Ford worker who fought concessions will seek UAW presidency against union’s vice president

Ford worker in long-shot bid for UAW presidency

DETROIT — A worker at a Ford Motor Co. pickup truck factory in Dearborn, Michigan, will run against United Auto Workers Vice President Bob King for the union’s top post.

But Gary Walkowicz, a bargaining committeeman at the F-150 pickup plant, says he knows there is little chance he can win because of the way delegates are elected for the union’s Constitutional Convention, which begins Monday in Detroit. Delegates will elect a president to replace the retiring Ron Gettelfinger.

Walkowicz announced his candidacy Wednesday in a letter to fellow workers at the plant.

He said he’ll campaign to reverse concessions given to Ford, General Motors Co. and Chrysler Group LLC.

The union, he said, should try to get back cost-of-living raises, retiree health care benefits, bonuses and other items it gave up in negotiations during the last three years. Gettelfinger, who is retiring in June, advocated the concessions because of the auto companies’ dire financial situations.

GM and Chrysler had to take government aid to survive and each went through Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, while Ford had to borrow billions to stay in business.

King was endorsed in December by the union’s executive board and by factory-level leaders to succeed Gettelfinger.

Walkowicz was among the leaders who helped defeat a round of concessions to Ford last fall. Those concessions were negotiated by King.

Many of the convention delegates, Walkowicz said, are local union leaders and are inclined to vote for the candidate endorsed by the executive board.

The UAW has 355,000 members across the country, down from a high of 1.5 million in the 1979.