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Bargaining for Benefits
Changing times mean changing benefits for UAW workers

By Karen English
From Tomorrow Annual Meeting Issue

Take a walk around any Chrysler facility, and you'll see evidence that the UAW has been hard at work. Big things, like the Product Quality Improvement Partnership (PQI) teams, as well as things we take for granted, like the cleanliness of the facility, can trace their roots back to the UAW.

Before auto plants were organized, a clean, safe working environment wasn't the norm. In fact, the pioneering work that laid the foundations of the automobile industry was dirty, monotonous, exhausting and dangerous. There was no job security, and overtime pay for long hours was scarce. Before the UAW, there was no unemployment pay, no health insurance and no pensions. What's more, if the boss didn't approve of a worker's lifestyle or politics -- or worse, if a worker showed signs of being interested in unions -- the worker could be fired on the spot.

Speeding Up Solidarity

Unionists celebrate victory in the 1936 Flint sitdown strike.

The Great Depression made bad conditions worse, but it also created an environment in which more and more workers were ready to unionize.

In 1936, the tide turned.The United Auto Workers was established as an independent union.

At first, the UAW struggled just to get the automakers to the bargaining table. It was tough going, but the young UAW succeeded in organizing first General Motors, then Chrysler, then Ford.

The next goal was to secure some badly needed benefits. Strike by strike, the union made gains, including a minimum wage, a reduction in assembly-line speed, rules respecting seniority and fair pay for overtime work.

Securing the Future

By the time the United States entered World War II, the UAW had made a place for itself and established its voice in Washington as well as Detroit. Wartime concerns for autoworkers included wage and price controls, overtime pay, and effective grievance procedures during the no-strike agreement that prevailed from the day after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor until the end of the war. Just as pressing was the issue of securing equitable working conditions for the African-Americans and women who picked up the tools left behind by autoworkers who went to war.

Once the war was over, Americans were eager to get their lives back to normal. Autoworkers were no exception, and UAW leaders pushed to secure a standard of living that would allow its members to participate in peacetime prosperity without losing ground to inflation. In 1948, after some tough negotiations with GM, the cost-of-living raise became an established benefit which, in the years since then, has protected the purchasing power of workers' hard-earned dollars.

Health care may be a big issue in this year's presidential election, but it's not a new topic for the UAW. Soon after World War II, the union began bargaining for health care benefits. In 1950, GM agreed to pay for partial coverage for workers and their families, and Ford and Chrysler soon followed. A low-cost dental care plan was negotiated into the 1973 Big Three contracts, and the union has continued to push for expanded health care benefits.

Another postwar benefit milestone was the funded pension. Before the pension benefit became an industry standard, a leisurely retirement was a pipe dream for most autoworkers. Even with Social Security, few could afford to quit working. Instead, autoworkers typically stayed on the job until they physically couldn't make it through a shift. At that point, they were forced to live off their savings or the help of family members.

Rallying support for secure pensions with the slogan "Too Old to Work, Too Young to Die," union leaders first won company-financed pensions in 1949. By 1970, they were an accepted part of contract agreements.

A related hurdle for the UAW was making workers eligible for full retirement benefits after completing a specified number of years on the job, rather than after reaching a particular age. Leading the campaign with the catchphrase "30 and Out," the UAW first secured that benefit in a pace-setting 1970 agreement with GM. Strengthening pension and retirement benefits is still a priority for union leaders.

A Better Tomorrow

Expanding union benefits continue to make a difference to workers. Unions deliver, according to a report for the McCormack Institute of Public Affairs of the University of Massachusetts, Boston. Statistically, in comparing incomes of union and nonunion workers, the dollar value of union membership has increased since 1973. While the median income of nonunion workers who haven't attended college has dropped, the median income of union workers has gone up.

And, the study points out, indications are that unions will continue to secure the wages and benefits members will need in the future. As the demand for trained workers increases, union members will be in the best position to participate in lifelong learning.

UAW-Chrysler workers are perfect examples of union members who are making a place for themselves in tomorrow's auto industry because they have access to sophisticated training. And tomorrow's UAW will be securing that place, and the benefits that should go along with it.