Post by TonyV on Dec 18, 2009 2:56:39 GMT -5
Last Updated: December 17. 2009 12:52PM
King nominated to head UAW; vote is in June
Louis Aguilar / The Detroit News
Dearborn -- A key group of United Auto Workers union officials nominated Bob King on Wednesday to succeed President Ron Gettelfinger next year.
The union's administrative caucus of local, regional and national union leaders made it official -- and unanimous -- at a closed-door meeting in Dearborn.
King, vice president in charge of the UAW's national Ford section, is virtually assured of election at the union's convention in Detroit in June.
He'll be the union's 10th president; Gettelfinger can't run again due to age restrictions.
"There's no question in my mind that he is absolutely the best person to lead this union," Gettelfinger said following the nominating meeting.
King called his nomination "humbling." He declined to discuss his plans for the union, saying he wanted to wait for his ratification.
Gettelfinger said King is "well-versed in our union. He is just a common person who believes in working people."
King's UAW will be a shadow of the union that once dictated terms to Detroit's automakers and claimed 1.5 million members at its peak in 1979.
Its membership has dropped from well over 500,000 to 431,000 in just a year.
"We feel like basically we have bottomed out from the standpoint of autos (membership)," Gettelfinger said.
"Organizing is a tough job, but we are hopeful we are making some progress. We do have some things going on in organizing that we're very hopeful about."
King, 63, has long been seen as Gettelfinger's heir apparent. He joined the union in 1970 after hiring on at Ford's Detroit Parts Depot and became head of the union's section in 2006. As head of the union's national organizing efforts between 2002 and 2006, he was credited with bringing in 66,000 new members.
Not everything has gone King's way. An agreement he negotiated with Ford to match some of the concessions granted to General Motors Co. and Chrysler Group LLC was rejected by union members this year.
On more than one occasion, dissidents booed when King tried to defend the deal at factories from Michigan to Missouri.
King nominated to head UAW; vote is in June
Louis Aguilar / The Detroit News
Dearborn -- A key group of United Auto Workers union officials nominated Bob King on Wednesday to succeed President Ron Gettelfinger next year.
The union's administrative caucus of local, regional and national union leaders made it official -- and unanimous -- at a closed-door meeting in Dearborn.
King, vice president in charge of the UAW's national Ford section, is virtually assured of election at the union's convention in Detroit in June.
He'll be the union's 10th president; Gettelfinger can't run again due to age restrictions.
"There's no question in my mind that he is absolutely the best person to lead this union," Gettelfinger said following the nominating meeting.
King called his nomination "humbling." He declined to discuss his plans for the union, saying he wanted to wait for his ratification.
Gettelfinger said King is "well-versed in our union. He is just a common person who believes in working people."
King's UAW will be a shadow of the union that once dictated terms to Detroit's automakers and claimed 1.5 million members at its peak in 1979.
Its membership has dropped from well over 500,000 to 431,000 in just a year.
"We feel like basically we have bottomed out from the standpoint of autos (membership)," Gettelfinger said.
"Organizing is a tough job, but we are hopeful we are making some progress. We do have some things going on in organizing that we're very hopeful about."
King, 63, has long been seen as Gettelfinger's heir apparent. He joined the union in 1970 after hiring on at Ford's Detroit Parts Depot and became head of the union's section in 2006. As head of the union's national organizing efforts between 2002 and 2006, he was credited with bringing in 66,000 new members.
Not everything has gone King's way. An agreement he negotiated with Ford to match some of the concessions granted to General Motors Co. and Chrysler Group LLC was rejected by union members this year.
On more than one occasion, dissidents booed when King tried to defend the deal at factories from Michigan to Missouri.