U.A.W. Nominates Bob King as New Leader, as Union Struggles for Influence (original) (raw)

Business|Next Chief Is Nominated for a Troubled Auto Union

https://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/17/business/17uaw.html

Next Chief Is Nominated for a Troubled Auto Union

Dec. 16, 2009

DEARBORN, Mich. Leaders of the United Automobile Workers on Wednesday selected Bob King, a vice president who has a long history with the Ford Motor Company, as the union’s next leader.

Mr. King, a journeyman electrician who has a law degree, would have the task of reasserting the union’s influence after several years of absorbing drastic cuts by the Detroit automakers. If rank-and-file members confirm his selection in June, he would succeed Ron Gettelfinger, whose eight-year tenure as president was among the most turbulent in union history.

“To be president of the U.A.W. now, I’m not sure if that’s like being the captain of the Titanic or the rescue ship that got there too late,” said David Gregory, a labor expert at the St. John’s University Law School in New York.

Mr. King would take over a union that lost nearly 40 percent of its members under Mr. Gettelfinger after General Motors, Ford and Chrysler closed dozens of factories and persuaded tens of thousands of workers to take buyouts. He will be at the helm as the union negotiates new contracts with each of the Detroit carmakers in 2011 and looks to regain some of the ground it gave up to help the companies survive.

In addition, the union will take over providing health care coverage to retirees in January, through a trust fund that now owns 17.5 percent of G.M. and 55 percent of Chrysler.

“There is no question in my mind Bob King will be the right person to lead this union forward,” Mr. Gettelfinger told reporters. “He is relentless and tenacious. Bob will move forward an agenda that will benefit all of our union, and he is a great negotiator.”

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Bob King, 63, has been a union official since 1981.Credit...Jeff Kowalsky/Bloomberg News

Mr. King’s nomination comes after a huge defeat for the union leadership in October, when Ford workers soundly turned down a deal that would have made further cuts and restricted the union’s right to strike. The cuts would have been similar to ones that workers at G.M. and Chrysler approved earlier in the year.

Mr. Gettelfinger took responsibility for that rejection and said it did not reflect on Mr. King’s ability to lead the union. He also asserted that the worst had passed for the union, now that G.M. and Chrysler had gone through bankruptcy protection and Ford expects to be profitable soon.

“We feel like basically right now that we have bottomed out,” Mr. Gettelfinger said. “It will take a while for things to turn around but we’re looking for a bit of growth. Workers are going to want a fair share and we’re going to be there to make sure they get it.”

Mr. King declined to discuss his intended platform as president, but he said adding new members was important to the union’s strength.

“The more workers you have organized in any sector the more power you have at the bargaining table,” he said. “I think you’ll see a resurgence of the labor movement.”

The U.A.W. requires elected leaders to step down at the end of their term after they turn 65, and the leadership caucus reaffirmed that rule Wednesday. Mr. Gettelfinger, 65, is retiring after two terms as president.

Mr. King, 63, would be allowed to serve out his five-year term, which will end in 2014.

He began his U.A.W. career in 1970 at a Ford parts depot in Detroit. He has been a union official since 1981 and a national vice president since 1998. Most recently, he was in charge of negotiations with Ford.

“He’s not afraid of hard, real work,” Mr. Gregory said. “He went up the ladder quickly but didn’t forget where he came from.”

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