King Elected UAW President

[Omaha Steve]

http://blog.aflcio.org/2010/06/16/king-elected-uaw-president/

by James Parks, Jun 16, 2010

Delegates to the UAW’s Constitutional Convention today overwhelmingly elected Bob King as president. King has been a UAW vice president since 1998 and has headed the union’s National Ford Department since 2006. He succeeds retiring President Ron Gettelfinger.

Delegates also elected by acclamation UAW Region 4 Director Dennis Williams as secretary-treasurer. He succeeds Elizabeth Bunn, who is the new organizing director of the AFL-CIO.


Bob King

Delegates re-elected by acclamation incumbent UAW vice presidents James Settles and General Holiefield, as well as new vice presidents Joe Ashton and Cindy Estrada, the union’s first Latina vice president.

King, 63, played a major role in both the UAW Ford 2007 national agreement and the 2009 modifications to the agreement. He led the UAW’s organizing department between 2002 and 2006 and assisted nearly 80,000 workers in their efforts to join the UAW.

Williams was elected director of UAW Region 4 in 2001 and re-elected in 2002 and 2006. Ashton is director of UAW Region 9 and Estrada is director of UAW’s national organizing department.

[Ken Burch]

1. Why would anyone WANT to be the president of the UAW?

That union has gotten hosed worse than any other in the last thirty years. You take that job and the rank-and-file will hate you inside of two years.

Did this guy CHOOSE to run, or did some other guys just really, really, really want to stick it to him?