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UAW Solidarity
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UAW Solidarity
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1966-10-01
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Vol. 9 No. 10
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trees Whoop It Up
Siaut Football Field never had
a more spirited or enthusiastic
crowd than the 5,000 UAW oldtimers who poured into its bleachers for Region 3’s first retirees’
picnic.
They came to the Kokomo High
School athletic field from 70 of
Indiana’s 92 counties and from
Louisville, Ky. to demonstrate the
solidarity of UAW’s retired members and to give impressive proof
of their support of the union’s
collective bargaining and legislative efforts.
There were many who had to
set their alarm clocks for 3:30
a.m. in order to catch some of the
78 buses which travelled as much
as 250 miles to the gaily decorated
picnic site.
Leaders of the four UAW locals in Kokomo were joined by
hundreds of their fellow townsmen in playing host to the retirees. There were dance exhibitions and music by the Kokomo
High School band and a German
orchestra. The American Legion
furnished a group of entertainers.
Two hundred Boy Scouts served
hot box lunches of fish, pork tenderloin, salad, potatoes, rolls and
beverage which were packed by
Kokomo women. Seventy-five Gir]
Scouts worked as usherettes.
The picnic was not only the
first
state-wide
gathering
of
re-
tirees to be held in Indiana but
also the largest union turnout the
state has ever seen. Political acon the agenda
high
tion was
and the great
of the program
and
of voting records
amount
taken
literature
COPE
other
away by the retirees was evidence of their determination to
make an impact on the November
elections.
pledge to improve
UAW’s
medical-hospital-surgi-
and
sions
pen-
cal.benefits through legislation as
well as contract negotiations was
brought to the retirees by Roy
Reuther, director of the union’s
Citizenship Dept., and by Irving
Bluestone, administrative assistant to President Walter P. Reuther.
Regional
Director
Ray
Berndt
received a pledge in return. Working vigorously to increase union
participation in community affairs, Berndt had assurance from
the retirees of increased activities
in
the
where
small
they
towns
live.
and
villages
The picnic date coincided with
Berndt’s birthday and that pledge
was
as nice a present
as any
un-
ion leader would want. And that
in addition to one of the finest
renditions of. “Happy Birthday”
ever sung by a 5,000-voice chorus
in Kokomo or anywhere else.
=.
October,
1966—UAW
SOLIDARITY—Page
11
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