THE GREAT SLATE STATE GOES BLUE!
Fall 2022
President's Report Al Byrd Jr.
Happy New Year Brothers and Sisters! We have a lot of great things to look forward to in 2023. Local 163 is honored to have Brother Terence Jones, Chairman of GM Romulus Engine on the lead bargaining team. Brother Jones will represent our membership well. He will be on the bargaining team for GM, which includes his plant. The UAW’s Special Bargaining Convention begins in March, to clarify the structure and demands of members’ requests and to give them what they deserve for the upcoming bargaining. All UAW Locals will send elected delegates to Huntington Place in downtown Detroit to make sure our members are represented. I extend a huge THANK YOU to our Standing Committees for their hard work in 2022. Our Committees created many great events that brought our members together. 2023 will bring more of the same as we have a number of events planned. To make this happen, all of our Committees need more dedicated volunteers to continue the growth of our great Local in Solidarity. If you are interested, please call Local 163. Last year the UAW held our first election, via secret ballot sent to our homes for the International Executive Board (IEB). Only ten percent of our membership voted for the newly elected IEB members. We need every member to vote so that we can have a better reflection of what our members require. The IEB consists of the international president, three vice presidents, secretary-treasurer and the nine regional directors. This election brought significant changes to our Union, wherein new executive board members with limited experience will be leading our membership, which creates concern as we move forward. However, the new elections did not produce a decisive winner for the positions of president or the position for the final vice president. With the Big Three bargaining in our immediate future, we need experienced bargainers to represent our members. I believe the Curry Solidarity Team will continue to move our membership forward with a high level of experience. The candidates that will appear on the ballot for our local to give us the best results are Ray Curry for President and Chuck Browning for Vice President. Curry and Browning have extensive experience in representing our membership. Contained herein is an article written by Glynes Martin, Local 600 Chairperson of Detroit Manufacturing System, explaining why we should support the Curry Solidarity Team. February 2-5, 2023, I will be teaching contract language and bargaining at U of M’s Black Men in Union (BMIU) Conference in Troy, Michigan. There is still time to sign up for the conference at clcs.umd.umich.edu. I will also be instructing on collective bargaining immersion at Wayne State’s WISE Conference, April 20-22, 2023, at the Hollywood Casino Hotel in Greektown, Michigan. For more information you can see the brochure here: https://labor.wayne.edu/wise_april_ 2023/wise_april_2023final.pdf and to register, visit: https://forms.wayne.edu/lsc- workshops/. 2023 will also bring our Local election for all elected members. The election will be held in May. Please look for more information on the date to sign up and the actual election dates as we work out the details.
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President's Report - pg. 2 Committee Reports - pg. 4 Black History Month - pg. 8 Labor History - pg. 12 In Memorium - pg. 19 Assemble Your Health - pg. 20 Politically Speaking - pg. 21 Labor Daze - pg. 24
Al Byrd Jr. UAW Local 163 President Gary Dotson UAW Local 163 Vice-President
UNION TIMES NEWSLETTER STAFF: Rashida Davis Ray Herrick Andrew Lewis Ryan Martin Angel Collins
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UAW Local 163 Financial Secretary Denise Wood
. Hello My Brothers & Sisters, Happy New Year to all. I pray for a healthy and prosperous year for us all. I would like to thank all of the retirees who joined us for the Christmas party. Always a great time. So good to see some of our old friends and talk about old times. Hope to see you again in December 2023. It looks like it's going to be a busy year for Local 163. GM Contract Negotiations will be happening in the fall. Local 163 will be holding elections for local elected officials in May. Not to mention the many plans our Standing Committees have for this year, like holding our annual Picnic, Car shows, Craft sales, maybe even a Garage sale, and many other events to come. The Committees are working hard to make these plans possible. Standing Committees are planning on having an Open House March 5th. Come by the Union Hall and talk with them and consider signing up. Standing Committees are the Building Blocks of a Strong Union. Women's Committee, Recreation Committee, Election Committee, Chaplaincy Committee, Veterans Committee, Women's Committee, are some of our hard working Committees. I would also like to extend an invite for members and line leaders to write a few paragraphs for the newsletter and tell us some of the positive things going on in your area. And yes, I want to stay positive as we are trying our best to get members involved. Articles must use appropriate language and be respectful. The Union Times staff will publish as many of your articles as space will allow. And again, please, let's stay positive to get morale up within our Local 163, and lets keep our newsletter number #1. I have said this time and time again "We are Local 163. We are all one big family, no matter what plant or facility you work at. UAW LOCAL 163 Stands together!" Happy New Year!
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Happy New Year to everyone, I'm wishing everyone a happy and healthy 2023! Here is the financial report for month ending November 2022. The end of the year report won't be out for another week. We ended up gaining money this year after having some large expenditures so we are in great shape! I had previously touched on the general election and repairs on the roof as expenses coming up. I also want to mention the Special Convention at the end of March, and repairs to the outside entrance way, and additional things that we will need to pay for this year. Looking into the forecast, we are still hiring and look to have a prosperous year. We are doing good things, so stay tuned! Keep your eyes on the Union boards or social media to see the great things we have in store for this year. Our Committees are working hard to provide many fun filled activities here at the Union Hall.
Vice-President's Report Gary Dotson UAW Local 163 Vice President
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Retiree Chapter Report Roy Gonzales
I would like to start by saying Happy New Year Brothers and Sisters. We closed out last year with our annual Christmas party, which was enjoyed by all. As a reminder, or notice to new retirees, we have our local retiree meeting/luncheon the third Friday of every month. Our hall is located at 450 S. Merriman Road. Meetings start at 10:30AM. After the meeting is adjourned, we have a catered lunch provided for free. All Local 163 retirees are invited to come! Here in Michigan, great things are about to happen with the Democrats in control. Michigan Dems have already introduced legislation to repeal the pension tax, end right to work, and reinstate prevailing wage. All good things for our great state! Meanwhile, those anti-retiree republicans have retaken the lower body of the U.S. Congress. These dastardly fiends will hopefully be thwarted by the Democratically-controlled Senate, less they be able to advance their goals of slashing Social Security for retirees and gutting pay and benefits from those that are still working. Lastly this year, let’s not only keep our own soldiers in mind, but also the soldiers in Ukraine. Until that murderous tyrant Putin calls an end to his unjust war, the People of Ukraine will continue to live in war-torn conditions, fighting everyday to keep hold of their homes and country where they live. Take care, be well!
Counseling Myths and Reality By: Larry Dietz
Greetings Brothers and Sisters of Local 163, I hope you all enjoyed your holidays with your family and friends. Now that we start a new year, I would like to bring up the subject of taking an active part in your well being and your Mental Health. I would like to address the myths and realities of Counseling. Life is full of challenges, including pressures at work, financial worries, family problems and personal issues. Even with support from family and friends, sometimes it can be very helpful to talk to an independent professional counselor, who can help you navigate through your dilemma, or your uncertainties in an empathetic and confidential setting. Here are some of the common myths surrounding counseling. Myth: Counseling is only for people with serious mental health issues. Reality: Not true. Many people seek counseling when they come to a point in their lives when nothing seems to be seriously wrong, but don’t know which way to turn next. Some people seek counseling when simply struggling with a specific situation or problem in their lives. Others use it as a means of personal or professional growth. Myth: Only weak people who can’t cope with life seek counseling. Reality: Just the opposite is actually true. Sometimes life can throw you a curveball that you find difficult to manage on your own. It takes inner strength to acknowledge that there is something that you could benefit from by addressing this in counseling. It takes self-awareness to recognize this, and courage to be willing to proactively deal with the challenges you are facing. Myth: Counseling is only for serious problems. Reality: Yes counseling can help people facing serious issues, most people who access counseling do so for assistance with everyday issues such as stress, anxiety or work- life balance. You don’t have to wait until things spiral out of control before seeking help. Counseling can help nip things in the bud before things become too serious. Myth: Everyone at work will know I’m seeing a counselor. Reality: The only person who will know you are seeing a counselor is you. No one at your workplace will ever know that you have accessed a counselor because they are bound by a code of ethics and work within their confidentiality guidelines, which is strictly adhered to. This will be explained to you fully when you contact the service provider and prior to you starting any counseling. Myth: A counselor will fix my problems for me. Reality: A counselor will work with you to help you work through the challenges you face, but their role isn’t to fix things or do it for you. The counselor will listen, guide, support and ensure you stay focused. They can help you identify and draw on your own resources, as well as learn new ones. Ultimately this can enable you to make the right choices and decisions in a safe and supportive environment. The counseling process can help you feel more empowered and in control of your life by talking through situations, feelings or concerns that might be keeping you feeling stuck, helpless, angry or frustrated. Myth: I’ve tried counseling before, and doesn’t work. Reality: There are a number of reasons that may led you to believe this, but as long as you are open to the counseling process you can have a different and more positive experience this time around. On occasions the fit between a person and a counselor might not be right, and that is one of the reasons why when you contact a counselor, a full assessment of your needs will be completed from the very start. I hope this will help clear up any uncertainties that you may have on counseling, so when the time may arise for you to take an active part in your Mental Health and your well being, you will do so enthusiastically. Remember folks you don’t have to go it alone.
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Words for Thought Chaplaincy By: Shirley Davenport
Words for Thought: Job 1:18a; says The Lord said to Satan,”have you considered my servant Job?" Have you ever been in a place in your life where every time you make three steps forward something or someone comes and causes you to make four steps backwards? Have you ever been in a place where everything is going great and then all of a sudden it seems like the floodgates of hell has been opened on you for no reason? You’re doing things right to the best of your ability, you help when you can, you give when you can, you are doing the best you can. Maybe you are feeling great about it. Your family is good, your job is good, everything is good until…..it’s not. This reminds me of some circumstances in Job’s life. Everything was going good until one day his life began to be turned upside down and inside out, and he didn’t know why. In the midst of all the tragedy, he chose to stay faithful to his belief and to his God. What he didn’t know was that God, in my opinion, had bragged on him to Satan. (Can God brag on us?) He gave Satan permission to shoot his best shot at Job, and he did. God knew Job better than Job knew himself. Job’s family was taken away, his livelihood, then his good friends didn’t make things any better by their words. Man, this happened to you? You had to have done something wrong, God doesn’t do stuff like this to his servant! They didn’t understand. Have you ever been in a trial that no one, not even yourself, really understood. Did it ever occur to you that the test was going to strengthen, not destroy you? Could it be that God was bragging on you? ( I guess you may say “ God, Please Don’t Brag On Me!!!") We must try to realize that with God, no pain or tears are wasted. We don’t always understand the ways of God, but we can always trust him and know that he will never put more on us than we can bare. P.S. We are God’s most prized possession.
"Jesus set up free healthcare clinics evervwhere he went. He healed everybody and never charged a leper a co-pay. There is no religious left and religious right. There is only a moral center. The scripture is very clear about where you have to be, to be in the moral center - you have to be on the side of the poor, the working, the sick, the immigrant." -Reverend William Barber
Hello Brothers and Sisters, Looking back on the year 2022, I was able to reflect on the many things we were able to accomplish, as we opened a bit more since the start of the pandemic. It was a very prosperous year for our Local and our Committees. We had several events this past year. The Women’s Committee had decided to do something a little different with the children this year at Christmas. We decided to have “Breakfast with Santa.” We cooked up and served pancakes with sausage and hot cocoa. The children had games, crafts, gifts, and photos with Santa, which turned out to be a big success! I just want to take time to thank all of our volunteers from the Women’s Committee, Community Service and Recreation Committees for all of their help and support. A Very Special thanks to Dale Dupuis, 3rd shift Committeeman at GM Romulus, for playing Santa, and Terrance Jones, GM Shop Committee Chairman, for being our photographer. Everyone made it a memorable experience for the families and the children. As the New Year has arrived, I look forward to many more upcoming events. (Pictures on Page 12)
Women's Committee Report Beth Morrow
AMELIA BOYTON ROBINSON(1899-1970) Amelia Isadora Platts Boynton Robinson was an American civil rights activist who played a key role in the efforts that led to the passage of the 1965 Voting Rights Acts, and was also the first African American woman to run for Congress. The famous photo taken of the moment that she lay sprawled unconscious in the road, beaten and gassed by Alabama state troopers, helped galvonize the civil rights movement. It was taken during the “Bloody Sunday'' march at the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama, on March 7, 1965. “I wasn’t looking for notoriety,” Robinson later said. “But if that’s what it took, I didn’t care how many licks I got. It just made me even more determined to fight for our cause.” In March 2015, she held President Obama's hand as they crossed the Selma bridge to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Bloody Sunday. Robinson died five months later at the age of 104.
Every year, we hear some of the same names and stories about those famously known pioneers of Black History, however there are many trailblazers and glass ceiling breakers that rarely get mentioned. Here are just 6 of those history makers below.
ALBERT MURRAY(1916-2013) Albert L. Murray was an American literary and music critic, novelist, essayist, and biographer. He greatly influenced the national discussion about race by challenging black separatism, insisting that integration was necessary, inescapable, and the only path forward for the country. He also believed that the black experience was essential to American culture. Mr. Murray was one of the most important Black thinkers of the 20th century.
BAYARD RUSTIN(1912-1987) Bayard Rustin was an African American leader in social movements for civil rights, socialism, nonviolence, and gay rights. He served more than two years in federal prison for refusing to fight in World War II because of his pacifist Quaker beliefs. It was Rustin’s connection with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. that became perhaps the high-water mark of his life. He helped Dr. King found the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and he also was one of the main organizers of the March on Washington of August 1963, which brought together more than 200,000 protestors.
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FRITZ POLLARD (1894-1986) Frederick Douglass "Fritz" Pollard was an American football player and coach. In 1921, he became the first African-American head coach in the National Football League, formerly known as the American Professional Football Association. Along with Bobby Marshall, he was also one of the first two Black players in the league. Fans taunted him with racial slurs, and the opposing team would try to maim him. But Pollard, a swift and elusive runner, often had the last laugh. “I didn’t get mad at them and want to fight them,” he once said. “I would just look at them and grin, and in the next minute run for an 80-yard touchdown.” He was inducted into the Pro football Hall of Fame in 2005.
JANE BOLIN (1908-2007) Jane Matilda Bolin was an American Attorney and Judge. She made history over and over again. She was the first black woman to graduate from Yale Law School, the first to join the New York City Bar Association and the first to join the New York City Law Department. In 1939, New York Mayor Fiorello La Guardia, appointed her a family court Judge. As the first Black female Judge in the country, she made national headlines. Bolin was an activist for children's rights and education. She was a legal advisor to the National Counsil of Negro Women. She served on the boards of the NAACP, the National Urban League, the City-Wide Citizens' Committee of Harlem, and the Child Welfare League. Bolin also sought to combat racial discrimination from religious groups by helping to open a special school for black boys in New York City. She served on the bench for 40 years, before her death at age 98.
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EUNICE HUNTON CARTER (1899-1970) Eunice Roberta Hunton Carter was an American Lawyer. In 1932, she became the first Black woman to graduate from Fordham Law School at a time when few Lawyers were Black or women, let alone Black women. She became the first Black woman to become New York's Assistant District Attorney. During this time, although the credit went to then young prosecutor Thomas Dewey, who would later run for President, it was Mrs. Carter's excellent and painstaking investigative work that led to the downfall and conviction of notorious mob boss Charles “Lucky” Luciano. It was at that time, the largest prosecution of organzied crime in US history.
DR. KING AND WALTER REUTHER: A COLLABORATION FOR THE AGES By: Ray Herrick On June 23rd, 1963, Civil Rights leaders had organized a large protest march in Detroit, that came to be known as the “Great Walk to Freedom”, which attracted over 125,000 marchers. Later that evening, a packed house at Detroit’s Cobo Hall heard a fiery address from the keynote speaker for the event, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Beyond the noteworthiness of the event itself, history remembers this as the first time Dr. King delivered a rendition of his famous “I Have a Dream” speech, and that this draft of those prophetic words were crafted by Dr. King at the UAW Headquarters, Solidarity House, in Detroit. An early proponent of Dr. King’s efforts, and the entire Civil Rights movement, was then-UAW President, Walter Reuther. In that vein, Reuther had proffered an office at Solidarity House for Dr. King, earlier in 1963, for himself, and his staff, as they crisscrossed the country spreading their message. Dr. King and Reuther’s relationship far pre-dates the offer of office space in 1963, as they had long been acquainted, and fighters for many of the same causes for the American working class. Reuther was a long-time member of the Board of Directors for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), and the Congress for Racial Equality (CORE) as early as 1955. He and Dr. King led the organizing drive for the Prayer Pilgrimage for Freedom, held in Washington, DC in May of 1957. Thousands of protesters, and members from many UAW Locals urged to attend by Reuther, howled their displeasure with the U.S. Government’s slow-rolling the implementation of the historic “Brown v. Board of Education” decision nearly three years earlier. This decision would ultimately lead to the end of racial segregation in all of our nation’s public schools, and this event, with Dr. King’s famous “Give Us the Ballot” oration as the keynote speech, was instrumental in pushing the pace of this famous decision’s implementation. After Reuther delivered the keynote address at the inaugural Negro American Labor Council Convention in 1960, replacing Dr. King at the last minute due to King’s ongoing tax issues preventing him from making the trip to Washington. The NALC, founded by Civil Rights icon A. Phillip Randolph, was the main group that organized the “March on Washington” in 1963, before merging with Coalition of Black Trade Unionists several years later. Dr. King returned the favor by delivering a fiery speech on the UAW’s 25th Anniversary, in April of 1961, where he accurately prophesized automation causing a huge problem for the working class in the coming generations, when he said, “New economic patterning through automation is dissolving the jobs of workers in some of the nation’s basic industries. This is to me a catastrophe. We are neither technologically advanced nor socially enlightened if we witness this disaster for tens of thousands without finding a solution.” A month after delivering this speech, Dr. King sent Reuther a letter, where he said about the Labor titan, “More than anyone else in America, you stand out as the shining symbol of democratic trade unionism.” As the energy of the Civil Rights movement exploded in the turbulent 1960’s in America, the 1963 “March of Washington for Jobs and Freedom” has been seen by historians as the denouement of the Movement. Following this event, a direct line has been drawn to the passing of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, and the 1965 Voting Rights Act, both of which would never have reached the desk of President Lyndon Johnson, if not for the persistence of both Dr. King and Walter Reuther. Time has faded the memory of many, but Walter Reuther’s address that day about the place of Organized Labor in the fight for the equality in jobs, pay, and housing for all men and women should be sacrosanct in America was eclipsed in its penetrating look into the soul of our nation, only by Dr. King’s memorable oration that will forever be known as the “I HAVE A DREAM” speech. The years that followed saw Reuther march with Dr. King in Birmingham, Alabama in 1963, in protest of the anti-segregationist horrors unleashed by Sheriff “Bull” Connor and his sycophants. Dr. King wrote his famous missive “Letter from Birmingham Jail” after his arrest for violating their anti-protest statute in this action. Reuther also marched, arm-in-arm with Dr. King, from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama in 1965, to secure voting rights for African-Americans throughout the southern U.S. states, in the face of violent opposition of white politicians in Alabama, and in other southern states. These two great Americans, and “Mt. Rushmore” figures for the American Labor Movement, continue their friendship and collaborations, until the assassination of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King in Memphis, TN, on April 4th, 1968. Walther Reuther died under suspicious circumstances just over two years later, in a plane crash near Black Lake, MI on May 9th, 1970. Reuther and Dr. King’s impact on the future for our working class, and on each other families, could be heard in the words of Dr. King’s widow, Mrs. Coretta Scott King, in her eulogy at Walter Reuther’s funeral. Mrs. King said, “Walter Reuther was to black people the most widely known and respected white labor leader in the nation. He was there when the storm clouds were thick. We remember him in Montgomery. He was in Birmingham. He marched with us in Selma, and in Jackson, Mississippi, and Washington, DC…He had the courage to be with the minority when it was right.” It is difficult to imagine a world without the contributions of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, and where the Labor Movement would be without Walter Reuther. Americans of all walks of life have benefitted for generations, and will benefit long into the future, from their friendship, and the great cultural and political changes their friendship have brought to our great nation.
“New economic patterning through automation is dissolving the jobs of workers in some of the nation’s basic industries. This is to me a catastrophe. We are neither technologically advanced nor socially enlightened if we witness this disaster for tens of thousands without finding a solution.” -Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
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Black History in Labor: "A Lesson To Learn" By: Angel Collins Labor history is Black history! Hey Brothers and Sisters! How much Union history have you taught your children since our last encounter? How about Black history? With it being Black History Month I’ve decided to pose the question… “Did you know?” Did you know that Black history is also Labor history? The labor movement has been a long-time ally of the civil rights movement; however, it wasn’t always that way. How about a recap? Men and women of color were kept out of higher paying jobs and often placed in unsafe and unsanitary conditions. In 1900 the average salary of an African American laborer was about a $1. a day, reaching a max of $6 per day for highly skilled tradesmen with significant time on the job. The best job in labor to have at the time, if not management, was a sawyer. The pay rate was from $4.50 to $6.00 per day depending upon skill. Unfortunately, higher paid jobs were highly sought after, and it wasn’t long before white workers begin fighting for the positions and barring black people from obtaining them. In 1899, a stave mill in Alabama, ran by white men, refused to hire black workers. They felt it wasn’t right to hire black people when there were still white people available to work. When another manufacturer attempted to open a stave mill in competition, and hire black laborers to run it, the farmers refused to sell them lumber. Stave mills produce the narrow strips of wood that compose the sides of barrels which were vital for the transportation of goods. Men in the town decided to boycott the manufacturer. Unable to purchase supplies to run his mill, he was forced to sell to someone who only employed whites. This pushed people of color into the iron mines. Harder and much more dangerous work, it wasn’t sought after by white laborers, so people of color were able monopolize the labor in the iron mines, and there you would often find black chief laborers. Coal mines were a bit different. Mines with mixed metal and coal were mined by both blacks and whites. Black laborers were assigned to the most arduous work, such as digging all the iron, working with the furnaces, and hauling heavy metals and limestone, and white laborers were assigned to much lighter work like shoveling coals. To paint a clear picture, the average cost of rent in 1900 in Michigan was about $80. per month for a family, and about $15. to $18 for an individual renting a room. You could purchase a new lower end, topless Ford with a 12 HP, 2 cycle motor with 3 speeds and reverse for about $650. One of the most expensive vehicles, Rolls Royce, landed just under $8,000, and gas was less than $0.10 a gallon. With an average of $1 per day for a black man, his spouse making about $0.75 a day, his 4 children, ages ranging between 7 and 12, collectively making about $2.50 per day. That brings $4.25 per day into the home and places their monthly income at $127.50. I’ll let you work on the math for that family’s budget to see what living check to check really looked like. I still thank my ancestors for the struggle they endured that got us to this point today. To think, the average life expectancy was less than 50 years in those days. Now you have people that waste 30 years of their lives staring at the clouds because they don’t know about, or care to understand the past that shaped their future. That’s where you come in. Where we come in. Times were different and clearly much more difficult then, but the struggle continues. Due to unions being so discriminatory, when workers began to strike for better wages and working conditions, employers would hire people of color to break the strike lines. Unions begin losing their strength by being non-inclusive as more black and brown people began filling jobs that were supposed to be union protected. While discrimination in the union was very common before WWII, the existence of Labor Unions can be traced back to the 18thcentury. The earliest recording of a worker strike in America was in 1768. A group of journeyman tailors in New York were faced with a potential wage reduction. The new wages wouldn’t be enough to support a family, so they organized a strike, and business owners not wanting to lose skilled laborer and clientele, were forced to comply. In the south you’ll find a different scenario as most laborers were easily replaceable, and employers were happy to sub them with black laborers for less pay. When scabs were brought in to break strike lines, they were assaulted and often killed. Over time both black and white workers shared a heightened interest in trade union organization, but because trade unions organized by white workers, including the National Labor Union (NLU), generally excluded blacks, black workers began to organize on their own. While the first black union to be recognized by a national body was The Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters founded in 1925; The first true black union was the Colored Caulkers Trade Union founded in 1838 by Isaac Myers. The group eventually bought stocks that led to the purchase of a shipyard and railway that employed hundreds of workers. The success of Myers’s union in Baltimore encouraged black caulkers in other seaport cities to organize. It also caught the attention of the National Labor Union (NLU) Executive Committee, then the largest labor organization in the nation. The NLU announced that they would start accepting African American Unions into it's federation. Myers was elected President of the Colored NLU, the first organization of its type in history. Myers appealed to black workers to join unions expecting the full support of the NLU. He soon learned that the predominately white organization insisted that black union members abandon the Republican Party and join the Labor Reform Party. When black workers refused to abandon the GOP, they were not invited back to the NLU. With no support the CNLU collapsed in 1871. With the continuous mistreatment of black laborers, the fight for equality continued and continues to this day. Did you know that when Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. did his, “I’ve been to the mountain top” speech, the last speech he did before being assassinated in 1968, it was in support of the black sanitation workers striking due to unequal pay and terrible working conditions? Dr. King lived his life marching and protesting the unfair treatment of black people. King also worked hard to advance labor justice, viewing economic equality as key to achieving full equality. Take with you this brief history lesson and teach someone else. Teach your children. Maybe we can raise a community of well aware adults that appreciate the lessons learned and can use them to create a better tomorrow. Until the next history lesson…
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DETROIT RETIREE CELEBRATION
at DETROIT
PANCAKES WITH SANTA AT UAW LOCAL 163
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Retiree Chapter Christmas Party
(Pictured Left): UAW Local 163 Committee and DDC Retiree Linda Trapp acquiring gifts for the families they adopted for Christmas.
In Memoriam
DDC RETIREE EDWARD DERWOED 11/10/22 DDC RETIREE WILLIAM COSMAN 11/24/22 Mr. Mark Siegrist, father of DDC employee Gregory Siegrist, brother-in-law of DDC UAW Alternate Committeeman Joseph Grysiewicz 11/27/22 Mr. Malik Varner, son of DDC employee Arbra Harris, brother of DDC employee Naayma Works, stepson of DDC employee Daniel Harris 11/29/22 DDC RETIREE GORDON PERRY 12/2/22 Mrs. Gail Thompson, mother of DDC employee Evan Thompson 12/9/22 DDC RETIREE ROBERT DONALDSON 12/10/22 Mr. Patrick White, brother of DDC employee Geraldine Bailey 12/13/22 DDC RETIREE LAWRENCE CRIPPS 12/15/22 Mr. December Sutton, son of DDC employee Nichelle Parham, grandson of DDC employee Marcus Parham 12/17/22 DDC RETIREE FREDERICK VEITH, father of DDC employee Lisa Householder 12/21/22 DDC RETIREE GEORGE HOLMES 12/21/22 Mrs. Jane McGowan, mother of DDC employee Michael McGowan 12/21/22 Mrs. Yoko Harris-Hodges, mother of DDC employee Daniel Harris 12/21/22 DDC RETIREE JAMES MAYNARD, son of DDC retiree Jesse Maynard 12/26/22 Mr. Larco Jones Verdell, brother of DDC employee Angelo Manning 12/27/22 DDC RETIREE GARY TORZY 12/31/22 Mr. Vernon Crosby, father of DDC employee Louis Pustay 1/3/23 DDC RETIREE ELMER LAKIN, father of DDC employee Rita Barnowski 1/5/23 Mr. Henry Green, father of DDC employee Shari Green 1/5/23 DDC RETIREE WILLARD CAPPS, father of DDC retiree Richard Capps 1/9/23 Mr. Ron Bierbaum, father of DDC employees Len and Charles Bierbaum, mother-in-law of DDC employee Yvonne Bierbaum 1/9/23 Mr. Paolo Evola, father of DDC employee Frances Evola 1/10/23 Mr. Fernando Portillo, father of DDC employee Daymon Portillo 1/12/23
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American Heart Month Rashida Davis
February is American Heart Month. This awareness month was established by the CDC and Prevention, to educate the public about heart disease and stroke. Worldwide, cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death, killing 17.9 million people every single year- a number that’s expected to grow past 23.6 million by 2030. With that being said, it is imperative that we be aware of how important heart health really is. As we all know and have heard, health is wealth. It’s not just a disease of the old, it affects all ages, genders, and ethnicities. So how do we keep our precious hearts healthy my Brothers and Sisters? The answer is simple and not that hard to do. It’s time to take an active role in our own preventative care. Reduce your risk of heart disease by eating a healthy diet. Eat to live and not live to eat. Choose healthy foods and drinks that promote heart health. This in turn can help you keep a healthy weight. Get moving and keep moving. Regular physical activity can significantly help to keep your heart pumping and healthy. That doesnt mean killing yourself at the gym with 2 hour rigorous workouts. Just a mere 30 minutes of activity a day can make a tremendous impact on your overall health, not just your heart. Getting good quality sleep and managing stress can greatly reduce your risk of cardiovascular diseases as well. Get to the Doctor. Get regular health screenings. These are all different methods of helping us live a full and quality life. Keep practicing those 5 P’s. (PROPER PREPARATION PREVENTS POOR PERFORMANCE) I don't know about you, but I want to be healthy and happy, resting in peace, while I’m still alive.
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DEMOCRATS TAKE CONTROL IN LANSING By: Ray Herrick
When “Uncle” Ben Parker first told a young Peter Parker, upon finding out about his newly-acquired “spidey” powers, that “with great power, comes great responsibility” in the first “Spiderman” movie a few years back, he could easily have been talking about Gov. Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan, and the Democratic Party. Whitmer, and her closest state leadership allies, Attorney General Dana Nessel, and Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, all won overwhelming reelection victories, and their top-of-the-ticket success in the mid-term election this past November propelled the Democratic Party to majority control of the Michigan state government. Although their majorities are slim in both house of Michigan’s bicameral government, the Democrats have already begun the difficult task of governing from the majority, something they haven’t been able to do since the Senate was last held by their party in 1983. New committee Chairs have begun the process of implementing the new rules and legislative processes that will control the House and Senate for the next two years, while sending a flurry of legislation forward, much of which had been only dreamed of during the Snyder administration, or in Whitmer’s first term under the Republican-controlled House and Senate. Bills that have already been fast-tracked in the House include both a Democrat-led measure to repeal the odious tax on public pensions, and a bipartisan tax cut proposal for all over-62 year-old Michigan residents. The implementation of a tax on earned pension income was a vicious slap-in-the-face to all working-class Michiganders, when it was signed into law by the criminal governor of Michigan, Rick Snyder, in 2011. The middle-class, organized labor workforce has funded the Michigan government for decades through their toil, and to tax them again on their labors while on a fixed income is outwardly cruel. As they have for the past 80+ years, the Democratic Party in the United States, and in Michigan particularly, have counted on the near-unanimous support of Organized Labor in their election campaigns. There has been a disconcerting “disturbance in the Force” in this certainty during the Trump phenomenon, as a unseemly large percentage of white, non-college degree Union households voted for Donald Trump, and his Republican henchmen during the 2016 and 2020 election cycles. But, the election of President Joseph Biden, and the successes of the Democrats nationally, and in Michigan during the 2022 midterms, seem to be righting the ship. Many supporters of the Democratic Party ticket in Organized Labor expect the one of the first legislative priorities of the new Democrat majority in both the House and Senate, is the repeal of the odious “Right-to-Work” law signed into law by Gov. Snyder and his cowardly Republican majority in the lame-duck sessions after the 2012 election, in December of 2012. After facing the State Capitol padlocked, and thousands of howling Union activists braving pepper spray, Organized Labor activists expect that this repeal will be a Day One priority for Democrats. While bills to repeal this horrific law, that has had a major impact on the drop in private-sector Union members from 17% of the workforce in Michigan in 2012, to just 13% in 2021, bills with a decidedly better chance of gaining bipartisan support in the new state Congress have also been introduced, such as the expansion of the state’s Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) for lower-income households. State EITC currently stands at only 6% of the federal tax credit, and there is bipartisan legislation proposed that would raise that to around 25%; the aforementioned cuts to state taxes on earned pension income, and taxes on all seniors over age 62; and the refinement and correct implementation of the prevailing wage statutes, covering mainly the construction trades , responsible for “fixing the damn roads”, will all come before the attempts to repeal “Right-to-Work”. This legislative order of priority was explained by new Speaker of the House, Joe Tate (D-Detroit), when speaking with the Detroit Free Press, “We can do two things at once, but there’s so many issues that there’s bipartisan support for, I think having something right off the bat, where we all agree, would be good.” In both of Gov. Whitmer’s successful campaigns for her office, the linchpin slogan each time was her promise to “Fix the Damn Roads!” Republican majority in both houses during the last Congress were often obstructive to her ability to fulfill that promise with needed state funds. However, with this Democratic majority, Gov. Whitmer is poised to build on the bipartisan Building Michigan Together Plan, utilizing the funds from the historic Infrastructure bill passed by the U.S. Congress, and signed into law by President Biden in 2021. Now that Whitmer has the majority at her disposal, her signing hand has to be itchy to add to the $320 million used already to repair the roads and bridges, and the nearly $1.2 billion spent on improving our water quality, replacing lead water pipes in Benton Harbor and Flint, and to repair sewers and waste disposal systems. This 2-year cycle leading to the Presidential general election of 2024 will fly by in overdrive for Michigan Democrats, hoping that the enactment of voter’s rights protections, and the end of political gerrymandering under the Michigan Independent Citizen’s Redistricting Commission, will allow them the time to implement these important, life-altering legislative changes for their electorate. With their noses pressed firmly to the grindstone in Lansing, expectedly weary Democrats should harken back to the words of poet Robert Frost, who wrote “I have promises to keep, and miles to go before I sleep.”
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In America, every new year can bring about many changes for Labor. Whether or not these changes become challenges or victories is largely decided by who is currently winning the war of Labor at the time. Over the last century, labor saw its greatest victory with the passage of the National Labor Relations Act, also referred to as the Wagner Act, in 1935. In the years before, and after the Wagner Act, there were considerably more challenges than victories. Leading into the 1920’s, Labor in America was having a bit of an awakening. Starting in the Progressive Era, when activists really started to voice concerns over issues like monopolies and the exploitation of labor, mixed with the leverage Labor held during the First World War, workers across the country were seeing the power of collective bargaining. The popularity of Labor Unions was evident from 1917-1919, when the AFL saw its membership jump 50%. Around that same time, Anti-Labor forces were already working on strategies so they could gain the upper hand. With inflation rising after the war ended, and the rise of Communism in Eastern Europe, these enemies of workers had all the ammunition they needed. Blaming workers for rising prices and comparing Unions with communists became a winning strategy for convincing some Americans to turn their backs on Labor Unions. When the Steel Workers went on strike in 1919, the industrial leaders worked hard to crush the strikes. Using the media to paint the strikers in a negative light, turning to racial and ethnic stereotypes and playing on fears of immigrants, these companies were just offering a glimpse of what was to come. The Roaring 20’s saw three anti-Labor presidents who helped tip the scales in businesses favor, ushering in a decade of greed and inequality. Courts across the land would regularly hand down injunctions to break work strikes and The Supreme Court made three of its most damaging rulings. Duplex Printing Press Co v. Derringer gutted protections for Labor, Truax v. Corrigan let companies crush strikes without state interference, and Adkins v. Children’s Hospitale liminated minimum wage protection for women. This extreme swing in power over a short time, mixed with the fast approaching Great Depression, would lead to a new call for legislation to protect workers. These calls were answered with FDR’s New Deal. Starting the third year of the third decade of the 21st century, it is hard to predict what the future of American Labor will look like. In the decade before the 2020’s, Labor was on the rise. With both Union membership and public support of Unions growing. At the same time, America elected an anti-Union president whose administration made it harder for workers to exercise their Labor rights and nominated three anti-Union Supreme Court Justices. To start the 2020’s America elected the most pro-Labor President since FDR, in President Joe Biden. A president who filled his cabinets with pro-Labor leaders. Labor was also riding the momentum from the previous decade and made strides in trying to get pro-Labor legislation passed, in the form of the PRO Act. All of which is good for Union Members. At this same time, the Supreme Courts pro-business majority has the potential to harm workers rights by making unfavorable rulings on cases for decades to come. While there are many similarities between now and a hundred years ago, the war on Labor is always evolving. Because of this, it’s important that we always remember the lessons of Labors past so we can better adapt to the challenges we face in the future. Especially if we want to have our current momentum to turn into victories.
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LABOR IS THE ONLY THING ROARING IN THE 2020'S By: Andrew Lewis
By: Andrew Lewis
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Labor Daze