published Sunday, December 7, 2008
FINANCIAL TURMOIL
UAW fights old image in quest for federal aid
Union joins Big 3 to pursue lifeline


By STEVE EDER
and HOMER BRICKEY
BLADE STAFF WRITERS

As leaders of Detroit's Big Three went before Congress last week asking for an infusion of $34 billion in government cash, the head of the UAW, Ron Gettelfinger, stood at their side with his hand outstretched as well.

With the future of the U.S. automotive industry and 3 million jobs hanging in the balance, the Big Three and the UAW had no choice but to head to Washington not as adversaries, but as full partners in pursuit of a lifeline.

"This is a case where we are talking about survival," said Lloyd Mahaffey, a longtime local UAW leader. "We have to do what we have to do."

The relationships between major U.S. automakers and the union representing their workers haven't always been so peaceful. The history of the carmakers and the UAW is peppered with periods of peace followed by struggles - some escalating to violence, others to sabotage.

There are dozens of examples of violent strikes and union autoworkers damaging plant machinery and the vehicles they made to protest when negotiations weren't going the union's way.

Last week, the UAW offered concessions to the automakers as Congress considered whether to accept the industry's $34 billion plea for help. The concessions include delaying billions of dollars in payments to a fundthat is scheduled to take over payments for retiree health benefits in 2010 and suspending the controversial "jobs bank" program that pays laid-off workers most of their wages when they are off the job.

"We've done what we can do," said Mr. Mahaffey, outlining the UAW's concessions. "The problem we are into now is the economy. People can't buy cars because they can't get credit. It's more complex than that. It all feeds off itself."

Asked how much blame the UAW deserves for the crisis facing the auto industry, Mr. Mahaffey said: "I'm not going to get into whose share of blame it is. The only thing I'm concerned with is solving the problem."


Mr. Mahaffey said there are many examples of the union coming to the aide of the automakers - either through concessions or lobbying efforts - to protect their mutual interests.

In 1979, when Chrysler teetered on the brink of collapse, UAW leaders offered concessions and helped lobby Congress to provide $1.2 billion in loan guarantees. Congress approved the loans - which were eventually paid back - and prevented the company from bankruptcy, while preserving thousands of jobs.

"This is not new," Mr. Mahaffey said. "Going clear back to the Second World War, we have worked numerous times on legislation. But we weren't in as much of a crisis as we are today."

In addition to contending with skeptical members of Congress, the Big Three and the UAW also are contending with a public opinion problem. A CNN poll last week showed 61 percent of Americans opposing a taxpayer rescue.

"If you look at the various surveys, the American public is very much against loan guarantees for [the auto] industry," said Dennis Virag, president of the Automotive Consulting Group Inc. of Ann Arbor, and an observer of the automotive industry since the late 1970s.

Many people remember the UAW's worst behavior, including sabotage on the assembly line, Mr. Virag said. That, combined with "a lot of posturing in Washington," is a problem. He feels many lawmakers want to appear "tough and demanding on industry" to their constituents but will do what's necessary to throw the industry a lifeline.

"Much of this is directed at management, but some at the union, too," he said.

Mr. Virag recalls incidents of assembly-line sabotage "not only when there were negotiations, but [also when] workers would get upset with management ... These were not the glory years of labor-management relations."

In 1972, Time magazine wrote about the labor struggle at General Motors' plant in Lordstown, Ohio, which at the time was among the most highly technical and advanced in the country.

"Hardly anybody calls it sabotage - yet," Time wrote. "But last October somebody deliberately set fire to an assembly-line control box shed, causing the line to shut down. Autos regularly roll off the line with slit upholstery, scratched paint, dented bodies, bent gearshift levers, cut ignition wires, and loose or missing bolts. In some cars, the trunk key is broken off right in the lock, thereby jamming it. The plant's repair lot has space for 2,000 autos, but often becomes too crowded to accept more."

During the AP Parts Co. nine-month strike in 1984 and early 1985 there were violent protests. During one protest outside the plant, where mufflers and tailpipes were made, 41 people were arrested.

"Union rules had gone way too far," said Paul Putman, who was president of the former Toledo-based company. "The work rules were disgusting. A forklift operator would have to drive all over the plant to find an electrician just to plug in an electric cord.

" ... I think they [the UAW] should admit they were very excessive in their demands, and took advantage of their strengths."

In April, 1985, Jeep officials claimed that more than 760 vehicles were damaged during a two-week span because of acts of sabotage by union members. The union members - angered because of changes to a profit-sharing plan that cost workers thousands of dollars - were accused of miscoloring some vehicles and denting others, slowing down production and costing the company hundreds of thousands of dollars in damages.

The U.S. District Court even intervened, ordering Jeep employees not to commit acts of sabotage against the company.

In 1998, General Motors production abruptly stopped at its Corvette assembly plant in Bowling Green, Ky., after someone apparently jammed a pipe-like object into a conveyor belt.

In 2000, engines were damaged in production at Ford Motor Co.'s Engine Plant No. 2 in Brook Park, Ohio, outside Cleveland, prompting UAW leader Huck Granakis to issue the warning that: "Anyone caught in the act of sabotage will be terminated." The troubles with the engines included bolts dropped into the intake manifolds and spark-plug holes in what appeared to be deliberate damage, according to a memo obtained by The Plain Dealer, of Cleveland.

A legacy of poor quality at the Big Three also has impacted American car buyers' attitudes and caused much of the shift to imports that is taking a bigger share of the automotive market each year.

Chuck Conner of Toledo remembers when he was hired in the 1960s by Brondes Ford to repair Fords that came off the line before they were sold.

"My job was to take the cars that would come in from the factory and repair them," he said last week. "We had to put screws back in, had to take the dashes apart in the Thunderbirds and find where the shorts were in the wiring, and put them back together.

"There were screws thrown in the back of the trunks, and we had to find where they were missing from and fix them before they were sold to the public," he said. "It was just a way of life back then."

A former temporary worker for General Motors said he was hired to work at a GM plant in Michigan during the 1970s on Mondays and Fridays because of rampant absenteeism.

"There were guys that would put in five bolts on the line when it called for 10 and just let 'em go," he said.

Hence, the old adage "never buy a car made on Monday and Fridays," that was heard so often in the past.

Mr. Conner said he's bought new cars in recent years "that were perfect."

Tom Kress, retired chief financial officer for Sheller-Globe Corp., a former Toledo parts supplier, noted last week that "the whole country is suffering, everyone is suffering, and they look at the UAW with envy and jealousy."

Mr. Kress said many other workers remember the big contracts won by autoworkers and now they're wondering, "Why should these guys do better?"

Last week, to combat rumors about UAW compensation, the union disseminated information disputing the notion that its members are paid $73 an hour, calling the figure "outdated and inaccurate."

The UAW said hourly wages for Chrysler, Ford, and General Motors assemblers ranges from $14 for new hires to $28 an hour for veteran workers, and up to $33 an hour for skilled trades workers. Labor costs, they say, account for only 10 percent of the cost of a car.

Mr. Kress believes that the "automotive industry is its own worst enemy ... The U.S. has been living on the back of the rest of the world for a lot of years, [when] the automotive industry was not [really] in the world economy. But now the world economy is leveling out the standard of living. Our standard of living must come down."

Mr. Kress also said that "in Toledo we were used to seeing the unions have so much influence - the UAW and Teamsters mostly - but in the rest of the world they're not that influential. Now they're getting leveled. The UAW is getting leveled too."

Does the UAW owe the public an apology for past misdeeds?

"I think that would be helpful, whether warranted or not," said Mr. Virag, the automotive analyst. He said when politicians make mistakes and they apologize, the public accepts that. He said an apology could be as simple as: "We have made mistakes, but we see the light now, and we will do whatever is needed to save the industry."

Jack Sizemore, a retired regional director for the UAW in Toledo, said he knows there's an underlying anti-union sentiment.

"Certain segments of society have been against unions, and for the last few years it's getting worse," he said.

But Mr. Sizemore believes that, on the whole, the "contracts have been good," and he says "they have helped many nonunion workers too."

He said that, while many "think we got too much," he doesn't buy into any theory that the UAW "got too big for its britches."

"I don't see that," he said, adding that, if anything, "we're getting less influential over the years, because of size."

Contact Steve Eder at:
seder@theblade.com or
419-304-1680.
http://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dl ... /812070341