official presidential election results from the Florida recount. Steve wanted to take some time off to go deer hunting in northern Michigan.
“He never got a vacation the whole time I worked for him without me or someone else calling him with some crisis. But his instructions before he left were always the same: ‘Don’t call me unless it’s really important.’
“One particular morning during his vacation, I arrived at Solidarity House before 7 a.m. The first call was from Al Gore’s people. Gore needed to talk to Steve right away.
“‘Steve’s not reachable,’ I said. But they persisted, and then Gore himself called and left a half-dozen phone numbers where he could be reached.
“The second call was news that a former high-ranking UAW official had had a heart attack. They had to talk to Steve. ‘Steve’s not reachable,’ I said.
“The third call came from DaimlerChrysler’s Juergen Schrempp who planned to shake up his American management. He wanted to tell Steve about it beforehand as a courtesy since he was on the company’s board. ‘Steve’s not reachable,’ I said.
“All of this before 8 a.m.
“I took a deep breath, and then I called Steve. The first time I called, he realized it was me and hung up. (I’m sure I disturbed him in his deer blind and probably ruined a clear shot.)
“So I called back and explained each situation to him. After a long pause, he said, ‘I thought I told you not to call me unless it was really important.’
“Then he hung up on me again.
“A few minutes later he called back, and by the end of the day had handled it all.
Dave Curson was Yokich’s top administrative assistant from 1999 to 2002.
Outspoken champion
“I always had a strong affinity for Steve and the leadership he gave to our union because both of us believed that labor needs to be a social movement.
“Steve was always an outspoken champion of all workers and all people fighting for social and economic justice. His success in bargaining for Election Day to be a paid holiday in the 1999 Big Three negotiations was the kind of bargaining that benefits all workers, even those who are not union members.
“Now we can see how the Election Day holiday benefit is setting a precedent for what, I hope, will be a federal law that gives all working people a day off to vote and actively engage in the democratic process. Steve saw that if democracy was important enough for veterans to die for then it was important enough for corporations to give their workers a day off for.
“Another thing Steve will be remembered for is the emphasis he placed on organizing and rebuilding the power of the UAW and the labor movement as a whole. He understood that the degree to which democracy and justice exist in America is directly tied to the percentage of unionization in America.”
Jimmy Settles is director of UAW Region 1A.
Flat tire, Yokich logic
“Trying to sum up a friendship of nearly 40 years isn’t the easiest thing to do, and working for Steve wasn’t always easy either.
“Steve was an intense man who wore his heart on his sleeve. I could tell by the set of his jaw — and the clenching of his teeth — whether it was going to be a good day. On those rare occasions when he was surly, I warned folks around us to beware; but we knew that his bad mood would change to a smile and a hug just as quickly as it came on.
“I also remember his compassion during the end of my first marriage, and his good-natured teasing about having to ‘approve’ my choice of a husband.
“But one incident really sticks in my mind. It was probably in the late 1970s when Steve was regional director. I was late for work because I’d gotten a flat tire. He said I should have known it was going to happen and gotten up earlier.
“Now how do you argue with logic like that?”
Corinne O’Reilly was Steve’s secretary from 1973 until she retired in 1997.
