LAS VEGAS — The United Auto Workers, one of the largest U.S. industrial unions, elected Ron Gettelfinger as president on Wednesday for a four-year term, according to a wire service.
Delegates to the UAW’s quadrennial convention elected Gettelfinger by voice vote, choosing him to succeed the retiring Stephen Yokich, a tough-talking labor activist who led the union through a bitter 59-day strike against General Motors Corp. (NYSE:GM – News) in 1998.
No other candidate opposed Gettelfinger, a union veteran and former Ford Motor Co. (NYSE:F – News) repairman, and his election was virtually assured last November when he was nominated by the union’s leadership council.
While usually considered the quintessential blue-collar union, the UAW now represents more than 100,000 graduate students, nurses, physicians, prosecutors and other government employees. Gettelfinger has said recruiting new members will be one of his top priorities.
Autoworkers employed at General Motors Corp., Ford Motor Co. and the Chrysler side of DaimlerChrysler AG (NYSE:DCX – News; XETRA:DCXGn.DE – News), however, still account for more than 40 percent of the union’s 720,000 members, and Gettelfinger will lead the union into difficult contract talks with Detroit’s Big Three automakers next year.
The UAW’s membership has declined by more than half in the past two decades and threatens to continue that trend as U.S. automakers slowly decrease factory jobs.
Yokich, the UAW’s president for the past seven years, negotiated lucrative contracts with the Big Three that included annual raises, cost-of-living protection, generous medical benefits and increased pensions. The contracts also banned plant closings, and added job security provisions that made it difficult to lay-off workers.
CHALLENGES AHEAD
Gettelfinger, however, is facing different circumstances. Chrysler and Ford together have suffered massive losses and restructurings since the contracts were signed. And the chief executive of GM, the only Detroit automaker to post a profit last year, told shareholders on Tuesday that its earnings were less than satisfactory.
European and Asian automakers, meanwhile, have increased their U.S. market share and built non-union factories, mostly in southern U.S. states where unions have traditionally been weaker.
“In today’s world, staying out front won’t be easy,” Gettelfinger said in a pamphlet distributed to the 1,900 delegates here.
“To meet the challenges of the coming years, we need to build on the UAW tradition of developing innovative approaches in collective bargaining, organizing and political action,” he said.
“These are smart guys who realize the landscape has changed,” said Sean McAlinden, an analyst with the Center for Automotive Research in Ann Arbor, referring to the many new challenges facing Gettelfinger.
Still, in the wake of the bitter GM strike in Flint in 1998, automakers are wary of tangling with the UAW head-on over benefits and plants closings.
The automakers have stressed cooperation with the union and one entire hall at the Las Vegas convention site was filled with exhibits highlighting collaboration between the Big Three and the union, including the sponsorship of racing teams and child-care centers.
Also elected with Gettelfinger and Secretary-Treasurer Elizabeth Bunn were five vice presidents: Richard Shoemaker, Nate Gooden, Bob King, Cal Rapson and Gerald Bantom.