Owen Bieber - Other Activities

Other Activities

Bieber was a self-described "staunch Democrat." However, he was unable to achieve agreement within the UAW over which of the many Democratic candidates to support in the presidential primaries. In 1992, Bieber was unable to win AFL-CIO support for a Democratic presidential primary candidate after his preferred candidate, Senator Tom Harkin, withdrew from the race in March 1992.

Bieber was elected to the Executive Council of the AFL-CIO shortly after assuming the UAW presidency, and served as chair of the Committee on Reindustrialization of the AFL-CIO Industrial Union Department. However, in 1995 he was one of several AFL-CIO presidents who secretly worked to depose Lane Kirkland as president of the labor federation. The night before the AFL-CIO mid-winter executive council meeting in Bal Harbour, Florida, February 19–20, 1995, Bieber joined 11 other union presidents on the executive council to form a "Committee for Change" committed to removing Kirkland as president of the AFL-CIO. The 11 union leaders had enough votes to unseat Kirkland. During the executive council meeting, the group demanded that Kirkland resign or retire, but he refused. Bieber strongly supported the successful candidacy of John Sweeney as his successor. Bieber stepped down as UAW president before the AFL-CIO quadrennial convention in August 1995, however, and left the actual job of electing a successor to Kirkland to Yokich.

Bieber also served on the President's Advisory Committee for Trade Negotiations (an advisory committee of the federal government) and was a long-time member of the National Urban League. He also was a veteran member of the board of directors of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). In this role, Bieber proved critical in the effort to remove Dr. William F. Gibson as chairman of the NAACP. Many members of the NAACP board wished to replace Gibson with Myrlie Evers-Williams, widow of slain civil rights activist Medgar Evers. But Gibson's support on the board was still strong. Evers-Williams' supporters knew that Bieber wanted Gibson removed, but that Bieber rarely attended NAACP board meetings. Evers-Williams' backers persuaded Bieber that his attendance was critical to the vote, and he attended the meeting. Gibson was dismissed as president on February 18, 1995, by a vote of 30 to 29.

Bieber was also heavily involved in his local community as well. He served on the board of directors of Project Rehab (a Michigan-based alcohol and drug rehabilitation service agency), the Michigan League for Human Services, West Michigan Comprehensive Health Planning Unit, the Michigan State Health Advisory Board, and the Michigan State Mental Health Board. He also was a member of the Personnel and Labor Advisory Council of Grand Valley State College.