The IEB Goes to Akron
Gene Steele was impressed that UAW President Ron Gettelfinger and the International Executive Board went to his small local in Akron, Ohio.
But Steele, president of Amalgamated UAW Local 856, couldn’t say enough about how adept the union leaders were at handling an F-15 jet simulator during mock test flights at Lockheed Martin Corp.
“Not only did they land the planes safely, but I believe they’re going to take this union places and land it safely in the future,” Steele said.
Gettelfinger said the Nov. 7 visit was a chance for the IEB — which was in Cleveland for its quarterly board meeting — “to listen to the concerns of the union’s membership.”
“We’re proud of what our members do here,” Gettelfinger said of the 450 UAW-represented workers at Lockheed and Aircraft Braking Systems (ABS).
The group toured Lockheed, met with ABS workers during shift change and stopped at Local 856. The night before, they held a town hall meeting with local union officers from UAW Region 2B at Local 1250 in Cleveland.
“Most people would have expected us to visit the larger locals,” he added. “We’re trying to show we’re concerned about the smaller locals, as well as the larger locals.”
Region 2B, which covers the state of Ohio, has about 170,000 UAW members.
