Don't blame the UAW
My father was a UAW shop committeeman as well as a staunch Republican. He saw no contradiction between the two. His two heroes- Robert A. Taft and Walter Reuther- might have seen eye-to-eye on very little, but Dad was convinced that at the end of the day the fates of the union members he represented and the company which employed them were inextricably bound together.
Reuther was one of the most militant, most honest, and most effective union leaders in American history. He was also one of the most far-sighted. The man whose head had been bloodied during the "Battle of the Running Bulls" in 1937 and whose hand was permanently crippled by a beating by management goons in 1948 was also the man who paved the way for an era in which UAW workers not only enjoyed benefits undreamed-of in 1937, but functioned effectively as a partner with management in the pursuit of the profitability which alone could make such benefits possible.
In fact, for some time, the more militant members of the UAW have complained that the union's role as a partner with management might be compromising its advocacy of the interests of its own members. Now that the current economic crisis has- incredibly- brought the once-mighty Big Three to the brink of bankruptcy, the UAW has recognized the necessity of biting the bullet and rolling back some of its epoch-making gains. There is some resistance to this among the membership.
One thing, in any event, does need to be said, and said quite clearly: whatever some on the right may instinctively want to claim, if the company Dad worked for all those years does go belly-up, it won't be the UAW's fault.
HT: Real Clear Politics
Reuther was one of the most militant, most honest, and most effective union leaders in American history. He was also one of the most far-sighted. The man whose head had been bloodied during the "Battle of the Running Bulls" in 1937 and whose hand was permanently crippled by a beating by management goons in 1948 was also the man who paved the way for an era in which UAW workers not only enjoyed benefits undreamed-of in 1937, but functioned effectively as a partner with management in the pursuit of the profitability which alone could make such benefits possible.
In fact, for some time, the more militant members of the UAW have complained that the union's role as a partner with management might be compromising its advocacy of the interests of its own members. Now that the current economic crisis has- incredibly- brought the once-mighty Big Three to the brink of bankruptcy, the UAW has recognized the necessity of biting the bullet and rolling back some of its epoch-making gains. There is some resistance to this among the membership.
One thing, in any event, does need to be said, and said quite clearly: whatever some on the right may instinctively want to claim, if the company Dad worked for all those years does go belly-up, it won't be the UAW's fault.
HT: Real Clear Politics
Comments