COMMENTARY
For most of the past three decades, the United Auto Workers union hasn’t really sought public support.
The Detroit-based union, once upon a time, was one of the most visible American labor unions. Leaders such as Walter Reuter and Douglas Fraser established a very public persona. Those UAW presidents were active beyond auto labor talks. They dealt with civil rights and other broader issues.
More recently, UAW leaders retreated. They dealt with day-to-day issues involving the auto industry.
Also, union presidents such as Stephen Yokich and Ron Gettelfinger made clear they didn’t care for reporters covering the union. As far as they were concerned, union business with automakers was union business.
Period. Full stop.
In the 2000s, things changed. General Motors and Chrysler faced financial ruin and needed U.S. bailouts. Ford Motor Co. avoided that fate only because it put up valuable assets (including its own Ford oval logo) as collateral for loans.
The UAW’s approach contrasted with the Canadian Auto Workers union (now Unifor). Canadian labor leaders knew how to work the media. The Canadians would provide news tidbits. The Canadians, when it came down to crunch time for labor talks with GM, Ford and Chrysler, were available to talk to reporters.
On April 21, Shawn Fain, the new UAW president, participated in an Automotive Press Association online event. He fielded questions from a moderator.
It’s hard to imagine that Yokich or Gettelfinger would do something like that. Both Yokich and Gettelfinger (Yokich’s protégé) despised reporters generally.
Fain narrowly won the president’s office. His victory followed a series of union scandals.
The new UAW president says the Detroit-based union is doing things differently. “We’re going to take a different approach on everything,” Fain told the Automotive Press Association. “The status quo was not working for us.”
The UAW and Unifor have different negotiating cycles. The UAW has four-year contracts with automakers while Unifor has three-year contracts.
As it works out, in 2023, both unions will be negotiating with GM, Ford and Stellantis (which contains the former Chrysler).
It’s early days, but the UAW appears to be reaching out for public support and the recent Automotive Press Association is a sign of that.
Will that mean different results? That remains to be seen.
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