Stephen Yokich

Stephen Philipp Yokich (born August 20, 1935 in Detroit , Michigan , † August 16, 2002 there ) was an American union official .

biography

Yokich initially held several positions for the United Auto Workers (UAW) local office 155 in Warren, Michigan , before 1969 UAW President Walter Reuther appointed him to the staff of Regional Office 1 in Warren, which is responsible for the automotive industry in the Metropolitan area Detroit with the companies Chrysler , General Motors and Ford is responsible. In 1977 he was elected Director of Regional Office 1 himself.

1980 he transferred to the headquarters of the union and is first to 1983, director of the Division agricultural machinery (Agricultural Implement Department), which for the union members at Deere & Company , Caterpillar and CNH Global is responsible. At the same time he was director of the Skilled Trades Department between 1980 and 1995. In addition, from 1983 to 1989 he was director of the Organazing Department, which is particularly responsible for the recruitment of previously non-unionized workers. In this role, he made great success outside of the auto industry when 22,000 workers in Michigan joined the UAW in 1985. In 1989 he became director of the influential General Motors division, which oversees more than 120,000 UAW-represented workers in the group.

In 1995 he finally became president of the UAW, succeeding Owen Bieber himself. During his tenure there was a significant loss of membership from 826,000 members in 1995 to 672,000 organized workers in 2001. Nevertheless, he managed to conclude lucrative collective agreements for the UAW. However, he was unsuccessful in recruiting workers in the factories belonging to foreign automobile companies in the United States (so-called "transplants").

In June 2002 he did not run again at the 33rd Union Congress, so that the previous Vice President Ronald Anthony Gettelfinger was elected as the new President of the UAW. Yokich died around two months later.

Web links

• rulers.org