I've been a trade unionist for over 30 years. I've been on strike with my own union three times, I've walked uncounted picket lines to support other unions, I've traveled across the country to take part in solidarity actions, and I wrote a weekly column about strikes and other union struggles for 15 years. So I've seen a lot. This period has been marked mostly by setbacks for labor. Yet I've witnessed countless instances of rank-and-file courage, valor, sacrifice and determination as workers fight back to defend their jobs, wages, benefits, communities.
Sadly, I, we all, have also seen far too many occasions when the labor officialdom let the workers down, to put it mildly. For all these disappointments, however, I don't think I've ever before seen anything as awful as this: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26315908/#27917562
Last night UAW President Ron Gettelfinger was a guest on MSNBC's "Rachel Maddow Show." Despite repeated attempts by Ms. Maddow to prompt him to talk like a trade unionist, despite question after question phrased in the most pro-union manner nearly begging him to stand up for the workers against the recent attempts to scapegoat them for the auto companies' greed, Gettelfinger dodged every opportunity to represent his membership and instead touted for GM. He was like a shill for the Big Three, even going so far, despite Maddow's gentle nudges in the other direction, as bragging about all the contractual givebacks he's handed over to the bosses.
The Company and the Union, William Serrin's 1973 book, came out a full five years before the concessionary contract era started in auto, but its portrayal of the relationship between the UAW and GM remains instructive. Especially after Gettelfinger's craven performance last night. The sole consolation is that the only possible direction from here for the UAW and the labor movement is up.
