UAW website

Jim Whitehead (ejw@ICS.uci.edu)
Sat, 13 Jun 1998 13:04:53 -0700


After listening to a news story on NPR yesterday about the United Auto
Workers strike against GM, I decided I still didn't understand what issues
were at stake in the strike. This led me to the United Auto Worker's web
site, which is a fascinating blend of history and pro-union information.

The UAW FAQ is interesting for its point-of-view, still very much
us-vs-them, labor vs. management. Amazed that this kind of viewpoint still
exists, I surfed to the history section of the website, at:

http://uaw.org/History/index.html

This is probably the best part of the Web site, giving an overview history
of the formation of the UAW during the middle of the depression. Especially
fascinating is its focus on the tactics used by each side (e.g., Ford's use
of its security force to supress organizing, even on public lands, and
racially divisive tactics like hiring black replacements for striking white
and black workers.)

Also, providing essential background for the current strike, Flint Michigan,
the location for the current strike, is also the same town where the UAW got
its start organizing GM in the 1930's. Heavy symbolism at work here.

I couldn't find anything about the strike on the GM web site.

- Jim