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Citation: Time Dec 7 1998, 157(1)
Author: Bluestone, Irving
Title: Working-Class Hero - WALTER REUTHER.(union leader) by
Irving Bluestone
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COPYRIGHT 1998 Time Inc. All rights reserved.
He built the benefits package that workers now take for granted, from health
care to pensions. But his agenda was bigger than unionism
Men with queasy stomachs had no place one afternoon last week on the
overpass at the No. 4 gate of Henry Ford's great River Rouge plant." So began
TIME's account of the Battle of the Overpass, the confrontation that made May
26, 1937, a red-letter day in labor history and brought to national attention
a young United Auto Workers official named Walter P. Reuther.
That morning Reuther and his colleagues suspected the day's events could
escalate into something historic as they prepared to hand out organizing
leaflets (slogan: "Unionism, Not Fordism") to the plant's workers. Reuther had
put on his Sunday suit, complete with vest, gold watch and chain. He had
invited newspapermen, priests and local officials to be witnesses.
When Reuther and three other officials arrived at the gate, Ford company
police charged at them and delivered a brutal, prolonged beating. Pictures of
the battered victims were published across the U.S., a huge p.r. victory that
would slowly but surely lead, several years later, to U.A.W. organization at
the plant.
The pictures, ironically, capture the wrong image of Walter Reuther. While
he arrived on the national scene as a scuffler with blood on his face, he
would evolve into one of labor's most dynamic and innovative leaders, as well
as a humanitarian whose impact ranged well beyond his field. His achievements
were guided by his oft expressed philosophy of human endeavor: "There is no
greater calling than to serve your fellow men. There is no greater
contribution than to help the weak. There is no greater satisfaction than to
have done it well." Reuther believed it wholeheartedly and, as they say,
walked the talk.
He was nurtured to a devoted commitment to unionism. His father, a
brewery-wagon driver and union leader in Wheeling, W.Va., had the family
regularly discuss the role of unions, as well as social and economic issues.
Like thousands of others who lived in poor regions such as West Virginia,
Walter and two of his brothers, Roy and Victor, migrated to the Detroit area
to find jobs in the auto industry. Not surprisingly, they became actively
involved in the budding United Automobile, Aircraft and Agricultural Implement
Workers Union.
Reuther was 29 in 1936, when he became president of Local 174. It was a
tumultuous period in labor history, when the U.A.W. literally fought for
survival. Reuther became one of the union's generals, directing a series of
sit-down strikes and other guerrilla tactics to try to organize auto plants.
He soon gained national prominence and even entry into President Roosevelt's
White House. He and his wife May also became great friends of Eleanor
Roosevelt's. It's not difficult to see why he was welcome. In 1940, a year
before Pearl Harbor, he proposed converting available capacity in auto plants
to military production. Echoing F.D.R.'s "Arsenal of Democracy" stance, he
urged that the industry turn out "500 planes a day." His plan was harshly
criticized by the corporations, which were unwilling to give up any part of
their profitable business. When the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, the rapid
conversion to military production validated Reuther's vision.
At the 1946 U.A.W. convention, Reuther emerged as president in a closely
fought race, on a platform against Soviet communist "outside interference" and
for a new, more socially conscious approach to collective bargaining. He
pledged to work for "a labor movement whose philosophy demands that it fight
for the welfare of the public at large...We won the war. The task now is to
win the peace." Two years later, a would-be assassin, for reasons still
unknown, fired shots through Reuther's kitchen window, shattering his right
arm.
During the postwar boom, Reuther campaigned for wage increases, winning a
major victory in a 1948 settlement with General Motors that established the
concept of an annual wage increase (annual improvement factor) tied to a
quarterly cost of living allowance. The AIF-COLA formula has, over the years,
been a pillar of progress in enhancing workers' living standards and ensuring
protection of the purchasing power of the earned dollar against the impact of
inflation.
After his breakthroughs on wages, Reuther pressed for improved benefits. He
had a penchant for slogans, and they often became rallying cries for the
union's programs. "Too Old to Work--Too Young to Die" was one, used to
negotiate pension plans. "Thirty and Out" was aimed at a contract clause
permitting retirement after 30 years of service, regardless of age. "We Live
by the Year--We Should Be Paid by the Year" was behind the demand for a
guaranteed annual wage. The ultimate bargaining victory was the Supplementary
Unemployment Benefit, which now mandates a 95% replacement of wages in the
event of layoffs.
Reuther kept pressing for new and better benefits, and over time, the union
won the things that employees today take for granted. Year by year, workers
gained, among others, comprehensive health-care programs, tuition-refund
programs, life insurance, profit sharing, severance pay, prepaid legal-service
plans, bereavement pay, jury-duty pay--plus improvements in vacations,
holidays and rest time. The negotiation of decent working, health and safety
conditions, coupled with a sound grievance procedure, added immeasurably to
the personal sense of dignity and self-respect of the worker.
Reuther's activism couldn't be contained by the collective-bargaining arena.
One of many social problems that spurred him to action was the despoiling of
the Great Lakes, particularly Lake Erie, a dying body of water that has been
substantially revived by the cleanup effort he supported. At home, he helped
mobilize volunteers to restore Paint Creek, a stream running through his
community. He became actively involved in developing low-cost housing units in
Detroit's inner city, including the Martin Luther King Jr. complex in downtown
Detroit.
Long before medical costs became a national issue, Reuther was advocating
universal health care. He organized the Committee of One Hundred to put the
issue on the national agenda and set the stage for congressional action. At
the same time, he helped establish one of the early HMOs, an association that
eventually became the Health Alliance Plan, a major health-care provider in
the metropolitan Detroit area. Whether testifying before Congress or
elsewhere, Reuther threw his weight behind the public issues of the day. He
called for a Citizens Crusade Against Poverty, federal aid to housing and
education, the peaceful use of atomic energy and a national minimum wage.
Trade unions have a mixed record in civil rights--but not Reuther, who from
early on was an ardent advocate. He organized the Citizens Committee for Equal
Opportunity and worked closely with Martin Luther King Jr. Reuther was one of
the few non-African Americans invited to speak at the March on Washington in
1963. A favorite anecdote concerned his introduction to the crowd. Standing
close to the podium were two elderly women. As he was introduced, one of the
women was overheard asking her friend, "Who is Walter Reuther?" The response:
"Walter Reuther? He's the white Martin Luther King."
In 1955, as president of the Congress of Industrial Organizations, Reuther
negotiated a historic merger with the American Federation of Labor, headed by
George Meany. Reuther then headed up the AFL-CIO's Industrial Union
Department, but 13 years later, sharp differences over policy and programs led
to the U.A.W.'s withdrawal from the organization--it would stay out until
reaffiliating in 1981.
For Reuther, unionism was not confined simply to improving life at the
workplace. He viewed the role of the union as a social movement aimed at
uplifting the community within the guarantees of democratic values. After his
untimely death, with May, in a plane crash in 1970, waves of downsizing
devastated cities and created problems for labor that still exist today. You
can just imagine him wading into the fight against wanton job destruction,
done for the sake of propping up corporate balance sheets.
One of his favorite slogans was "Progress with the Community--Not at the
Expense of the Community." What is unmistakably clear is that Reuther, in his
lifetime, fulfilled his own philosophy of human endeavor.
Irving Bluestone, retired U.A.W. vice president, is professor of labor
studies at Wayne State University
[BOX]
BORN Sept. 1, 1907, in Wheeling, W.Va. 1936 Leads first major auto strike in
Detroit 1941-45 Acts as informal government adviser during World War II 1946
Elected president of United Auto Workers 1948-55 Secures key benefits,
including pensions and health care 1955 Helps engineer merger of AFL and CIO
1970 Killed May 9 in plane crash in Pellston, Mich.
"There is no greater calling than to serve your fellow men...no greater
contribution than to help the weak." WALTER REUTHER, as president of the
U.A.W.
"Reuther was an amazing man. A great social innovator. And arguably the
greatest labor leader." DOUGLAS FRASER, president of the United Auto Workers,
1977-82
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