Labor Notes compiled by Jeff Burman UAW Strike: Win/Win or Lose/Lose? After fifty-five days of increasing rancor, 9,200 striking members of the United Auto Workers (UAW) ratified an agreement with General Motors Corp. and agreed to return to work. It all began in historic Flint, Michigan, the site of bitter "sit-down strikes" that led to the union's first contract with a major auto manufacturer back in 1937. This time, violence was averted but the dispute did escalate to the Federal District Court for Eastern Michigan, where GM sought arbitration for what it claimed was an illegal strike. This massive conflict idled as many as 193,000 GM workers and shut down 25 of 29 North American assembly plants. President Bill Clinton called the settlement a "win/win situation" and "a victory for all Americans" in a congratulatory call to UAW President Stephen Yokich on July 28th. David Healy, an auto industry analyst for Burnham Securities said, "If there is a long-term gain from this, I can't find it. I think it was a lose/lose situation. GM lost about $2.5 billion, and it looks like they could have negotiated this agreement in June." UAW Vice President Richard Shoemaker believed that the strike created a "new process, with more frequent discussions with people at the highest level of both the union and the corporation, to be sure we can resolve things before we reach a crisis" in the future. There was also the resolution of health and safety issues, which grew out of subcontracting and production disputes, which were the root of the strike. On the issue of modernization, GM agreed to fulfill the agreements it had made, then withdrawn, to invest in the modernizing of the Flint "Metal Fab" plant. In return, the union agreed to greater flexibility on productivity issues. GM remains the least productive of American car makers. It must continue its efforts to become more efficient, which will inevitably lead to further conflicts with the UAW. In addition, there was an agreement to avoid further strikes, and a dramatic concession by GM to withdraw its claim that the strikes were illegal. Had GM pursued its claim, the case would have been heard by Judge Paul V. Gadola, Jr., son of the same judge who, in 1937, ordered strikers evicted from GM property and deployed the National Guard to quell a dramatic forty-four day standoff. The sit-down strike of 1937 captured the imagination of thousands, both at the plant and throughout the country. When 300,000 members of the UAW demanded a conference with GM for recognition, GM Vice President William S. Knudsen defied federal law and refused. Before the UAW leadership could respond, union militants took matters into their own hands and seized an assembly plant in Flint. Their discipline was rigid. In their occupied Fischer body plant, they dutifully held their ground, guarding the company's machinery and even the Fischer body dies. They overcame a cut-off of heat in the dead of winter, and successfully deflected an assault by tear-gas throwing police, by turning company fire hoses on them. Public support was broad and deep. This forced Michigan Governor Frank Murphy and even President Franklin Roosevelt to guarantee negotiations. John L. Lewis, President of the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) and GM Vice President Knudsen soon came to an agreement. Injunctions were dropped. The rest is history. The 1998 strike was, by contemporary terms, a bellwether of union militancy and unity, but still, it fell short of energizing the nation as did the UPS strike. Jobs are still hemorrhaging to Mexico and the labor force on the assembly lines is still unreplenished by young hands. Will manufacturing jobs, once the mainstay of American industrial strength, eventually just die off? NLRB Chief Resigns William B. Gould IV, chairman of the National Labor Relations Board, announced that he would resign before the end of his current term, which expires on August 27th. The labor board, which has five appointed members, has the sensitive task of playing referee in the nation's labor disputes. Mr. Gould was accused, by his foes, of having politicized the semi-judicial board. "He is just an unabashedly enthusiastic supporter of the labor movement," said Harris W. Fawell, the Illinois Republican who heads the House Subcommittee on Employer-Employee Relations. House Republicans fought the NLRB's policy of seeking to reduce delays by pursuing emergency injunctions against companies for actions like illegally dismissing pro-union workers. Congress cut the board's budget by 2 percent in 1995 and froze its budget for the last two years, forcing the board to reduce its staff and cause further delays. "The House Republicans who are the driving force behind the board's budget cuts want to render us ineffective," said the outgoing chairman. "There isn't any doubt that Congress is trying to punish the board because the board stands behind a statute that gives workers the opportunity to help shape their own employment relationship," referring to the National Labor Relations Act of 1935, which established rules for collective bargaining. 19,000 United Airlines Workers Organized The International Association of Machinists announced the unionization of 19,000 reservations takers, gate agents and ticket sellers in 113 cities. It was hailed by the New York Times as "labor's biggest unionization victory in the private sector in two decades." Carey Banned for Life Former Teamster President Ron Carey was barred for life by a federal Independent Review Board. The majority opinion stated that Carey "closed his eyes" to a campaign fund-swapping scheme. The Review Board split over whether Carey knowingly participated in the scheme or was just negligent. The re-running of the Teamsters election, now between James P. Hoffa, Jr. and Tom Leedham is due to wrap up by October 14th. Leedham was instrumental in the Teamsters' stunning UPS Strike, and is seen as the darling of the reformist Teamsters for a Democratic Union. Hoffa, a labor attorney, has had as business partners and clients, individuals linked to what is euphemistically called the Teamster "old guard."   Reprinted from The Motion Picture Editors Guild Newsletter Vol. 19, No. 5 - September/October 1998   Guild Home | Newsletter Home | Top of Page   Copyright © 1998, All Rights Reserved by The Motion Picture Editors Guild, IATSE Local 776