Check Your Union Archives
UAW Local 848
has a long and proud history since it was established as Local 645 in 1943 at
North American Aviation. A great deal of our history is collected in scrapbooks
that are in our union hall. The facts are there, as recorded at the time they
happened!
Nineteen years ago, Local 848 showed the world
that we knew how to fight for a good contract. The world acknowledged our
ingenuity and fighting spirit with a major article in the UAW magazine, Solidarity, and a chapter in a new book
on union strategies. It was a time when almost every union contract in America
had shown a submissive retreat into concession bargaining, and management in
the entire aerospace industry, led by the Reagan government, had united to push
employee takeaways.
The struggle began in March, 1984, when LTV
management stonewalled our negotiating committee and insisted on a long list of
takeaways including health care, prescription drugs, and cost of living
allowance. With the backing of anti-labor political friends, management used
legal technicalities to declare an "impasse" and implement their
"last and final" contract offer. On May 21, they began firing the
most prominent union supporters to show that they would stop at nothing to cut
the rights of employees.
Local 848 responded with in-plant rallies,
solidarity gatherings outside, picket lines, public meetings, publicity
campaigns, campaign buttons, slogans, and union singing. The turnaround in the
fight began in January, 1985, when independent union activists, led by the very
activists who had been fired, took over dues collection and mobilization
activities. Management caved in by June, 1985, and LTV employees celebrated the
best Fourth of July in our working lives!
Today, many versions of what happened circulate
around. Many of the stories give management’s versions. But the facts are in
our archives for all to see.
Vice President Jay Dunn looks over our archives