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UAW Solidarity
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UAW Solidarity
-
1961-12-01
-
Vol. 4 No. 12
-
fork Week Benefits . . .
Higher SU
Benefits...
Keys to Greater Economic Security
to the
For the past year the nation’s unemployment rate has hovered, distressingly, around
the 7% mark, and in many hard-hit areas
this figure has soared to a paralyzing 20%
for several months,
When the UAW convened its special convention in Detroit in the spring of 1961 to hammer
out. its. collective. bargaining and legislative
program, it was acutely aware that the problem of job security was uppermost in the
minds of thousands of
unemployed, displaced
and laid-off UAW workers aS well as those forto still
enough
tunate
hold jobs.
realized
UAW
The
that with more and more
permabeing
workers
while
displaced
nently
national production inas a result
creased
of technological changes,
the problem of the unemployed worker became increasingly more
.
serious.
To the worker who
upon
must depend
hourly wages to support himself and his
family, the threat of unemployment hangs
constantly over his head. When unemploy-
ment does come his problems mount to a
degree unknown to any other segment of our
society.
The UAW special convention delegates approved overwhelmingly a decision to enter into
the 1961 collective bargaining arena determined to resolve the job security problems of
UAW workers and to give them a measure of
freedom from the fear of temporary and Icngterm joblessness.
The greatly improved benefits under the supplemental unemployment benefits (SUB) clause
in Ford, Chrysler, General Motors and American Motors contracts were big news in the 1961
economic package.
Under the newly-won formula a laid-off
worker will receive 62% of gross pay plus
For laid-off workers these benefits will equal
about 75% of an “average worker’s” regular
take-home pay. Maximum SUBenefits are increased from $30 to $40 a week ($50 for Chrys-
scheduled short work week, such as that re<
sulting from mechanical breakdown, will receive half of his regular pay scale for all hours
ler salaried
workers
under
UAW
contract).
For example, a laid-off CAW worker employed by the auto industry’s Big 4 earning a
wage of $2.80 hourly, and having a wife and
three children can, under the modified SUB
agreement, receive a combined unemployment
compensation and SUB total of $75.44 in
weekly benefits—an increase of about $11 a
week
ment.
over
the
provisions
of the
old agree-
In addition to the increased SUBenefits,
there is a completely new contract provision
will pay
corporations
stipulates the
which
the full cost of hospital-surgical-medical insurance costs for laid-off workers and their families in ratio to their credit unit eligibility.
In each of the Big 4 companies, for example, a laid-off UAW worker will be entitled
to one month of this protection for every four
weeks of SUB that his credit units would entitle him to at the point of his layoff and up to
period of 12 months.
a maximum
The value of this provision alone to the
unemployed worker cannot be over-emphasized. For one of the worker’s greatest fears
during periods of unemployment is that either he or one of the members of his family
may become ill, necessitating huge outlays of
funds for hospitalization, surgery and medical treatment.
The
worker
who
is
victimized
by
an
un-
: lost.
The
number
new
contracts
of respects:
have
made
history
in a
@ In 1955, President Reuther noted that the
SUB
program
that
was
negotiated
was
the
foundation on which the UAW could build the
guaranteed wage. In 1961, with the vast improvements in the SUB plan coupled with the
introduction of short work week benefits, auto
workers are approaching the dream of many
years: the guaranteed annual wage and the
security this goal once fully achieved will bring +
to the worker, his wife and children.
@ In 1961, the delegates to the UAW Special
Economic Convention adopted as one of the
objectives of collective bargaining the convers
sion from hourly to salary pay. The new con-
tracts
establish
the
basis
for
achieving
this
goal, as they require a payment by the company for each hour of the week. They represent
a long first step toward full salary payment and
the security
that traditionally
accompanies
it.
Under the new provision, however, this worry
toa very large degree has been removed and
the money the worker saves from having to
meet health insurance premiums can help the
worker and his family to maintain themselves
with a greater measure of human dignity.
For those UAW workers who in years past
have had to face the uncertainties and mental
_-anguish of the short work week, the 1961 contracts added still another new and significant
protection of the hourly-paid
improvement:
production worker against the
unscheduled short work week.
scheduled
and
Under the new agreement a worker laid
off due to a
(less than 40
scheduled short
hours due to a
work week,
reduction m
\\
will mean
customer demand), will receive 65% of his
regular rate of pay for all hours lost.
=
iq
FA
a
YY Ay
just what those agreements
unemployed worker,
$1.50 a dependent up to a maximum of four
dependents and his benefits will be paid up to
a2 weeks,
WE
Now that the 1961 round of UAW contract
negotiations is history, it is time to evaluate
Page
Nine
MAN’S
VOICE:
WIFE:
Hi, Mary. Door
have the key.
was
locked—I
don’t
But what’s the matter? You’re home
early!
(Camera swings to living-room door,
catches wife and husband entering.
He looks surprised, blinks in the glare
of the lights.)
TOM:
What’s going on?
WIFE:
(hurriedly)
TOM:
With
ANNCR:
Well, this is a surprise, all right, Mr.
WIFE:
This was
going
to be a
surprise. The television station is doing a survey—you know, that Roving
Reporter program,
you? Here?
Wilson. We didn’t expect you...
you’re on television right now.
But
what
tell me...
about
You
work?
a
didn’t
there’s nothing wrong, is
there?
TOM:
Good afternoon. This is your roving
ANNCR:
reporter with his regular program of
man-in-the-street interviews, bringing you the views and opinions of
the men and women in the shops, in
the offices, at home and away from
home. Today we’ve taken our mobile
TV studio to the home of Mrs. Mary
Wilson,
wife
of
an
auto
worker,
WIFE:
|
to
ask her how the new union contract
which has just been negotiated will
affect her and her family.
Hello, Mrs.
today?
Wilson,
How
are
'ANNCR:
you
WIFE:
WIFE:
Wilson. How many children do you
have?
| We have four. Larry, our baby, is
just six. And the girls, Debbi, 8; and
Nancy, 11. And Tom, junior —almost 14.
ANNCR:
job—we’ll
band’s
a
minute.
does it
maker?
But
affect
talk about
first,
©
new
hus-
your
job,
that in
as
home-
Oh, goodness. Sometimes I think it
affects me more than it does him,
almost. I’m the one that has to do
the shopping. He earns the money
but I spend it. And I have to be
WIFE:
very careful about the way I spend it,
too. I take care of the family budget.
Of
course,
my
husband
and
I—and
even the kids—talk about the budget, but it’s up to me to handle it.
ANNCR:
ANNCR:
WIFE:
make
any
difference
WIFE:
From
what
Tom
tells me,
ANNCR:
WIFE:
In what way?
Look, I don’t have to tell you that
the main thing any family needs is
a regular paycheck. That’s something
budget-planning ?
to
your
and what
I’ve been hearing, it sure will!
an hourly-rated worker could never
be sure of ... He never knows when
he’ll be laid off. Well, we’re getting
pretty close to a regular paycheck
right now — almost like somebody
with a salary. Now, whenever the
company has Tom work less than
If
he
gets
sick
or
hurt,
we'll
have
we
in than
coming
money
more
would have had before, till he gets
well. When he gets too old to work,
there will be a higher pension waiting for him,
ANNCR:
ANNCR:
WIFE:
what
these
worth to you?
(Gr r
Page
Ten
union
benefits
are
When are they closing it, Tom?
TOM:
About three, four weeks, I guess.
They didn’t tell us much. Sent us
home early ... It’s all right, Mary—
we're getting transferred to another
plant. |
WIFE:
TOM:
Where will they send us?
Don’t know. There are two or three
plants we could wind up in. We won’t
lose too much. We get to keep our
seniority and other things—we get a
moving allowance now, thanks to the
new union contract. It’ll pay for most
of our moving costs,
ANNCR:
Did this come as a Surprise to you?
OM:
Sure
mors
did.
Yeh,
around,
there
were
ru-
some
but I didn’t pay much
attention to them. Guess nobody did.
ANNCR:
TOM:
in the plant?
In other
vested
words,
right
he
had
in a pension.
acquired
|
a
WIFE:
Your
about
wife
and
conditions
I were
just talking
in your
shop,
and
about your new union contract. This
moving allowance is one of the features of it, isn’t it?
That’s right. There were so many
older plants being closed down, we
wanted to help protect the guys who
were getting shoved out the door.
Never thought it would happen to
me, though. I guess you always figure it’s going to happen only to the
other guy.
(had been staring out in space)
Everything will be all right, Tom.
I guess some other people have it a
ANNCR:
(finishing): . . been
into this problem.
WIFE:
(rising) Excuse me a minute. Somebody’s at the door.
(Goes
camera,
out.)
off
camera.
turns
head
really
looking
Announcer,
to
follow
on
her
(at right of camera) It’s Tom! He’s
home early! (Sound of door being
opened.) Tom, what—
Sure,
we’re
honey.
going
It’s okay. Remember,
to have more money
coming in, too. About $17, $18 a
month. The company is paying for
the hospital insurance—that’ll save
us about $11 a month ., . and we’re
holding onto the raise—you know,
that improvement factor I was telling you about. (Grins) Feel better,
now?
WIFE:
It sounds like you’ve...
(doorbell rings)
WIFE:
TOM:
That’s what he tells me — under
the union contract you’re building up
so much pension every year, and it’s
waiting for you when you retire. We
like that idea, too. Makes us feel he’s
not just working from paycheck to
paycheck, but he’s building up something for the future.
ANNCR:
So there’s no doubt in your mind
about
it?
WIFE:
How long has your husband worked -
Well, I’d say about—well, it’s over
10 years, I know that. I remember
the other day on his 40th birthday,
he told me he was “all set’”—that
now that he had worked 10 years
he would be getting a pension when
he was 65, even if he quit this job
right now.
at camera and around the room.)
Sure takes a lot of equipment for
this, doesn’t
to the union,
‘Tom’s older than me, and he had to
leave school and go to work when he
I guess we got ’em all right. (Looks
lot worse.
his 40 hours in a week, the company
will have to pay him at least half pay
for all the hours he lost. If he’s laid
off, he’ll be getting only about $25
less a week than if he was working.
TOM:
is the
afraid any more when he walks in
the door—that’s the part he thinks
is best of all. And Tom says the new
contract makes his job even better.
Will the new union agreement at the
plant
think
than a mule does.
Tom could tell it to you better than
I can. He says his union has given
him back his face and his name. He
says if something is wrong, he has
the right to argue with the boss
about it. He just doesn’t have to be
me—how
tell
Tom
was 15. So he remembers what it
was like to work in a factory before the union came in.
He says the worst part of the job
was being treated like a machine.
When you walked in that door you
lost your face and your name, practically —- you were just a number.
You were bought and paid for, and
you didn’t have anything more to
say about what happened to you
That sounds like a very nice family,
Of course, the
Mrs. Wilson.
contract affects your
union
what does
best part of belonging
if it isn’t the money?
here, Mrs.~
have a lovely home
You
a pencil and figure it out on paper.
Tom says the money part isn’t really
the best part. of. belonging to the
union. But I tell him you can’t
pay the supermarket with anything
but money if you want to eat. And
that’s one thing my Senuily is good
at—eating?
ANNCR: Why,
Hello, I’m just fine, thank you.
_ WIFE: :
Not as long as I can sit down with
Well, it’s a long story, honey...
Looks like they’re closing down the
plant. We just got the notice.
ANNCR: (hurriedly) Mr. Wilson, how about
joining us? We were just talking
about your problems...
(sighs in relief) Whew! I thought for
a minute the world was coming to
an end. (To announcer): I’m afraid
we messed up your program here
today.
ANNCR: Not a bit. I think our audience ap_.preciates your problems more by
watching you face this one. Every >
woman in our audience who’s had to
watch the pennies and worry about
her husband’s job will know what
you are going through. Thanks very
much for your help, Mrs. Wilson,
and you, Mr, Wilson. Goodbye.
_-
... they
were not
forsaken...
problems
“These
They
of
problems
the
are
serious.
and
urgent
are
workers
er
which affect oldmen
and
women whose years of toil have earned
them special consideration and respect,
have
and
who
the
answers
a time
reached
of life
when they can no longer hope to find
for
themselves.”’
—From “Workers’ Problems are
Democracy’s Problems,” UAW
Special
Collective
Bargaining
Convention, April 27-29, 1961
Ke
Some 7,000 men and women — almost all of
them UAW members retired on union-won pensions, and their wives—attended a giant rally
in Detroit, November 15.
They came by car, by bus. Many of them
walked with the aid of canes or crutches.
didn’t
walk
at all;
they
came
Some
in wheelchairs,
pushed by more able-bodied mates or relatives
or friends.
:
They came because of their problems.
They came to tell the world—not as charity
eases, but as their right after their years of
service—that they needed help in paying the
high cost of their medical care. They came
to show their support for the bill which
would tie the cost of health care to the social
security system.
Among them were Joe Memmelstein, and his
wife. He retired some time ago after years of
work at Ford’s.
A
Little
Extra
Money
Because he is the more able-bodied, he came
to the rally pushing his wife in her wheelchair.
She has suffered a stroke and she may not
walk again.
Health care sometimes takes more than a
-third of their total monthly
income.
But most
of the time they pay $30 and $40 or more during’ a month for doctor and medicine, out of an
income of little more than $160.
“Or we try and stay away from the doctoring and the medicines, if we can,” he explained simply. “We make out the best we
can.”
Other pensioners report similar problems trying to make ends meet, with health care costs
mounting and sometimes eating up money desperately needed for food or rent.
Because of the immensity of the problem, almost all pensioners were keenly aware of, and
grateful for, the benefit gained for them in the
new auto contracts, in which the companies
agreed to pay the half the cost of hospitalsurgical-medical insurance for retirees and
their wives.
Most retirees will save about $9 or $10 a
month under this arrangement. A few will
save even more. This extra money means
they stand a better chance
meet.
ends
of making
The new contracts mean higher pensions for
workers who retire after January 1, 1962. Even
those who retired since August, 1961, will get
the higher pension beginning January, 1962.
s
er
rk
wo
the
p
hel
o
als
l
wil
s
ct
ra
nt
co
w
The ne
who
retire
must
choose
to retire
month
per year
because
at age
of disability
60.
or
who
Here’s how workers retiring under the new
contract will benefit by its provisions:
a
0
.8
$2
to
go
ll
wi
l
ve
le
t
fi
ne
@ The basic be
and
future.
of service
for
all years,
past
25
th
wi
er
rk
wo
d
re
ti
re
e
th
g
in
That will br
years
of service
a pension
of $70
addition to social security benefits.
in
a month,
A 30-year
n
ma
r
ea
-y
35
a
d
an
4
$8
e
iv
ce
re
ll
wi
er
rk
wo
from the company.
ts
fi
ne
be
l
ta
to
e
th
,
ty
ri
cu
se
al
ci
Including so
er
ov
or
65
is
fe
wi
e
os
wh
er
rk
wo
r
ea
-y
25
for a
r
ea
-y
30
e
th
r
fo
h;
nt
mo
a
50
$2
to
will come
worker $264, and the 35-year man, $278.
“This is going to make a big difference to
ie
ch
Ar
ys
sa
,”
re
ti
re
to
y
ad
re
g
in
tt
ge
le
op
pe
d
an
d
ze
ni
ga
or
s
ha
o
wh
e
re
ti
re
W
UA
r,
Bake
heads a senior citizens’ social club in Detroit.
There is a new provision which will bring
greater peace of mind to many retirees. This
is the new survivor’s benefit which will provide a widow with half of her husband’s
pension when he dies. Although this requires
that he accepts a somewhat
smaller monthly
pension during his life, the company pays
_ part of the cost te provide his widow with the
survivor
benefit.
©
;
a
of
his
if
65-year-old worker retiring
service elects the survivor
65-year-old wife will have
he dies before her.
:
He will receive $63 a month pension for the
rest of his life, and his widow then will receive
half of this—$31.50—for the rest of her life in
addition to her widow’s pension under Social
Security.
Similarly, a 30-year worker will get $75.60
and his widow $37.80, and a 35-year man $88.20
and his widow $44.10.
“We all know of cases in which a man dies
within a few months after he retires,” remarked a veteran pension committee chairman.
““He’d
only
drawn
pension money
those years of
out a small
he was
service
portion
of the
entitled to, after
in the plant, yet
all
he
wasn’t able to pass any of it on to his widow,
who needs it desperately.
“Now retirees will be able to take care of
their widows this way.
All of us are very,
very glad the union negotiators were able to
win this benefit.”
Pension committeemen, who constantly see
| the problems faced by older workers, point with
pride to other improvements made this year in
pension plans.
$98
a. Big. Difference
Nokes
For example,
. after 25 years
benefit so that
some protection
Early
Retirement
Benefits
Older workers who find it harder and harder
to stay with the job, who suffer from the aches
‘and pains that come with age, will find it easier
to retire early because the pension benefit is
higher.
Workers who become permanently and totally
if
n
io
ns
pe
y
lit
abi
dis
a
get
w
no
y
ma
ed
bl
disa
they
have
10 years
of credited
service,
rather.
than 15 years as required in the old contract.
And, of course, the vested rights provisions
have been liberalized. Workers are now assured of full credit for all their years of service
ns.
sio
pen
ted
ves
to
ed
itl
ent
me
co
be
y
the
en
wh
At age 65, they may claim their pension benefit
of
r
yea
h
eac
for
h
nt
mo
a
80
$2.
of
e
rat
the
at
Moreover, they, too, will have the
-service.
right to claim a reduced pension as early as
age 60.
Page
Eleven
.
John Sagal is a serious, husky UAW member~
who is proud of his union’s new contract which
brings him more security and take-home pay.
The 38-year-old Sagal, a native of Manitoba,
Canada, who has been a U.S. citizen for many
years, is a plastics model duplicator at the huge
General Motors Technical Center in Warren,
rose He has worked for GM on and off since
955
Sagal, his wife, Virginia and their six daughters live in a modest asbestos shingle and
frame cottage in St. Clair Shores, a middle income suburb of Detroit.
Originally, the cottage contained only four
rooms, But as his family grew, Sagal, industrious and handy with carpenter’s tools, added
living quarters in both the attic and basement.
Take-Home
Pay
He finds time for other activities, too. Leader of his church congregation, he also has
taken
schools
And
part in community
and
similar
programs
civic projects.
concerning
each year, “to help out with the budg-
et,”” the family works a sizeable portion of its
not-too-deep back yard into a vegetable garden. The tomatoes, beans, cabbage and other
produce that don’t turn up fresh-picked on
the kitchen table are canned for use during the
winter months.
For the Sagals and other Big Four auto
workers and their families, however, the new
UAW
contracts provide important, basic guar-
antees—‘“for
the
the lean ones,”
Sagal put it.
good
months,
is the way
John
and
against
and Virginia
Take-home pay? Sagal pencilled the increase
on a Sheet of paper as he sat at his kitchen
table.
“This year I got a raise of 6c an hour,”
the dark-haired Tech Center worker
“That comes to about $11 a month. |
“Add to that the $11.50 a month
said.
the com-
pany will pay for hospital-medical insurance
coverage that I had been paying,” he said.
“That comes to a total of $22.50 a month more
in my pocket in take-home pay.”
“The increase the union won enabled us
to buy new living room furniture we’ve needed for years,” said Mrs. Sagal, a pleasant, at-
tractive woman.
‘‘And we also feel able now to start thinking
of college for at least some of the kids.” The
youngsters are Gail, 16; Sharon, 15; Linda, and
Laurie, twins, 11; Grace, 10, and Cheryl, 4.
lf a Layoff Comes
_SUB? “TI was laid off three months last year.
It’s hard to put into words the relief a man
in my position feels when he knows how much
union has improved SUB, ’*? Sagal commentpa
e
“Tf a lay-off comes, we know the family
will be provided for a lot better and a lot
longer,” his wife added. “John figures he’d
get about $85 a week if he were laid off.
everybody
“Being protected economically,
isn’t under such a strain and the whole family
gets along normally.”
Full payment by the corporation of medicalhospital-surgical insurance coverage? ‘‘That’s
one of the things that makes us feel a lot more
secure,” Mrs. Sagal explained.
“Especially since a fellow who’s laid off will
keep getting this protection for a decent period
of time,” her husband said.
_. The gains UAW. made in hospital-medicalsurgical insurance coverage, moreover, also are
meaningful to Mrs. Sagal’s parents,
Mrs. Edward Webber.
Mr.
That’s because
ment
the settlements provide pay-
by the corporations
of half the medical-
hospital-surgical premium costs for retirees and
their wives. For Webber, who retired at GM
after 40 years there, and his wife, this amounts
2
to a “take-home pay increase,”’ too.
“The few extra dollars a week this will give
nee they need,”’ inca
them will be spent on
Sagal said.
“Older folks won’t let you know when ‘bak
might need help because they want to feel
independent and they figure you’ve got your
own problems,” she said. “So the union’s
gains for retirees are a real help for them.”
"Better Living for Us...’
Sagal describes the union-won gains as “very
satisfactory.”
“‘A worker wants to be able to support his
family decently,” he said. “You want to feed,
‘clothe, and house them adequately, and have
$5 or $10 to spend on extras once in a while,
‘‘You want to have steady income and be able
to meet the needs of your wife and children;
you want to be able to take care of emergencies.
“The new contract goes further toward these
things than any other we ever had.”
“Yll tell you how I feel, personally,” Virginia Sagal added. “Since John has been a
member of the UAW, the benefits we’ve had
through the union have meant much better
_living for us and for our kids.
“But the new contract means more than
some important gains for us today, It’s ietting
us do some planning ahead.”
and
New Contracts Score Significan t Gains
l
l
A
r
Fo
s
ie
it
un
rt
po
Op
b
Jo
l
ua
Eq
For
The new UAW contracts make a significant.
contribution in the long struggle to win equal
rights for all workers, regardless of race, creed,
color or national origin.
tion basis, without regard to race, creed, color
or national origin.
In addition to gaining this new milestone
in the field of human rights, UAW negotia-
Each of the Big Four has given to the
UAW for the first time a clear, written policy of non-discrimination at the hiring gates.
Non-discrimination clauses, guaranteeing full
contract protection to all workers, were written
This means that the Big Four have pledged—
in writing—to extend employment opportunities to qualified workers on a non-discriminae
Page Twelve
tors extended the scope of already established
principles.
into the contracts where they did not previousexist. These clauses are all backed up by grievance procedures. which can be brought into
operation if there are any violations of the
workers’ rights.
DISCUSSING gains made by UAW members
in new contracts are President Walter Reuther and Secretary-Treasurer Emil Mazey.
- Item sets