LAS VEGAS – Ron Gettelfinger is re-elected as president of the United Auto Workers union, as are five vice presidents and the organization’s secretary treasurer.
A slate of candidates put together late last year goes unchallenged here by convention delegates.
Bob King and Cal Rapson return as vice presidents. New to that level of leadership are Jimmy Settles, Terry Thurman and General Holiefield.
Elizabeth Bunn is re-elected as secretary-treasurer.
Delegates have spent most of the week here at the UAW’s 34th constitutional convention voicing support for Gettelfinger and his policies, a theme that peaked today on the convention floor, which resembles a forest of helium balloons.
“Hasn’t this been a great week of solidarity?” asks Frank Andrews, president of Local 689 in Lockport, NY.
Some delegates, however, are disappointed that there has been so little anger displayed as the union faces challenges such as the bankruptcy of Delphi Corp., which is seeking to nullify its labor contract with the UAW.
“Whether we admit it or not, Delphi is a line in the sand,” says Gregg Shotwell, a delegate from Coopersville, MI, who called for a general strike to preserve the union’s influence.
“What happens at Delphi is the future of the UAW. We’re in the Alamo.”
