The United Auto Workers (UAW) President Ron Gettelfinger has said that he will run for re-election next year. Gettelfinger’s confirmation that he wants another term comes after a difficult period for the UAW under his leadership as the UAW faces up to massive job and benefit cuts.
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Gettelfinger was first elected as a vice president of the UAW in 1998 and was in charge of negotiating with Ford. He was elected president of the union in 2002 and oversaw contract negotiations with the Big Three U.S. automakers in 2003.
The administrative caucus, a group of union leaders that essentially forms a political party within the UAW, backs Gettelfinger. Every presidential candidate chosen by the caucus has won the union’s top job since the group was formed in 1946, the AP report noted.
The union is scheduled to vote on new leadership at its annual convention in Las Vegas in June.
While Gettelfinger, 61, was expected to seek another term, the UAW’s three vice presidents in charge of negotiations with General Motors Corp., Ford Motor Co. and DaimlerChrysler AG are all 65 or older and are all retiring. An informal union policy discourages leaders from seeking new terms after they turn 65.
The union’s administration caucus named Jimmy Settles, 55, director of UAW Region 1A based in Taylor; Terry Thurman, 55, director of a UAW region based in Indianapolis, and General Holiefield, 52, an assistant to Gettelfinger, as its choices for vice president.
Gettelfinger has presided over difficult times for the union. Carmakers are hiring fewer workers as plants get more productive. UAW membership fell from 676,000 active workers in 2002 to 622,000 last year, according to the union. That’s down from 1.6 million active members at the UAW’s peak in 1970, AP reported.
The union has agreed to cut some of its most cherished benefits in order to help Detroit’s ailing carmakers and is also facing a fight with bankrupt Delphi that could see strike action.
In November, UAW members agreed to make GM’s active and retired members pay more for their health care. Ford and DaimlerChrysler are now asking for similar concessions.
