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In March, the Unted Auto Workers voted out its Administrative Caucus leadership, ending a 77-year dynasty supersedec by a fighting reform caucus.
In 1992, John E. Borsos wrote about another UAW reform movement, ultimate у unsuccessful, with the campaign of Jerry Tucker, who voiced frustration at the union's seeming unwillingness to fight for better contracts.
Today, UAW President Shawn Fain is pushing an unprecedented list of demands to the Big Three automakers and leveraging a massive strike. Borsos' now 30-year-old claim-that only new, progressive leadership could recenter the UAW around the militant solidarity it was founded to achieve-is finally being tested.
IN 1992, JOHN E. BORSOS WROTE: In December, General Motors boldly announced its plans to cut its American workforce by more than 70,000 people, touching off a flurry of editorials, news articles and television stories. Remarkably, amid all the recent controversy regarding the auto industry, :he oncepowerful United Auto Workers (UAW) and its president, Owen Bieber, have been noticeably silent in the escalating national dialogue.
Ironically, GM Chairman Robert Stempel was one of the very few who expressed concern with the role of the UAW in the automaker's future. When he announced the dramatic cutbacks, Stempel said he wanted to work with the current UAW leadership-Owen Bieber and the head of the union's GM department, Steve Yokich. This off-hand remark-a corporate executive expressing his preference of union leadership-should have set bells ringing among rank-and-file UAW members.
Stempel's approval expresses how completely the UAW is now willing to accept whatever scraps management throws its way. It also helps to explain why the national media has found it unnecessary to talk to the head of the UAW: There is virtually no difference between the corporate and business union agendas....