Word: frasers
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...President Douglas Fraser, 65, is the union leader who has been most intimately involved in labor and management's struggle with the issue of conflict or cooperation. Since May 1980, he has been a member of Chrysler's board of directors, and it was Fraser who urged his members to accept wage concessions in 1979 so that Chrysler could qualify for $1.5 billion in Government loan guarantees. He has also backed reductions in pay increases to help Ford and General Motors. But at the same time Fraser must figure out how to keep his membership satisfied...
Like many workers of his generation, Fraser has been a union man all his life. Born in a Glasgow, Scotland, tenement, he immigrated to the U.S. when he was six and later, like his father, went to work in a Detroit automobile plant. During the strong union years, Fraser helped win extensive benefits for his members. He won early-retirement pay for auto-workers in 1964 and safety and dental-care programs in 1973. Says a senior auto company official: "Fraser is a very bright, shrewd guy with a pretty good feel for his constituency...
...surface, at least, Fraser seems unchanged by the regular meetings he attends in the Chrysler boardroom. Unlike other directors, he does not accept the loan of two free Chrysler cars. Last month he lashed out at "corporate America and the captains of the auto industry specifically" for continuing to support the Reagan Administration's economic program. In an effort to create jobs for union members, he is leading a congressional lobbying effort for a bill that would force the two largest Japanese auto manufacturers, Toyota and Nissan, to build cars...
Ford Vice President Peter J. Pestillo and U.A.W. President Douglas Fraser bargained for nearly two weeks at Ford's Dearborn headquarters. Said Fraser just before the final round of talks last Saturday: "As I look back, I'm glad we failed when we tried to reach a similar deal with GM. We're going to do better here...
...Detroit-built cars more competitive with Japanese imports. The union, though, was unwilling to consider benefit reductions large enough to make those car price cuts. It refused to consider a drop in the hourly wage of $10.19, which makes up the bulk of the estimated $19.65 total compensation package. Fraser was also forced to bargain with the knowledge that any settlement would have to be approved by militant rank-and-file workers, who seemed unwilling to make major concessions. Two weeks ago, union members voted 57% to 43% to reopen the talks, and there was a good possibility that...