Word: frasers
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...eroded, turning leaders of both the United Mine Workers and the United Auto Workers into generals of shrinking armies. But competition to head the unions is still sharp. That showed up last week as the miners elected a new president and the U.A.W. nominated a successor to Douglas A. Fraser, who retires next year...
Last Friday in Dearborn, Mich., the U.A.W's 26-member international executive board and 350-member steering committee picked a softspoken, deliberate man as Fraser's replacement. He is Union Vice President Owen Bieber, 52, director of the U.A.W's General Motors department. Bieber's nomination is subject only to ratification at the U.A.W's convention in May, which is certain. Lobbying among union officers for the nomination began in earnest in September among Bieber, Secretary-Treasurer Raymond Majerus, 58, and Donald Ephlin, 57, also a vice president and the head of the union...
Troubles over Chrysler plagued the last years of Fraser's regime, which began in 1977, and also led to his becoming a Chrysler director, the only union officer on the board of a U.S. corporation. He took a leave of absence from that job last week, though, after 9,000 Canadian Chrysler workers went on strike, forcing initial layoffs of more than 4,500 of their U.S. counterparts. Fraser said he wanted to avoid any perception of conflict of interest over his dual role as board member and union president...
Bieber, a hulking man (6 ft. 5 in., 247 lbs.), describes himself as "militant when the occasion calls for it." But like Fraser, he recognizes the necessity for making U.S. auto companies competitive with Japan. Neither the companies nor the union are the growth businesses they once were. The U.A.W's membership now stands at 1.2 million, down from its peak of 1.5 million...
...When the showdown ballot came last week, lacocca won his bet, at least temporarily. By a tally of 70% to 30%, the workers voted to stay on the job and postpone negotiations on a new contract until January. That strategy had been pushed by United Automobile Workers President Douglas Fraser, who reasoned that an improved U.S. economy and increased auto sales this fall might put Chrysler in a more generous mood next year...