The big question on everyone’s mind is what will the UAW do, and why haven’t we heard anything? The “no news is good news” slogan does not apply. We got the news. It’s bad. We’re waiting for a response from the UAW. The cold silence coming out of Solidarity House is ominous.

As I drove to Detroit I felt angry. Angry at the silence of the International UAW. Angry at the lack of action and direction. Angry about capitulation and concession. Angry because the International UAW seemed so remote and unresponsive.

Two thoughts ran through my mind: When leaders are ethically but not legally obligated, they will take advantage of you for their own selfish ends. Then, they will demean you in order to justify their behavior and suppress their guilt.

He said modular assembly was “another word for outsourcing.” He hadn’t addressed the modular issue until Suman Bohm confronted him at a UAW subcouncil2 meeting and former UAW Local 599 president Dave Yettaw published an article in the Flint Journal about the damaging consequences to working families and their communities. Up to that point, Yokich had been silent on the issue. Rick Haglund, a syndicated columnist, said, “Union silence is considered by management to be a positive sign.” I believe it went further than tacit approval. The Lordstown and Lansing plants had already begun whipsawing (the practice of locals competing against other locals to make concessions). Does anyone believe that Yokich was unaware of those negotiations?

He said we needed to make outsourcing a “strikable issue.” Delphi is the largest maker of modular automotive systems in the world and the spinoff is the most massive outsourcing plan in history. So when do we strike? He said we needed to find ways to restrict overtime. Yokich claimed, “A forty-hour (workweek) restriction would create 86,000 jobs in motor vehicle assembly alone.” So what are we waiting for? He railed against the corporations for moving jobs overseas, but still no mention of how the UAW would confront the Delphi spinoff.

There were about two thousand delegates and an army of UAW International Reps jammed into Cobo Hall. Microphones were spaced throughout the hall for delegates to address the assembly. While International Reps speaking from the podium were always clearly audible above the din of the crowd, speakers from the floor were difficult to hear. Many of the delegates called on to speak were merely lapdogs for the Cooperative Caucus. I won’t repulse you with alliterations of their lapping sounds.

It was a welcome relief when Suman Bohm approached the mic. Suman is the bargaining chair at the GM assembly plant in Delaware, and a cochair of New Directions, a dissident caucus that opposes union-management partnership. Her passion and courage sharpen conviction like oil and stone.

She spoke out against outsourcing. She demanded the International “put the brakes on modular assembly.” She said it “would kill us” and was nothing more than a “union-busting” scheme. She denounced GM for closing Buick City and sending the work to China. “Production in China is designated for export to America.”

Mark Paine, from an engine plant in Cleveland, said, “Despite overall job growth, union jobs are disappearing.” He denounced whipsawing. He said his local jumped through all the hoops, “embraced the Modern Operating Agreement and every other program they came up with,” and now they’re “scheduled to be phased out.” It was a familiar refrain: the cooperation strategy is a failure. We aren’t partners, we’re rubes. We’ve been conned into turning tricks for promises while corporate executives laugh at our antics.

When Dave Yettaw took the floor, I could sense the hair standing up on Yokich’s neck. Yokich was bristling before Dave ever opened his mouth. Yettaw, who came out of retirement to lead the delegation from Flint Local 599, is a resourceful challenger and a prominent leader in New Directions. Unlike Yokich, he doesn’t resort to angry outbursts and profanity to make his point. You may not agree with Yettaw, but one should respect his willingness to stand up for what he believes. That’s a lot more than you can say for most of the tail-wagging, wet-nosed lapdogs that pass for convention delegates.

Yettaw calmly asked that GM be made to “live up to the 95 percent job security agreement that was negotiated three years ago.” He warned that modular assembly would be devastating to all of us and would result in “outsourcing on a scale we’ve never seen before.” He advocated for temporary workers who pervade the industry. He said, “This union stopped [former Chrysler CEO] Lee Iacocca from spinning off Accustar, and we can stop Delphi and Visteon from being spun off, too.”

Dave Koscinski from Local 1866 said:

I sensed a raw nerve in the crowd. They’d been pushed around too long. They were anxious about outsourcing, modular assembly, and downsizing. The atmosphere was ripe for a campaign to stop the Delphi spinoff.

Willy Hubbard, president of Local 550, stepped to the mic. His voice sounded like the howling wind off Lake Michigan we call The Wolf. The UAW has negotiated positions to “give us a voice in quality, health and safety, and benefit decisions. One of the things that disturbs me the most is that some of these appointees think they are CEOs of the union.”

It was eerie. Cobo Hall was quiet as a church when he spoke.

“We have to return the respect to the floor and remind them they are union reps, not CEOs. These programs were designed to give members an equal voice. The only way we can make sure we live the life as well as work the life of union is by voting for appointees.” His speech hit the floor like a cluster bomb. A number of appointees had to be evacuated on stretchers. But they had only fainted.

I’d never spoken at a convention before, or to such a large crowd. It’s scary, but I had to take a chance. I thought, I’ll keep it short and to the point. I waved my Local 2151 sign in the air. Yokich called on me.

When a delegate steps up to the mic, their image is projected onto two giant video screens. I looked like the fifty-foot man. I felt like stomping down to the Renaissance Center and kicking some corporate butt. Instead, I made a short, impromptu speech:

Brother Yokich said, “Next.”

Then Suman Bohm got the floor again. She said, “We are losing tens of thousands of jobs to outsourcing because outsourcing language in our National Agreement is too weak. The language is so full of pro-company loopholes that the company could be brain-dead and still get away with taking our jobs. In the ’99 contract we must make outsourcing a strikable issue on the local level. We have to get away from two-tier wages, and make sure all new hires are brought up to par after ninety days, not three years. We have to help our brothers and sisters in the parts sector.” She explained that union density has fallen from 75 percent to 15 percent in the parts sector. “This is ridiculous. We have to help them get what they deserve, which is wages and benefits equal to our own.” Suman doesn’t pull any punches.

Edward Mosley, a big man from Local 34 in Atlanta, said, “We are closing. . . . The governor offered GM incentives to keep us, but GM said it’s not about money. So this is about us. Wherever we go we’re going to be union. We’re not going to go down without a fight.” I didn’t know it then but two days l...