THE LOCAL UNION: CENTER OF LIFE IN THE UAW
Nash, Al
Despite some signs of middle-age spread, the United Automobile Workers Union, now over 40 years old, sustains a politically sophisticated response to issues while preserving much of the...
...Workers in auto were angry individuals: sullen, belligerent, quick to call on the steward for assistance...
...Senior workers already held the best jobs, with few more attractive ones available in the department...
...On one occasion, I donned a pith helmet to dramatize the company's continuous failure to repair a number of holes in the roof through which rain fell on the workers...
...There we would review the political scene in the local and relax from our obligations as stewards...
...Many of the grievances in the aircraft plant were protests (or pleas) by those who had been punished for tardiness, absenteeism, drunkenness, or some other violation of company rules...
...the individual who represents them in their grievances with management, keeps them informed of union activities, and listens to their complaints is the union...
...Aside from the defeat of one administration resulting from the dissatisfaction of workers with the 103-day strike in 1950, other administrations were turned out of office because of problems associated with the company's efforts to increase the speed of the line...
...By coincidence, an old friend, Gabe DeAngelis, then assistant director of UAW Region 9, wrote to me and informed me that he hoped to create a new amalgamated local in New Jersey and that I could be helpful in establishing it if I came back East, It wasn't long before I did...
...Workers complained about broken windows, open doors that let in the winter air, the absence of fans, and the need for protective gloves...
...Because of their close proximity to their stewards, auto workers were able to exert great pressure on many stewards, and certainly on stewards like Jack and myself who wanted to be especially responsive...
...About 11 ISLers worked in Chrylser at one time or another, and each pursued his own trade-union line, which usually was determined by his socialist principles and his place in the social structure of the plant and the union...
...At our plant workers concerned each time were few in number and therefore lacked the clout to force a strong and united response, perhaps a strike...
...I already knew that the black worker would bid for the job and had assured him the union would certainly support his bid...
...During this period Chrysler opened a new plant in Trenton, Michigan, and transferred to it 90 or 100 motor-line workers...
...Local 7 was organized in 1936, after the merger of a federal local union, affiliated with the AFL and somewhat influenced by followers of the Communist party, with an independent union that was influenced by followers of Father Coughlin, a right-wing Catholic priest...
...I attended a Reuther caucus meeting at the Dairymen's Local Hall in Detroit where Reuther was the main speaker...
...At the time, McCarthyism was at its height and the ISL was on the Attorney General's subversive list...
...In the five years I worked at Chrysler, there was only one black worker in skilled trades...
...In 1951 the arbitrator of the UAW-Chrysler collective-bargaining agreement announced "the doctrine of positive leadership," by which he meant that stewards were expected to take positive steps to discourage walkouts—or face disciplinary action...
...And there were other reasons why few grievances were made against work standards...
...404 Black women, after first being hired during World War II and periods of labor shortages, were not hired in the plant, although white women were...
...Later that evening, as I reflected on Reuther's concern for the dues increase, I decided to retreat...
...Though they supported the strike, the workers did complain about the limited assistance they received from the union and the length of the strike...
...Another difference was the hostility exhibited to the work process itself...
...The lesson was simple enough: if someone in authority who was respected and had the support of his constituents acted firmly against discrimination he faced little resistance...
...Conveying this information promptly allowed workers to inform their families during the lunch hour...
...Consequently, aircraft workers demonstrated more antagonism to their foremen than auto workers to theirs...
...Indeed, some key figures in the union were influenced in their ideas and behavior by our work...
...When these problems arose, the chief stewards were overwhelmed by the anger of workers...
...Workers on each side of me would dash frantically to safety...
...In his youth he had voted for and admired Eugene V. Debs...
...Starting at the back of the huge plant we walked to the front advising workers that the strike was on...
...The work 398 was strenuous and I soon learned to tighten only those bolts that had three or four threads showing and to ignore the rest...
...In aircraft, however, there was a pusher, a leadman, and a foreman...
...What is less known is the stormy life of the local unions that have institutionalized democracy and militancy in the UAW...
...Workers occasionally reacted by walking off the job, alienating workers in other departments because the walkout stopped the movement of parts to their department and the line was consequently halted...
...In addition, the collective-bargaining agreement, which was signed in 1951 for five years, created serious morale problems among stewards and workers...
...or ulterior move behind any significant act of a union or management official...
...Like most leaders of auto locals in Detroit, I was firmly opposed to the dues increase...
...In practice, applying socialist principles meant demanding bolder union policies, attempting to modify management's prerogatives, and struggling for a fairer grievance procedure more sensitive to the interests of workers...
...Passivity and resignation developed among members and local leaders...
...Intense and frequent discussion, along with the friendships we had developed over the years, made for a fairly homogeneous outlook among ISLers...
...One walkout occurred over the refusal of a new worker to join the union and the other over the failure of the company to patch up the roof...
...The committee played a role in integrating a rather loosely organized department and became the core of a "flying squadron" that we subsequently organized...
...Negotiating with auto foremen over such matters as reducing a penalty for alleged violation of company rules, minimizing 402 favoritism, transferring senior workers to days, repairing a broken window, or correcting safety hazards was comparatively simple...
...However, every month the company sent a letter to the local complaining about the failure of chief stewards to perform their assigned company jobs, and the local's executive board regularly replied, "Your letter regarding the matter of the chief stewards has been duly noted and filed...
...a previous president had also been from the South...
...The standard argument advanced against the demand was that it was discrimination in reverse and that election to office should be based on merit...
...With the help of black workers with whom I had become acquainted during the strike and with the assistance of Walter Paine on the day shift (both shifts voted for each steward) I was elected chief steward...
...There were also more complaints about working conditions...
...All this made us more cautious and thoughtful about the kind of policies we pursued...
...By making visible my critical attitude toward the foremen and the company in a responsible, if dramatic, way as occasion offered, I succeeded in reducing suspicion...
...I would like to put my observations on work standards in proper perspective...
...To be sure, a firm position wasn't always enough...
...Newly hired workers were fearful of "grieving...
...I promptly relayed this to a department meeting I called later that night during our meal break...
...To be eligible, I transferred to the night shift...
...We were never served, even after we called the police and requested that a local ordinance prohibiting such discrimination be enforced...
...These stewards, whose jobs were defined in the union by-laws, had no rights under the contract and were mainly useful for bringing grievances to the attention of the chief steward and relaying information to the members...
...While Paine may have been one of the best stewards in the UAW, the powers and rights he exercised were typical of the steward system in most of the large plants represented by the UAW...
...Yet, the black caucus was unstable...
...The local also had used "flying squadrons" (dedicated union members) periodically to check the workers' union cards at the plant gates...
...Others doubled up on the job, which gave them a chance to get away for a bit and play the numbers, visit friends, or rest in the dressing room...
...Many of the more dbnoxious jobs were held by those on probation or with little seniority...
...In contending that democracy in the UAW would suffer if this proposal was passed, I pointed out that the five-year agreement had reduced membership participation in the union and was another step in the direction of establishing a purely service relationship between the member and the union...
...In auto, there were constant suspicions that the pace of the line was surreptitiously increased by the foreman or that the division of work was unfair...
...Trust has to be won step by step, day by day...
...Over the years, as many white workers failed to return from the frequent layoffs, the black workers grew in numbers and accumulated seniority...
...I had run for chief steward on the day shift to replace Walter Paine, who was elected shop committeeman for the Machine Shop Division in the same election...
...I did not take his advice...
...The black workers on the motor-line night shift were more conscious of being a group than those on day shift and believed that union officials overlooked their interests...
...He introduced me to active union members and eased my integration into the life of the shop...
...We recognized that the problem of the assembly line was one that was complex and required a willingness as well as an ability by the international union to challenge the structure of work in modern society—a huge task its leaders were not about to undertake given the political structure, economic conditions, and conservative mood of the workers...
...Jesse Cundiff, the shop committeeman from my division, whom a number of us were supporting for president, went with a delegation to the offending bar and told the owner that the union would order a boycott if he didn't permit black workers the same rights as whites...
...The chief steward on the day shift was Walter Paine, a good friend of Oscar's...
...Rivalries for office, petty jealousies, and alliances with powerful white politicians often split the black caucus and reduced its effectiveness...
...At the factory level it was quite clear to us that we were faced with a task equal to cleaning the Augean stables—and we were not Herculean figures...
...Each of us was intimately affected by the harsh constraints present in the shop and reacted in much the same way as our fellow workers...
...The steward is also subject to the pressures of his constituency and his personal followers...
...Finally when these tactics failed to provide a solution, I discreetly encouraged the workers affected by the rain to go to the men's room in a body with a case of mass diarrhea...
...The strike in our part of the plant had begun gently...
...We had considerable influence but what could we do with our influence...
...Many of the whites on the night shift were recent arrivals from the South...
...came to the union hall for assistance...
...like other UAW stewards, he was "The Union" to the workers...
...What was important, I concluded, was the need to follow a program in the plant more directly designed to enlist the support of the rank-andfile member...
...By 1949, 75 percent of the dayshift workers and 55 percent of the night-shift workers on the motor line were white...
...In time, Paine assisted in my election to chief steward...
...The organization of the "black caucus" was the first truly significant step blacks in Local 7 took as blacks...
...Articulate at union meetings and in the plant, and at UAW conventions, we served to make the union more democratic...
...Given the presence of a vigorous union and a belligerent work force, management could not easily press the workers into harness...
...Walter Paine had formed a line of workers extending from wall to wall...
...Did we feel ourselves to be outsiders in the shop because of our political beliefs...
...My shift began at 7:00 AM and soon the day began to drag...
...The major leader of the local was R. J. Thomas, an electric welder later to become president of the UAW...
...He assumed it was the position of the ISL and expressed some hostility to the organization...
...The skilled tradesmen were very influential in the local and were united in their determination to keep blacks out, while the black workers were not adequately organized to break down the barriers...
...The ISL challenged the listing, with Joseph Rauh as attorney, and eventually won its case...
...Along with a number of older locals, it helped found the international union...
...So we all voted against the dues increase but, instead of carrying on a vigorous campaign to enlist the support of other delegations, we opposed it perfunctorily...
...There were occasional assignments that defied my skill and exceeded my strength...
...My job at Chrysler consisted of tightening 16 bolts with a hand brace, turning the motor around so that it faced sideways as it was conveyed along the assembly line, and pasting on a gasket...
...As stewards we were caught in a bind: if we told the workers not to do the job, we could be penalized for violating the collective-bargaining agreement...
...Reuther, who stood directly in back of me as I spoke kept whispering to me "but I agree with you, Brother Nash...
...The workers, and particularly the stewards, feared the actions of the arbitrator who increasingly supported company penalties for the wildcat strikes or slowdowns that were quite frequent in Detroit between the end of World War II and 1951...
...Actually, as I discovered later, the members of the Local 7 delegation also wanted to retreat, but no one would take the lead out of fear that it would be used against him back in the local...
...A few obtained better jobs elsewhere or opened their own business (usually a bar or a gas station...
...The barrier came tumbling down when the black workers organized their first caucus and spoke plainly to both "tickets" running for office in the union election...
...Joe Hattley, the local union president, was a Southerner who had long established roots in Detroit...
...Along with Oscar Paskal, Jack Widick, and others in our socialist group, I was involved in the day-to-day conduct of the strike and became friendly with night-shift motor-line workers, and also with leaders in other departments, particularly the black leaders...
...Trust does not come easy even for a truly loyal representative: "Prove you are on our side...
...Psychologically this was extreme407 ly tiring, though not as tiring as working on the line...
...A steward who tries to demonstrate his devotion with a supercharged militancy will soon find that he is considered a hothead, an irresponsible radical, or an ambitious politician...
...By this time I was fairly well-known in the local union and, along with Jack Widick and other members of the Independent Socialist League (ISL), helped elect at least three different slates of candidates to local union office...
...A small group of very able white local leaders found jobs with the international union or in state politics...
...Upon receiving this information, I would write it down on a cardboard and walk around the line (it was about three city blocks long) holding the sign aloft...
...Nor were the ISLers susceptible to union or management blandishments...
...Next, I did appoint two assistant chief stewards, one a popular black worker and the other, a white, a genuine Hatfield from West Virginia, urbane and unprejudiced toward blacks so far as I could make out...
...Although we lacked a union shop and had no dues checkoff, the union was unquestionably accepted by Chrysler workers, most of whom had voted for the strike on a secret ballot...
...Workers, and frequently with good reason, will suspect that there is a mercenary...
...J ack Widick and I used to carry on our discussions in an abandoned room in the plant known to only a few individuals...
...Nevertheless, at the next election, a black (Ted Griffin) was elected to the vice-presidency of the local...
...We were fearful of appearing to hold views that were radically different from those of the constituencies we represented or sought to represent...
...In 1951 I was elected on a ticket that was committed to fight a proposed dues increase at the convention that year...
...Now we were considering founding a new faction with others in the local of whom we had been critical in the past...
...Actions of this kind encouraged a greater sense of participation in the union and reinforced a sense of rank-and-file control...
...Endangering jobs or pay is proof to the worker of incompetent leadership...
...The company did not press the issue because the workers wanted to have their steward on tap for grievances and would have shut the plant down if this arrangement had been eliminated...
...Ted Morgan, a black and a chief steward in the paint department (later to become Commissioner of Sanitation in Detroit), once went with me to a soda fountain and ordered a coke...
...On the night I first assumed my new duties, I was called into the office of the division superintendent and told bluntly that I "had better watch my step...
...nor were there any other protests when black workers exercised their seniority rights...
...My principal concern was to make sure that whatever discrimination existed in the department was wiped out...
...Our differences reflected our separate locations in the social structure of the plant and the union...
...Max Shachtman, as a leader of the ISL, had strongly advised against challenging the international on a matter of this kind...
...International officials were not affected...
...So I tried...
...Even a small action can be escalated in stages...
...The educational committee consisted of the department's most devoted union members...
...In a sense, we became prisoners of the social milieu we sought to change...
...But we were not always this fortunate with the international on other questions...
...On the other hand, the most talented blacks remained because, like other black workers, they were unable to find better jobs outside auto factories...
...I soon learned that night-shift workers generally nurse a belief that their interests are neglected: "out of sight, out of mind...
...Sometimes, where the company's action threatened the loss of a work standard that had existed for a long period, there was outright defiance, but that invited penalties and a risky situation for the steward supporting the action...
...In my department, we elected 011ie Foster and Bob Walker, both black, to chief stewardships...
...As chief steward, I stopped working on the line, following the example set by other chief stewards, though the agreement between union and company made no clear provision for this arrangement...
...to make sure that black workers were more adequately represented in the union structure, and I encouraged workers in distinct sections of the department to elect their own section (or "blue-button") stewards...
...We needed that relaxation...
...With a contract that had five years to run the workers felt they had little control over speedup and other work-related issues...
...Six or seven black stewards were elected...
...This two-sided approach also allayed the fear of some whites that I was too friendly with black workers, a "nigger-lover...
...The foreman was persuaded to let me know before "lunchtime" about overtime for the night or if we would work less than the regular eight hours...
...On another occasion Reuther was kinder to me...
...The ability of an auto corporation to resist walkouts and to confront the union was greater than that of the aircraft corporation and other independent corporations I had either worked for or with whom I had negotiated as a union organizer...
...There was no fear of a back-to-work movement or of strikebreakers...
...Those of us who held no elected office in the union would sometimes take a bolder position, if not a more sectarian one...
...Yet, there were fewer problems with auto foremen than with aircraft foremen...
...In order to be reelected, a steward had to be effective in representing the department and in dealing with rivals...
...Some of us found ourselves in different divisions, which made for different allies...
...With Oscar's help I managed to get back to my first job and survive the three-month probationary period...
...Strikes in New York had always called for large or aggressive picket lines to keep scabs out...
...And some workers developed short cuts or great facility in handling their operations, which allowed them some freedom to relax...
...He had completed his remarks and asked if there were any comments or questions...
...The line disciplined the worker to be back from lunch or from his break on time or to perform his portion of work...
...Notwithstanding the gains achieved, the dissatisfaction of the workers with the high cost of the strike in terms of lost wages was reflected in the defeat of every Chrysler local union administration by opposition slates...
...If the complaint was about a working condition such as a broken drinking fountain, I always made sure the foreman came with me to look at the trouble...
...It was difficult to talk with other workers because of the noise and because each of us had to move in different directions...
...But I said this was also true of the German Social Democrats just before they were destroyed by Hitler...
...The foremen frequently consulted Paine before they made any move that might cause discontent, and workers consulted him when foremen took actions they considered inimical to their interests...
...It depends upon the meaning of "outsiders...
...For example, there was not a single black worker on any of the better paid jobs even though some had the seniority for these jobs...
...The most glaring example of discrimination was exercised in a bar directly across the street from one of the plant entrances where on payday white workers drank beer and cashed their checks...
...Local 7, UAW, has been the certified representative of the Chrysler KerchevalJefferson workers in Detroit since 1937...
...It was a fortunate assignment, because an old friend and socialist colleague, Oscar Paskal, who is now on the staff of the UAW, had been working on the same motor line for over five years...
...We were convinced that local union leaders had to work within a narrow framework and could only wrestle with petty plant problems...
...When Chrysler agreed to the first funded pension in the United States for unionized blue-collar workers, the strike was settled...
...The merged local participated in a sit-down strike in March 1937 that resulted in recognition of the UAW by the Chrysler Corporation...
...As a chief steward, I felt much more helpless in negotiating with management in auto than in aircraft...
...This often leads to a high turnover in this position...
...In my own case, I had to get off the line if I was to have the time to introduce the reforms I hoped to see in my department...
...I answered: "What do you generally do when a worker is insubordinate...
...Many workers were able to develop a degree of autonomy in their jobs...
...We could only influence workers to the extent that we did not express socialist views on war, capitalism, peace, and other questions...
...I also formed an educational committee and held meetings of the department, with white and black informal leaders learning to work together more easily...
...Improving my relations with my constituency also strengthened my ability to bargain with the people in local management who first had been alarmed when I was elected...
...We had played a role in electing several individuals who became presidents of Local 7. Yet, in each case the issues in the local led to splits with each of the individuals involved...
...the major ones could only be settled elsewhere, if at all...
...I was elected chief steward of the night-shift motor line...
...In auto, there was one superforeman and that was the line itself...
...Our major failure was, then, the inability to create a socialist consciousness among activists in the union, a task much beyond our limited forces...
...The stewards, including myself, had taught workers that if they were dissatisfied with a change in a work standard, they must still do 403 the job...
...I can only recall two walkouts in my department in five years...
...But when it came to troublesome issues—such as the increased speed of the line, redistribution of operations among workers on the line, moving workers to different jobs in the department and laying off employees—the foremen would argue that they were helpless, blaming the company for these actions...
...Firm commitment to these values enabled each ISLer to devote more energy and time to union activities than did the average union official...
...But, in the case of stewards, finding 401 proof isn't that hard because the steward operates in an open environment where his constituents can observe him constantly, something they cannot do with higher officials in the union...
...However, I was informed, the other repairman on the job who was white (and from the South) said he would refuse to work with him...
...These occasions would be greeted with cheers and laughter as workers relaxed or grabbed a quick smoke...
...Some became foremen...
...Why, they believed, go to union meetings or participate in the union in other ways...
...but to do both, work on a job and represent workers effectively, was almost impossible...
...Part of the problem in resisting speedup— then as now—is that it will be introduced not on a broad front but gradually, a few jobs at a time...
...As the contract was written, and interpreted by the arbitrator, it was often useless formally to "grieve" about work standards...
...We were insiders to the extent that as part of a socialist network we were far better informed than other workers about events in the shop, the local and the international union...
...The aircraft firm for which I had worked had been an independent corporation, not part of a chain corporation as was Chrysler...
...if the workers refused to do the job, they could be penalized for insubordination...
...In the beginning, without seniority, they were clustered on the night shift...
...We had to be more sensitive to the grievances and gripes of workers so that they would be more willing to pay their dues or promote the union among nonmembers...
...The swift pace of the line didn't permit workers to spend much time chewing the fat in the men's or women's rooms, as the arrangement of work permitted in aircraft...
...They constantly supervised the workers rather than the operation...
...Some of the older workers had jobs off the line where, through banking their work, they could control their pace...
...Many years later, I discussed this caucus meeting with Jack Widick, who had been present...
...Work would sometimes be interrupted when a motor fell into the chain belt that was pulling the line and a foreman had to stop the line...
...Elections for local union officers, delayed by the strike, were then held...
...In the end, workers would conclude that the officers were incompetent or in league with the company 405 and would vote to elect new officers who then were faced with a similar cycle...
...My connection with Local 7 began after its reputation as a militant and democratic local union had clearly emerged and the members of the Reuther group had taken over its administration...
...Members of the ISL, as I have indicated, were active in the various struggles with the company and in the union...
...The black worker got the job...
...Of course, some stewards, including myself, would sometimes go out on a limb and encourage a carefully managed slowdown, making it appear to be the voluntary action of the workers themselves...
...We rarely ever indicated, even to those closest to us in the plant or union, that we were socialists...
...We brought this resolution to the attention of the international union, which quietly persuaded the local leadership to drop it...
...In the absence of an entrenched bureaucracy at the local union level it is not all that hard to defeat a steward when his constituents become dissatisfied with his performance...
...This sit-down strike played a major role in the continuing militancy of the local, for it was to serve as a heroic myth used to justify appeals to strike, walk out, or slow down...
...Yet, union officials, including socialists like myself, had little latitude in dealing with speedups and other problems relating to work standards...
...Among the differences I found at Chrysler was the fact that far more workers violated company rules...
...The steward's office frequently attracted the most capable individual in the department...
...Local 7 played an important role in the struggles within the UAW around the "no-strike pledge" of World War II, "incentive pay," representation for blacks, dues increases, longer terms of office for union leaders, and other such issues...
...Without mincing words he told me what he thought of my opposition to the dues increase...
...The owner capitulated...
...In May 1949, I went to work iin the plant as an assembler on the motor line, and I was a member of Local 7 until December 1953...
...Normally the worker had little direct contact with his or her foreman...
...The company was persistent, first attacking time-honored work standards in one department and then subverting the work standards in another, constantly probing for weak areas of resistance...
...Some members of the ISL in Chrylser 406 and other plants became members of the international union's staff...
...He, in turn, is able to bring pressure on members of the local union executive board, who need the steward's support in order to stay in office or seek higher office...
...Yet I had to prove something before the very workers who had elected me would come to me with their grievances...
...I reported on grievances, occasionally called for a vote on questions affecting the department, answered questions, and scotched false rumors...
...Paine was also a friend of Jack Widick, author of several books, long a socialist, and at that time a chief steward of Local 7. In The UAW and Walter Reuther, written by Jack Widick and Irving Howe, Paine is described as "one of the important men" in the union...
...The Chrysler Kercheval-Jefferson plant was located in an area largely inhabited by Southern whites and was known as a "hillbilly" plant...
...We were able to speed the process of integration by aiding whites to understand the harmful and immoral meaning of segregation, by helping blacks to become leaders, by persuading rank-and-file blacks to become active in the union, and by using political means to pressure local union leaders to recognize the rights of black members...
...Given our political commitment, what did we accomplish...
...It met weekly to discuss department problems as well as topical and social issues...
...When this failed to budge the company, I walked up and down the line with an umbrella pretending to shield the workers from the rain...
...Laid-off black workers always returned...
...The roof was soon repaired...
...This involved fighting for the abolition of discrimination in all departments including skilled trades, requiring equality between male and female workers, reducing the wage gap between skilled and unskilled workers, proposing a mutual agreement between the union and management on the speed of the line, and opting for measures to deepen union democracy...
...Only once did we have a mass picket line in front of the plant, and that was really a morale-building parade led by Walter Reuther...
...There were grievances over poor working conditions, arbitrary foremen, and the like, but relatively few about conditions associated with the assembly line itself...
...Walkouts were unpopular: lost pay made it harder to meet installment payments...
...If it implies that we were alien to the work situation, and that the policies we followed were dictated by outsiders, then, no, we were not at all "outsiders...
...What's the angle...
...While workers always exhibited distrust about the speed of the assembly line, the bulk of the grievances that were filed in my department (which had approximately 800 workers) were about matters not directly related to the line...
...I was supported by Jack Widick and others, and for the first time a black officer was nominated and ultimately elected—Ted Morgan, as recording secretary...
...In practice it meant that the worker worked harder, became adjusted to the extra operation, and grew cynical about the possibility of modifying work standards...
...The steward had to advise, "obey now and grieve later...
...I assured him that the ISL had no position on this question, and we left it at that...
...It is the history of one such local, Local 7, I propose to relate here...
...About 200 to 300 workers attended the weekly department meeting, held at "lunch time" in an open space in our department...
...It became increasingly clear that the motor line in the Kercheval-Jefferson plant would soon be shut down and the rest of the motor-line workers would also be moved to Trenton...
...The chief stewards among us were influenced by the interests and problems of our constituents...
...400 (Besides, of course, one of the pleasures of being chief steward was to get off that damned line...
...Other changes followed...
...The five-year contract had led, I argued, to an increase in the speed of the line so that we were all working harder in the "Big Three" than ten years earlier...
...Most workers, invariably white, left the plant only when they found other jobs while on lay-off...
...They were the first black chief stewards in the Motor Line Department...
...Local union leaders found themselves unable to cope with the company's tactics, although they resisted with all the tricks they could muster...
...There were variations in this method: when a world series game or championship fight was on, I would walk around announcing the results on a sign...
...Shortly after I received the grievances I would bring the foreman over to the grievant and attempt to resolve the complaint promptly...
...In a sense, we were more committed to the rank and file than the ordinary steward, and also more careful about what we did in the plant, because we had to answer to two constituencies: the workers on the job and our colleagues in the ISL who were quick to locate signs of opportunism or adventurism...
...I recall one day when the general foreman called me over and informed me that a black worker who had the necessary seniority had applied for a repair job that paid 10c more an hour...
...If the question suggests that we were sociological outsiders, then it is valid...
...In aircraft I had rarely received a complaint about speedup or the division of work...
...I remember a discussion at a meeting at the Cundiff caucus where the matter first came up...
...The UAW did not then have its present strike fund...
...The grievances or gripes I received were in many respects similar to those I received as chief steward in the aircraft plant I had worked in five years earlier...
...Of all the socialist beliefs I had acquired, the one I felt most urgently was to combat racial discrimination...
...The action, mild as it was, might have led to the disciplining or discharge of a number of workers, but they followed my lead because they had come to believe that I was on the level...
...other workers, I found, developed similar shortcuts...
...The militant traditions of Local 7 undoubtedly permitted the workers to try their own experiments at job redesign as well as individual and group bargaining...
...Workers would be sent home or otherwise disciplined for not meeting the workloads assigned to them...
...The five-year contract coincided with the growth of economic conservatism among auto workers in Detroit...
...Hillbilly leaving town...
...For a long time, Local 7 was led by a coalition of the followers of R. J. Thomas and fellowtravelers of the Communist party and was known as "left-wing," until successfully challenged by a pro-Reuther group led by Joe Hattley, a metal-shop worker...
...Unlike other union officials, a defeated steward returns to his former job where he can function as an effective opposition informed by the sophistication and skill acquired in the office to which he hopes to return...
...For example, a resolution was passed in Local 7, with the support of leading local officials, to deny any office, including that of a steward, to anyone who was a member of an organization on the Attorney General's list...
...My department was located near the employment office, and day in and day out I could see that there were no black women among the new employees led through my department by a management official...
...Hundreds of workers (our local then had 14,000 members...
...It was easy to improve upon the collectivebargaining record of my predecessor because the workers had found him indifferent, if not hostile, to their complaints...
...Although members of the three slates had participated in the Reuther caucus of Local 7, their ambitions, supported by discontented workers, led to strife and to the disintegration of each slate...
...And, indeed, when he responded to my remarks he acknowledged the usefulness of some of my observations...
...I was not bothered again...
...The rest, along with a handful of Chinese and Filipinos, were black...
...I raised my hand and he invited me to speak from the podium...
...Hillbillies" as they were called, were often the butt of jokes and, when lay-offs occurred, someone would always tie a pair of old shoes to the moving line with the printed explanation: "hill-climbing shoes for sale...
...The group demanded that one of the candidates for an officer's job on the Cundiff ticket be a black...
...In my comment I acknowledged that the UAW was bigger than ever, had more buildings, had more money in the treasury, and so forth...
...Occasionally, if the foreman persistently refused to cooperate, we had to exert pressure that might be something as simple as booing him...
...We asked ourselves: in what other international union could we have received this kind of hearing for our views by international union leaders...
...For instance, prior to the five-year agreement, chief stewards collected dues and, in the process, recruited new members and also explained to reluctant dues-payers the advantages of the union...
...To engage their support, he must listen to their complaints 399 and act promptly on their grievances...
...They were told that they had the right to file grievances or demonstrate in practice that they were unable to perform the job or an added operation...
...Our daily experiences in the shop persuaded us that a local union—let alone a chief steward—could no longer cope adequately with the problems created by the assembly line...
...In Local 7, Jack and I found ourselves in a quandary...
...I remember speaking on the five-year contract at the 1953 convention of the UAW urging the delegates to vote against a proposal to extend the term of office of local union officers and stewards from one year to two years—in a sense a by-product of the five-year contract...
...for example, penalties for insubordination, tardiness, absenteeism...
...Not so at Chrysler...
...neither one of them related to the line or work standards...
...Many a day, Jack and I would leave the factory feeling that we had just stepped out of a pressure cooker, and we would stop at a cheap restaurant for a pot of tea—to let off our own steam...
...The foreman asked me what he should do...
...At first I was surprised by the absence of a picket line in front of the plant...
...We were outsiders to the extent that we were more "detached" than other workers in our observations about the plant and the union, for we were guided by a broader view of plant and union and by a fairly sophisticated background...
...I took the floor at the meeting and said, in effect, that it was strange that when we had put a ticket together in the past, we always made sure that the ticket was balanced with an Italian, a Pole, a Southerner, etc., but when it came to blacks we suddenly talked of merit...
...Most rank-and-file members have little contact with higher union officials...
...we usually had one picket at a gate who sat in a chair...
...Paine was a devoted spokesman for the motor-line workers and played an influential role in the local...
...Steward and worker could not effectively oppose speedups or handle serious problems...
...Because of my previous experience as a union organizer, I was able to play a useful role in the strike...
...Still others worked with unofficial quotas and, after completing their workload, could visit a certain men's room where dice and other games of chance were accessible...
...Before that came to pass, however, Local 7, along with other Chrysler locals, called a strike that was to last 103 days, mainly over the issue of a funded pension...
...There was no outcry from the white workers...
...We did not recruit a single Chrysler worker to the ISL...
...The UAW still is known for being in the vanguard among unions, protecting the rights of minorities, devising new bargaining demands, and helping the cause of those that are denied justice...
...By chance, I met Walter Reuther one evening at the convention hotel...
...Each of them interpreted his socialist principles in turns of his own personality and priorities...
...There was no need for coercion...
...The area in which I could develop some latitude was in confronting discrimination against blacks...
...While Chrysler local unions gained the check-off, union shop, and other benefits in the contract, it actually reduced the functions of the steward as well as his ability to bargain collectively...
...There was no "iron horse" to keep the employees in line...
...Occasionally, as I turned a motor, it would tumble off the buck on which it was precariously perched...
...Unlike unionists who were at that time also members of the Socialist Workers party or of the Communist party, the ISL members in the union movement, including those at Chrysler, did not act as a faction, tightly disciplined, expressing a party line...
...A third area of discrimination existed in the bars and grills of Detroit...
...I had to demonstrate my competence and earn their confidence—at department meetings and in using a discreet and responsible militancy...
...Despite some signs of middle-age spread, the United Automobile Workers Union, now over 40 years old, sustains a politically sophisticated response to issues while preserving much of the democratic spirit that distinguished its earlier years...
...These losses kept stripping the local of some of its best talent...
...he spent his day enforcing the collectivebargaining agreement...
...I did so very reluctantly, for working "nights" meant dropping out of "circulation...
...Paine, like other Chrysler chief stewards, had won the right to get off the stressful and fatiguing work on the line...
...We failed mainly in building the ISL itself and in expressing major socialist ideas...
...We thus accomplished representation for Southern whites, who also felt neglected by the union in the department, and renresentation for blacks...
Vol. 25 • September 1978 • No. 4
