An activist group within the UAW — the Autoworker Caravan — is raising concerns about racially charged incidents that members have reported and is seeking more action by the union, automakers and suppliers.
Among the incidents that the group has heard of and condemns: A black worker encountered a noose at an auto plant in Wyoming, Mich.; shop floor supervisors at a non-union facility in Warren gestured to each other with Nazi salutes; and racist graffiti was found in the lavatories in an engine plant in Ohio.
"Several of these reports came from internal sources," said Frank Hammer, a retired local president and co-founder of the Autoworker Caravan. "We're seeing what may appear to be a pattern of heightened racists incidents that I, personally, believe is coming in the wake of Trump's election."
Hammer
said the president's rhetoric during and after the election seems to be
encouraging expressions and behaviors from workers such as hanging
nooses.
The Autoworker Caravan — which was formed in 2008 and has, at times, been critical of UAW leadership — is made up of a network of about 200 active and retired UAW members.
The
activist group plans to meet Sunday at the Redford Branch of the
Detroit Library to organize, and members expect to discuss who might
seek to be a delegate and run for national offices. They'll consider
whether to proposal resolutions during the UAW's convention in June.
Brian Rothenberg, a senior UAW communications adviser in Detroit, said those incidents are handled at the local level and he did not know whether they were on the rise. But, he said, the union is, and always has, taken these concerns seriously. The UAW has about 415,000 members.
"What
we want the convention to do is put out the message that this is the
21st Century U.S.A.," Hammer said. "If these incidents are what's meant
by 'making America great again,' we'll have none of it."
Unions have long been a voice in the struggle for civil rights.
In
the 1963 March on Washington, then-UAW President Walter Reuther said:
"I share the view that the struggle for civil rights and the struggle
for equality of opportunity is not the struggle of Negro Americans, but
the struggle for every American to join."
At the same time, Hammer said, the UAW also has been rocked recently by scandal and allegations of corruption with prosecutors accusing the late UAW Vice President General Holifield and a Fiat Chrysler executive of siphoning $4.5 million from a training fund. Al Iacobelli, a former labor relations chief for FCA, has pleaded guilty to conspiracy and tax evasion in the case.
Hammer said it is time for the union to make reforms -- and take the lead again in fighting for equality.
In addition to on-the-job incidents, Hammer said, workers have faced attacks at home.
In
Burton, he said, there are reports white men on three occasions between
March and July vandalized a black UAW member's home. The attackers
sprayed racist KKK graffiti, threw rocks and attempted to firebomb his
residence.
"The UAW has to play a role in challenging these kinds of acts, saying they are unwelcome," Hammer said. "They are hurtful not only to the victims of the attacks but to the entire workforce, the entire membership."
Hate crimes were up about 20% in the nation’s largest cities, according to data derived from police crime reports analyzed by the Center for the Study of Hate & Extremism at California State University, San Bernardino. Last year was the third consecutive year of annual increases, the analysis showed.
The same report concluded hate crimes increased 22% in Michigan.
Nationwide,
concerned groups have been speaking out against sexual harassment,
racism and violence. They have taken stands in factories, offices,
boardrooms, schools and cyberspace, where, since October, the #MeToo
fight against sexual harassment has gone viral.
"All
over the country, people are fighting hate, standing up to promote
tolerance and inclusion," the Montgomery, Ala.-based Southern Poverty
Law Center, a nonprofit organization specializing in civil rights
litigation, said in a report last year. "More often than not, when hate
flares up, good people rise up against it -- often in greater numbers
and with stronger voices."
Hammer said that companies also have a responsibility to act and keep workers safe.
"There
certainly has been a heightened concern in the cases of #MeToo in
regards to women's rights and sexual harassment in the workplace," he
said. "We think when there are incidents of racial harassment, a
spotlight should be cast on these as well."
Contact Frank Witsil: 313-222-5022 or fwitsil@freepress.com.
If you go
Sunday's meeting is open to all active and retired UAW workers.
Time: 1:30 to 4 p.m., Sunday
Location: Redford Branch of the Detroit Library, 21200 Grand River Ave., Detroit
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