Union Politics
UAW lands 27 winners in state and local offices
“America is supposed to be a democracy, but if you look at who’s running everything it’s rich guys and lawyers,” said Bruce Zalaski, a UAW member and 24-year veteran at the Associated Spring plant in Bristol, Conn.
This glaring contradiction motivated Zalaski to run for public office. And he defeated a popular Republican in the Nov. 5 election to become a state representative.
The former Local 712 vice president, financial secretary and shop chair is one of a growing legion of union members trying to change the face and direction of American politics.
In all, 27 UAW members won public office in 11 different states.
Twelve UAW members now sit in the state legislatures of Michigan, Iowa, Indiana, Missouri, Alabama, Connecticut and Massachusetts. Fifteen more UAW members were elected to county and other local positions in Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, New York and New Jersey.
These UAW political activists join 2,600 members of various unions holding public office.
“Local union members running for political office have become a great asset to our political campaigns. When local union members seek political office, it usually inspires the local union members to go out and support their own,” said Dick Long, director of the UAW National Community Action Program.
Union candidates, like Zalaski, not only bring a new face and vigor to politics but a refreshingly different perspective.
“After working 10 hours a day in the factory, I’d go door knocking and phone calling. I’d tell people I’m a working guy just like you, and what’s wrong is that there aren’t enough people like us making the laws in this country,” he said.
A retired Local 23 member in Indianapolis, Mae Dickenson, was re-elected to her sixth term in the Indiana State House. She hopes to raise the issue of jail overcrowding in 2003.
“I fail to see the good in jailing first time and nonviolent offenders when it is cheaper and better for society to get them into addiction treatment programs for less than $3,000 per person,” she says.
In Iowa, the two-term state rep and John Deere worker from Waterloo, Bill Dotzler, was elected to the state Senate with 66 percent of the vote. He continues to defy conventional wisdom that says bucking the anti-tax juggernaut is political suicide.
“Why give tax breaks to people who don’t need the money when our schools and state economy do?” Dotzler asked voters. “Prosperity breeds tax breaks, but tax breaks don’t necessarily breed prosperity.”
UAW members winning political office
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