Owen Bieber - UAW Presidency

UAW Presidency

Bieber was not considered as charismatic as his predecessors. He was often reticent to the point of shyness with the press, and took lessons from broadcasters to improve his speaking. His leadership style was considered over-cautious, as he feared to make mistakes, and he was emotionally stoic.

Initially, Bieber was denied a seat on the board of directors of Chrysler. Chrysler had put UAW president Douglas Fraser on its board in 1979 after Fraser helped win $1.5 billion in loan guarantees from the federal government that kept Chrysler out of bankruptcy. Worried that Fraser's seat not become the "UAW seat," Chrysler chief executive officer Lee Iacocca threatened not to appoint Fraser's successor to the board of directors. Fraser persuaded Iacocca that appearances would be served if Fraser stayed on a board for one more year, and then the new UAW president could be elected. Iacocca agreed to the plan. Fraser was elected in 1983 to a one-year term on Chrysler's board. Bieber joined the Chrysler board in October 1984, and remained on it until 1991. The UAW went without representation on Chrysler's board for the next seven years, until Stephen Yokich joined the board of the now-German owned company in 1998.

Walter Reuther and other presidents of the UAW had been active in a number of social issues, and Bieber continued that tradition. In 1983, he was a member of a controversial effort to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. Bieber joined the National Labor Committee, a group which opposed U.S. support for the Contras in Nicaragua. The group successfully overcame vocal opposition from staunch anti-communists on the AFL-CIO executive council to win approval of a resolution that put the labor federation in favor of a negotiated settlement and criticized the Reagan administration of seeking only a military solution. In January 1986, he won AFL-CIO approval of a boycott of U.S. companies doing business in South Africa under apartheid. Later that year, he traveled to South Africa, where he met with several cabinet ministers and angrily demanded that the government release anti-apartheid labor leaders who had been jailed but never charged with any crimes. He also successfully put pressure on GM to pay these workers until they had been convicted. In 1990, shortly after his release from prison, Nelson Mandela traveled to the United States and thanked Bieber for his support; Bieber gave him a guided tour of the Ford River Rouge Complex.

Bieber also pressed for adoption of a national industrial policy. He began pressing for a national industrial policy in June 1983, shortly after his election as UAW president. His efforts reached a high point in 1993, when Bieber the chief executive officers of Chrysler, Ford, and General Motors met with President-elect Bill Clinton—winning Clinton's support for the domestic auto industry. But less than a year later, Clinton won passage of the North American Free Trade Agreement over Bieber's strenuous objections.