UAW’s Gettelfinger's Swan Song: An "Acceptable Resolution" to Tough Issues
September 17, 2007

By Joseph Szczesny

In the summer of 2006, no one around the United Auto Workers (UAW) union would have been surprised if its president, Ron Gettelfinger, had decided to call it quits.

Rumors that Gettelfinger was tired of the union presidency floated through union halls for months prior to the UAW's constitutional convention in Las Vegas last year.

The 63-year-old Gettelfinger, however, said he never really considered retiring even though he is now caught in a tense struggle between the union's proud legacy and traditions and the forces of globalization, which have left American carmakers with only half of their home market.

Yet, in what is Gettlefinger’s swan song, a deal that both sides can live with appears imminent.

GM-UAW Contract: Extended Hour-by-Hour

The current UAW contract with General Motors, Ford and Chrysler officially expired at midnight last Friday. However, today workers at all three companies went to work as usual. Ford and Chrysler have agreed to extensions of the current contract as the UAW negotiates with strike target GM. The union has extended its current contract with GM on an hour-by-hour basis.

Bargainers negotiated in marathon sessions, including a 16-hour one that broke off in the wee hours of Monday. Both sides took a break and were due back at the bargaining table at noon Monday.

Experts believe, based on the fact that the union’s 73,000 members at GM plants were told to go to their jobs on Monday and that the contract is being extended hourly, a deal is close. The union’s recorded message to members said the UAW hopes to achieve an “acceptable resolution.”

A Deal That Can Be Ratified

Indeed, Gettelfinger has a reputation of being tough but realistic, and won’t put before his members a contract he doesn’t think will be ratified.

Harley Shaiken, a labor expert from the University of California-Berkley, says Gettelfinger's basic strategy this year has been to do what it can to help the companies while protecting basic contract principles won by the union over the years.

So far, Gettelfinger has managed the union's retreat with a great deal of skill, Shaiken says.  "He has shown he can be tough. But he has also been very pragmatic."

Gettelfinger: A Numbers Man

Gettelfinger studied accounting while putting himself through college working on the Ford assembly line in Louisville, Kentucky. By the time he graduated, he had already run for his first union office and was on his way to building a reputation as a fair-minded negotiator. He still talks proudly about helping rebuild the reputation of Ford's Louisville plant in the 1970s.

The long career in union politics, including a couple of very close elections that nearly ended it, also has taught him never to take anything for granted, Gettelfinger has said.

If he doesn't think he can get a contract ratified, he won't put it in front of union members.

He frustrated Ford executives no end in 1999 by siding with local union officials who wanted to block the spinoff of Visteon, according to one former Ford official who was in on the negotiations. The upshot was the UAW agreed to the spinoff if Visteon's workers remained Ford employees. Ford and the UAW are still struggling with the aftermath of the awkward deal.

While the contract the union signed with auto supplier Delphi contained major concessions, it also required GM to take back ownership of key plants in Flint, Michigan, and Dayton, Ohio, -- something the auto giant's management also said it would never do.

The ability to count votes also prompted the union to postpone making any kind of health-care concessions last year to Chrysler, a decision that enraged DaimlerChrysler chief executive Dieter Zetsche.

Concessions? Not So Fast

In the past, the UAW also has viewed the concessions as a temporary condition, which could be fixed in future contracts. Thus the UAW made major concessions to Chrysler Corp. in 1980 when it was facing bankruptcy and then spent the next decade fighting to move the company's workers back to parity with workers at GM and Ford.

However, Greg Shotwell, founder of the Soldiers of Solidarity, which was organized in 2005 to oppose concessions at Delphi, said he believes Gettelfinger has been entirely too passive in the face of corporate pressure.

Gettelfinger admits to thinking wistfully about the union's halcyon days in the 1950s and '60s Instead, he presides over the most painful downsizing in the union's history. However, he's never really asked for sympathy and has gone about his job with a great deal of dignity and humor, one former aide said.

Still, the UAW's gains in the 2003 contract, which Gettelfinger negotiated, have been all but wiped out as the auto industry restructured and the union agreed to health-care concessions as well as buyouts. Gettelfinger, though, has given the automakers fair warning that they should not expect more concessions this year.

"We understand there will be pressure," Gettelfinger said in an interview last fall. "We're not going into negotiations thinking, 'Oh, boy, you guys rewrite the contract.' That's not going to happen.

"We're not going into these negotiations in a concessionary mode. Look at the sacrifice our members have made and the things we've done to help these companies. We've made dramatic changes. They can't say anything about productivity. They can't say anything about quality," he said.

"We've stepped up at Ford, at General Motors and made painful decisions
on health care. We've been there to assist these companies. We're not going into these negotiations other than to give our members the absolute best representation," Gettelfinger said.

Gettelfinger also dismissed the suggestion UAW's inflexibility was at the root of problems at GM, Ford and Delphi. "I think we've been very responsible," he said.

"I guess it's pretty easy to say, 'Hey, the union and its membership are the bad people in this game.' But that's not the case," Gettelfinger said. "We're going to keep all of our options open. It's ridiculous to expect people to lower their standard of living. Right now, the most important thing is to reassure our members and represent them all to the very best of our ability."

What the very best of the union's ability is playing out at the negotiating table -- and likely soon will have to be sold to the membership nationwide as the best possible solution.

Posted by Michelle Krebs at 5:02 AM under Analysis , Chrysler , Featured , Ford , GM , Personalities | Comments (4) | digg this | Seed Newsvine