Imagine that you’ve worked for a company for 30 to 35 years, are finally retired, and you and your wife or husband are enjoying not having to work or raise your children any more.  Your budget for each month is based on your social security and retirement income, and the benefits you accrued while working.  Yes, occasionally there are some extraordinary expenses, but if you juggle a dollar or two here and there, you can rob Peter to pay Paul as my grandmother use to say.

Then one day your mailman comes and gives you a letter from this company you’ve spent your whole life working for, and the letter says you are now responsible for paying all of your own medical premiums, paying for all of your prescriptions, and if you should be unfortunate enough to get sick or need major surgery, you are now responsible for all of your own medical expenses.  Surprise, surprise!  This is a little bit more money than both Peter and Paul have. 

The letter further informs you that this will take place at the beginning of the following month.  One illness and you can be completely wiped out financially.  Can’t happen you say?  Well just ask the retiree’s and active members of UAW Local 19, Light Metals Division. 

This is exactly what happened and why the active employee’s were locked out of their jobs when they refused to accept this treatment of their retiree’s by the management of Light Metals.  The active membership knew this attitude by management was wrong, and they were willing to go on strike if necessary to stop management from implementing this policy.  The membership was willing to continue to negotiate on this and other issues to help the company’s bottom line, but management chose to say, “Take it or leave it”.  When the Union said no, then management locked them out in violation of their own contract.

Can you imagine the public outcry if the shoe had been on the other foot, and the Union went on strike and refused to talk to management?  You have to admire the membership of Local 19, who not only supported their retiree’s, but walked that picket line day-after-day for 24 hours a day.   They never wavered through both Thanksgiving and the Christmas holidays when their own families were suffering and going without because they knew they were in the right and that one day they would be in the retiree’s same shoes.

Union to Union

Many Local’s gave support to the members of Local 19 during this period, because we recognized that when they got done with them, (Local 19) they would be coming for us.  (Remember Electrolux, Wolverine, Federal Mogul?) 

 We realized that it has never been more true that a Union is only as strong as its weakest link.  Although we may have separate Local numbers, we are still one Union.  So we marched with them, prayed with them, collected food and money for them, and did whatever was needed to support them, and believe me, I’ve heard from so many of them how much they appreciated our support every day.  We gave them strength to go one more day every time one of us did something to help them in their fight, because they knew they were not alone.  This started at the top from our Regional Director and his staff, and filtered down through our individual Locals, as well as, our sister members of different International Unions.

Local 730

I am so proud of the members of Local 730 and our retiree’s, because they all bent over backwards to support and show solidarity to our brothers and sisters at Local 19. 

We individually and through our committees provided the support that was needed to help them continue to fight the injustice that was being forced on them.

Our Retirees’ Chapter voted to spend $1000 to help pay some of the medical premiums for some of the Light Metal retiree’s so their medical coverage would not be interrupted.  Our membership passed the hat at our monthly meetings and through the United Way Adopt-A-Family Program, our Christmas party, and Giving Tree efforts our membership collectively and individually stepped forward to let our brothers and sisters at Local 19 know that we supported them as they fought the fight for all of us.

Why We Need To Do This

It’s easy to say we do this because it is the right thing to do, and it is, but to personalize it even more, my answers when asked were:

1.      If they get away with doing it to them, (Local 19), then I would somewhere along the line be next.

2.      If those people don’t have jobs and disposable income, they cannot buy cars, which could then impact my income and employment directly.

We need to keep these two things in mind when judging whether to support companies with our dollars.  All of us here in America enjoy a certain standard of living and health benefits that have been negotiated down through the years by the unions of this country, and we need to pay attention when politicians and/or businesses are trying to take these things away from us.  In some instances, we are either one law or one contract away from having that happen.  Or again, as my old Grandmother used to say:  “There, but for the Grace of God go I.”

Jan, 05