State of the Unions

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Don’t mention the word strike around Bob King these days. This is the era of a kinder, gentler United Auto Workers union, the labor chief insists, one that is intent on using “creative problem-solving” rather than the more traditional strong-arm tactics to get what it wants during bargaining talks with Detroit’s Big Three automakers this summer.

Of course, it doesn’t help that the UAW is legally barred from using its heaviest weapon — historically disruptive strikes — against two of those three manufacturers, due to strictures placed in the bailout bills that helped General Motors and Chrysler emerge from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection two years ago.

Even without those restrictions, though, protracted unrest isn’t part of the new strategy, insists King, the 64-year-old labor veteran elected UAW president last year. The union, he suggests, has come to recognize that its future is indelibly linked to that of the automakers it represents. Should the Big Three fail, as nearly happened in 2009, workers would see their own livelihoods go “up in smoke,” King warns.

But there’s another issue that is clearly weighing on the collective mind of union leaders as they prepare for their latest round of auto contract talks — the swirl of labor givebacks nationally that are being pushed by newly-elected officials from the Republican Party and the Tea Party movement. American voters — at least a majority of them, as evidenced by last year’s midterm elections — have grown weary of watching government workers enjoy rich benefit packages that have become a scarce commodity in the private sector.

The sea change that’s under way within government has helped create a sense of caution among UAW leaders. Where before unions used membership dues to contribute financially to political campaigns — and demanded unwavering support in return — the tide has clearly changed.

The Big Three, for example, now represent a minority of the overall U.S. automotive market, and when one adds in the impact of productivity gains and other changes, the trend is clear. UAW membership has declined by three-quarters since its peak three decades ago.

The union’s future relevance may hinge not just on keeping GM, Ford, and Chrysler competitive, but on finally finding a way to organize key competitors — the score of foreign-owned, nonunion “transplant” assembly lines that have sprung up in right-to-work states such as Tennessee and Alabama. To win over reluctant workers, the UAW has come to realize that it must adopt a pro-business approach rather than sounding the traditional hymns of labor/management confrontation and worker solidarity.

To the Ramparts

Changing the tone of the conversation won’t be easy, as King himself is all too aware. Ironically, he carries both sides of the debate in his blood. His father was director of industrial relations at Ford. And although the younger King graduated from the University of Michigan, he was drawn to blue-collar life. At various times, he has worked the line with all three Detroit automakers. He got into labor politics in 1981 and, three years later, became president of the huge UAW Local 600, which represents workers at the immense Ford Rouge complex in Dearborn.

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