Following is issue #28 of "The Barking Dog." The BD is an independent newsletter put out by Caroline Lund, a member of UAW Local 2244 at the NUMMI plant in Fremont, CA. It is dated August 14, 2000.

Union Coordinator Elections

On August 30 there will be an election for all union coordinators, plantwide. If you want to run, you must put your name in at the union hall by this Friday, August 18.

UAW-GM Scandal Breaks Open

Last week a Reuters dispatch reported that the FBI and U.S. Labor Department are investigating alleged corruption on the part of UAW and GM negotiators during the strike that shut down the whole GM system back in July of 1997.

A class action suit has also been filed by workers at GM's truck plant in Pontiac, Michigan, alleging that the strike was prolonged by UAW officials' demands that their sons be hired preferentially and that the officials be given $200,000 in false overtime payments.

Richard Benavides, an activist in the Saturn plant in Tennessee, wrote the following in an email to UAW members around the country:

"The lawsuit charges perhaps the most grievous breach of trust that union leaders can commit against members and an employer -- deliberately prolonging a strike for personal gain.

"The lawsuit claims that a union bargaining team split about $200,000 in phony overtime money from GM as part of the deal to settle a 1997 walkout in Pontiac, and that two UAW officials held out for factory jobs for their sons. Meantime, GM was out 87 days' production of hot-selling pickup trucks and about 6,000 UAW members lost $10,000-$20,000 each in wages. . . .

"From its heroic beginnings in the 1930s, the UAW has earned a sterling reputation among America's industrial unions. With a succession of visionary, progressive leaders who were nationally respected, the union engendered loyalty and largely steered clear of the corruption and scandals that so often give labor a bad name.

"The current leadership has a legacy to uphold. The allegations need to be addressed; the membership has a right to know -- should insist on knowing -- how the union answers these charges of utterly indefensible conduct."

"The Barking Dog" will keep you informed.

Not Too Good To Be True

I'm seeing a chiropractor for an injury I got at NUMMI. My chiropractor told me about an article he had read about a plant in England which really treats its people right. They take care of their employees because they know they are the ones that do the work.

The factory is called the Rover Group Longbridge plant. It has 17,500 workers. Their Medical Department has 2 occupational physicians, 2 general doctors, 3 physiotherapists, one sports therapist, an acupuncturist, 11 full-time nurses, and a part-time x-ray person. Since 50% of injuries are back problems, the plant has "backwatchers classes" which teach workers how to avoid back injuries and how to manage back pain.

As soon as an employee gets injured, he or she gets the medically-necessary help right away. They don't just get a pain pill, some ice, and get sent back to the line to make the injury worse, like what happens here at NUMMI.

My chiropractor has a lot of NUMMI clients. He knows how bad the injury rate is here. He wrote a letter to NUMMI and enclosed a copy of the article on the plant in England, suggesting that NUMMI might want to adopt the same kind of program as at the Longbridge plant, and offering his services to help staff it.

NUMMI replied to him that that would be too costly. And that if there were chiropractors and physical therapists right here in Medical, people would be walking off the line wanting to get treated. Meanwhile, back on the Final 3 car Door Line night shift, out of 30 workers (not counting new hires), 12 have been injured badly enough to have to go on light duty or LOA during the past year. That is 40%. -- Ute Fugate

(The article referred to is: "Back Pain in the Workplace" by N. Ratti and K. Pilling, in The British Journal of Rheumatology, Vol. 36, No. 2)

Interview With "Country"

Robert "Country" Duncan recently left the Administration Caucus and later joined the Peoples Caucus. I spoke with him to learn about the reasons for this evolution.

Country is the Committeeman in District 12. He is 53, married, with 5 children. He worked 14 and a half years at GM and when GM shut down he took a job at a paper mill in Antioch, where he was elected President of his local of the Pulp and Paper Workers union. He's been at NUMMI for almost 8 years.

Country started out on the Truck Body Shop metal finishing line. He decided to get involved in the union when he saw how badly new hires were being treated.

"If the line stopped, you'd better have a broom in your hands right away. If you leaned up against a garbage can or something, it was like you committed some terrible sin. The reality was so different from what we had been told it was supposed to be."

After being elected union coordinator, he ran for Committeeman with the Administration Caucus and won. I asked what disillusioned him with the A.C.

"If you're doing your job representing the people, you've got my respect, whichever caucus you're part of," he said. "But with the Administration Caucus, too much politics comes into play. If a person is not in the Administration Caucus, they do not get the educational possibilities or other possibilities of involvement in the union that an A.C. supporter does.

"I believe once the elections are over a union rep has the responsibility to represent all the members, and help educate all the members, regardless of caucus. Because I did work with everybody, I began to feel the A.C. didn't trust me. I felt like an alien in my own caucus." I asked him what he thought about the problem of the two caucuses getting in the way of the unity of our union, and he said, "I don't have a problem with having caucuses I guess, because I come from GM, where we always had 4 or 5 caucuses, all the way from the Communists, to the Blue Slate, to the Independents.

"I believe every member of our local is a natural resource, and when a group of leaders start to feel like they know what's best for the members, and don't value all our human natural resources and their needs and desires, then you are going toward a dictatorship." I asked why he thought the unions had declined so much in this country. He replied: "Like in any other area of society, you get a power structure built up, and those in power get so concerned about losing their power that they lose sight of the people they represent, and that's when things start to deteriorate and crumble."

What about the role of the UAW International leadership?

"Their role should be to provide education and resources to make a small local like ours stronger. The couple of times I've been to Black Lake some of the leaders really fired me up. But when you come back to our local, all the pump that you got, it doesn't take but a day and you lose it, because the caucuses aren't working together like they teach at Black Lake.

Anything else?

"Yes, I'd like to say that because of the union, I've had the opportunity to fulfill every dream I've ever had. If I had one wish, I would wish the same thing for every other working person."

Attack on "Barking Dog"

Last week a new flyer appeared, signed "Concerned Members," which asks why didn't I attack Leo Garcia, Victor Quesada, and Javier Contreras for supposedly telling Nellie Black not to resign from the union until she finishes her Group Leader classes.

Why should I? First, I have no information that is true. Unlike the "Concerned Members," I am not in any "in crowd" that gets the latest gossip about who said what to who. I work on the line. I don't hang out in Labor Relations or in their smoking park.

Second, I am certainly not going to take the word of the "Concerned Members," who don't even have the decency and integrity to sign their names when they issue a serious attack on individual union members. In fact, the leaflet appeared in team rooms between starting time and 7 o'clock break, so the "Concerned Members" must not have to work; they can sneak around passing out flyers, hoping no one will see their faces.

I do agree with the "Concerned Members" that Nellie should be removed from the union and Executive Board. I raised this at the Executive Board meeting last month. President Tito Sanchez replied that the Board should not do anything yet because he was contacting the International Union to see what the proper procedure was.

None of the Administration Caucus members on the Executive Board have said a word about Nellie going to Management. If the "Concerned Members" want to get Nellie out, they should lobby their fellow Administration Caucus members on the Exec. Bd. They have the majority. They could remove her in a minute and order a new election to replace her.

The unsigned flyer claims the People's Caucus is a "recruiting group" for NUMMI management. Unfortunately people who use the union as a stepping stone into management are not confined to any one caucus. Charlie Curry was the Administration Caucus candidate for President the term before he went to management. Max Salinas, our current Assistant Manager of Labor Relations, was previously an Administration Caucus Bargaining Committeeman.

The Administration Caucus has another way to further your career if you are voted out of elected union office. They can give you an appointed position.

When Tony DeJesus was voted out as Local President, he was appointed International Rep. When George Nano Sr. was voted out as Chairman in l994, he was appointed safety rep. When Ed Valdez and Bob Grange were voted out as Committeemen, they were appointed safety reps.

I say, why aren't all these positions elected instead of appointed? I believe real union leaders must denounce people using the union to get into management. A union position is not "just a job." The union is a cause. A cause that many people have given their lives for. A cause to uplift the working people to get justice on this earth.

Can you imagine a real union leader, like Cesar Chavez, for example, going over to management because they offered him more money or more prestige or an easier life for him and his family? Cesar Chavez did not put himself and his family first. He put the cause of the working people first.

--Caroline Lund

Picnic At Racetracks

My wife and I are also very upset by the decision to have the company picnic at Bay Meadows racetrack. We went to the one at Marine World and had a wonderful time with our daughter and looked forward to something similar this year. I can tell you we won't be attending this event and with the money we save in gas cost from not going we will have a very nice BBQ
--Tommy

From Germany

Dear Caroline,

We carry your newspaper on our web site, LabourNet Germany. Looking through Issue #27 I noticed that Time magazine got it wrong the number of vacation days in Germany is 24 and not 18. Best wishes, Dave

Home	LabourNet Germany: http://www.labournet.de/ Der virtuelle Treffpunkt der Gewerkschafts- und Betriebslinken The virtual meeting place of the left in the unions and in the workplace
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