Word: chryslers
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...October 25, The United Auto Workers(UAW) and the Chrysler Corporation reached agreement on a new three-year contract. On the same day, Chrysler chairman Lee A. lacocca announced that Chrysler will nominate UAW president Douglas A. Fraser for election to the company's board of directors at the May 1980 annual meeting...
Admittedly, Fraser's membership on the board has some benefits for the UAW rank-and-file. The union will gain access to financial and other information previously held in confidence by Chrysler's board decisions through his arguments, if not through his vote. For example, he can make the company at least consider preserving jobs when its knee-jerk reaction to financial difficulty might be massive layoffs. More immediately, he may be able to get Chrysler to re-consider the planned closing of its Michigan Assembly plant...
Musical chairs in Chrysler's board room will not, by itself, alter the daily work routines in the company's shops. The repetitive, broken-down jobs, the hierarchical supervisory structure and the rather complete lack of employee participation in management decisions which intimately affect their work will all remain...
Fraser and the UAW do seem aware of the limitations of board representation in isolation. Buried inside the stories about Fraser's nomination to the Chrysler board were a few lines describing another union proposal, which would establish joint worker-management committees on all levels within Chrysler. The committees would cover such issues as plant closings and locations, product planning, and pricing. The UAW justifies such a committee structure by claiming that Chrysler has "for too long ignored the potential input of Chrysler employees in favor of the decisions of a few individuals, whose poor judgment repeatedly led to monumental...
...Chrysler's troubles are part of a deeper problem that will undoubtedly recur in coming years--the decline of the nation's traditional heavy industries, largely a product of the energy crisis and changing national needs. Congress and the nation must begin thinking of how to achieve an orderly transition away from aging industries, to where the future industrial potential of the United States lies. Salvage jobs may not be the long-term answer...