02.03.2008

WASHINGTON – UAW President Ron Gettelfinger delivered the keynote address on this, the opening night of the UAW’s 2008 Community Action Program (CAP) Legislative Conference.

Over 1,400 UAW activists from throughout the United States and Puerto Rico are attending the conference, Feb. 3-6, to fine tune the union’s legislative agenda in this critical election year.

Photos by Rick Reinhard
Gettelfinger praised the work of the delegates and encouraged them to work harder still this election year. “As the political season heats up, you will be on the front lines – registering voters, working phone banks, participating in literature drops, going door to door and getting out the vote.

“It’s hard work and time consuming, but we know you’ll be there.”

Though the union has not made a presidential endorsement yet, Gettelfinger said he is confident the union will have the chance to endorse a strongly pro-worker candidate for the White House. “Senator Clinton and Senator Obama are both our friends and support the basic right to organize, and will work with our union to pass the Employee Free Choice Act.

“They each have a plan to achieve the goal of universal health care for everyone and understand that manufacturing matters, and both of them will work with us to create and preserve U.S. jobs.”

Gettelfinger said the union would make an endorsement at the appropriate time that the choice will be clear because, “we won’t get caught up in politics and personalities,” he said. “We’ll stick to the issues that matter to our members and to working families.”

He stressed the link between political action and the union’s core work of improving workplaces and highlighted some of the union’s recent achievements in collective bargaining, organizing and defending workers’ economic security during corporate restructurings and bankruptcies.

But, he said, the work is not done. The president called for national health care that covers every man, woman and child in America, for fair trade agreements that create good paying jobs in the U.S. and for reform of U.S. bankruptcy laws.

Citing numerous anti-union decisions by the National Labor Relations Board, Gettelfinger said the union would continue to fight the rulings, but workers still need a change in Washington.

“Brothers and sisters, there’s only one real way to repair the ruin and the wreckage that George Bush and his anti-worker appointees have made to our nation’s labor laws. We need political action!

Gettelfinger said the economy is the number one priority in the presidential campaign.

“A record number of American families are struggling to make ends meet. Our wages are stagnating, and middle-class jobs are disappearing,” said Gettelfinger. “If we don’t mobilize for change, it won’t be long before we lose the rest of our industries as well, including the industries where the majority of our manufacturing members work: auto, aerospace and ag-imp.

He said the stakes couldn’t be any higher. “Our jobs are on the line. Our industries are at risk. The future of our children and grandchildren hangs in the balance.”

He urged activists not take a November win for granted. “We can’t afford to be complacent simply because the polls and the pundits say this could be a good year for our candidates. We all know the only poll that really counts is the one that takes place on Election Day.”

Bringing the cheering delegates to their feet, Gettelfinger said that UAW members will make sure that issues affecting working families will be at the center of this year’s political debate.

“We hear that the 2008 election will be about change,” he said. “Brothers and sisters, the change that we need is to take our country back on behalf of hard-working Americans who made it great in the first place. That’s what we need to do. That’s our directive. That’s our marching orders.”

“We will honor the great social vision of our union – a vision that reaches beyond our own membership, beyond the bargaining table and across international borders.

“It is a vision of people working together to build a better world for everyone.
“With union in our hearts and solidarity in our spirit we will move forward together. We will stand up for working families and we will win in November!”