State of the Union May 27, 2015

It has now been decided that the Vehicle Advocate Program (overnight drive) will begin Friday June 5. Entry forms can be submitted through this Saturday, May 30. A raffle to raise money for Habitat for Humanity will be held for all of the weekends as well as the week of June 29, which runs through the July 4 holiday. Tickets will go on sale tomorrow and will be available in the cafeteria at break time on all shifts. Prices are $5 apiece or 3 for $10. Once again the 3 vehicles are an extended cab GMC Canyon, a crew cab Z-71 Chevrolet Colorado and a Cadillac ATS coupe.

· The UAW Local 2250 golf tournament will be held Saturday, June 20 at Country Lake golf course in Warrenton. Check in is noon with a 1:00 pm shotgun start. It is a 4-person scramble and the cost is $75 per person/ $300 per team and includes dinner, prizes and contests. There will also be a skin game, 50/50 raffle and silent auction. Proceeds go to Bridgeway, 5 Game Changers and CAP (community action program).

· From the New York Times: Justice Department investigators have identified criminal wrongdoing in General Motors’ failure to disclose a defect tied to at least 104 deaths, and are negotiating what is expected to be a record penalty, according to people briefed on the inquiry. A settlement could be reached as soon as this summer. The final number is still being negotiated, but it is expected to eclipse the $1.2 billion paid last year by Toyota for concealing unintended acceleration problems in its vehicles, said the people, who did not want to be identified because the negotiations weren’t complete. G.M.’s eagerness to resolve the investigation — a strategy that sets it apart from Toyota, which fought prosecutors — is expected to earn it so-called cooperation credit, one of the people said. That credit could translate into a somewhat smaller penalty than if G.M. had declined to cooperate. An agreement with the Justice Department, which could still fall apart, would represent a crucial step as G.M. tries to move past a scandal-laden year that tainted its reputation for quality and safety and damaged its bottom line. “We are cooperating fully with all requests,” the automaker said in a statement. “We are unable to comment on the status of the investigation, including timing.” G.M.’s aggressive expansion of its recalls after the disclosure contrasted to the approach of Toyota, which kept unsafe cars on the road despite signs of trouble, a decision that underpinned the criminal case against it. The company has spent an estimated $3 billion on recalls and other safety issues in the last year, including setting aside $600 million to compensate switch-related accident victims and their families. Even if it reaches an agreement with the Justice Department, G.M. still faces numerous consumer fraud investigations by state attorneys general, and numerous wrongful-death and personal injury lawsuits.

Yesterday was the 78th anniversary of the infamous “Battle of the Overpass” that occurred at the Ford River Rouge plant in 1937. The following is from an essay by Curtis Hansen from the Walter P. Reuther Library:

On May 26, l937, Walter Reuther, President of United Automobile Workers Local 174 and three fellow UAW organizers-Richard Frankensteen, J.J. Kennedy and Robert Kantor-climbed the stairs of a footbridge over Miller Road. The overpass led to Gate No. 4, the primary entrance to the Ford Motor Company’s River Rouge industrial complex. The men anticipated this would be a peaceful distribution of union literature by the ladies auxiliary of Local 174. At Reuther’s request, several neutral observers were also present, including members of the clergy, reporters and photographers.

Reuther was not able to present his city permit for leaflet distribution to anyone that morning. Within moments he and his associates were in the midst of the “Battle of the Overpass.” When it ended Reuther and his men found themselves at the bottom of the steel steps leading to the overpass. They had been thrown down the stairs by members of Ford’s Service Department.

The Ford Service Department was established to maintain control over the company’s assembly line workers and to keep unions out of the plants. Ford appointed Harry Bennett to run this portion of the business and he was given a free hand to do so. Bennett was a Navy veteran, a talented boxer, and he enjoyed the company of athletes, particularly wrestlers, football players and boxers. Bennett was also confrontational, always ready to assert himself physically. In addition, Bennett’s lack of an education and management experience matched Ford’s general distrust of formal education and position in society as benchmarks of success. As head of Ford’s Service Department, Bennett was arguably the most powerful man at Ford Motor Company with the exception of Ford himself. He hired and fired employees in a capricious manner. Union sympathy or activity meant immediate dismissal, and with poor wages, no paid holidays or vacations and no job security, employees were very vulnerable. Intimidation and attacks by his “Servicemen” were commonplace, and a spy network within the factories kept Bennett well-informed. The Service Department also kept UAW Local 174, the unit charged with organizing the Rouge Plant under constant surveillance. This made organizing an uncertain and dangerous proposition.

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Both Miller Road and the overpass itself were considered public thoroughfares, yet when Reuther and his colleagues arrived, a large group of Ford “Servicemen” approached the four UAW members. Reuther and his companions were told to leave, allowed no time to respond or withdraw and immediately attacked by the Ford thugs. They were punched, kicked, and picked up, slammed to the ground repeatedly, and after a severe beating, tossed down the stairs to the road below. Although the number of attackers is disputed--possibly as many as forty--their vast numerical superiority overwhelmed the union members who were caught by surprise. Once down on the road, Reuther (pictured on the left with Frankensteen) and his companions were able to get to a car and leave the scene. The ladies passing out the organizing materials on Miller Road were also attacked and forced to flee to their waiting buses for safety.

Meanwhile, down on Miller Road, Katherine Gelles, commander of the Ladies Auxiliary of UAW Local 174, and her associates received similar treatment. As the women attempted to pass out their leaflets entitled “Unionism not Fordism,” they were harassed, punched, kicked and forced back onto buses by another group of Servicemen. Many were injured, some seriously, such as William Meriweather, who was brutally beaten as he tried to assist the ladies. He suffered a broken back and internal injuries. The Dearborn Policemen on the scene watched as the attacks took place and made no attempt to restore order. This episode was an important step in the UAW’s successful drive to unionize Ford Motor Company, the final holdout among the Big 3 automakers. The “Battle of the Overpass” set in motion the series of events, which after four years of effort, resulted in a crippling strike at the Rouge Plant, the successful NLRB election and final recognition of the UAW by Ford Motor Company, in May 1941.

Tom Brune
UAW Communications Coordinator
Wentzville Assembly
636-327-2119