Saturday, September 27, 2003
Members are upset that UAW requested abortion coverage in contract talks.
KNIGHT RIDDER NEWSPAPERS
DETROIT -- Moments after the news broke this summer, petitions started circulating in the plants, the phones started ringing at Solidarity House in Detroit, and abortion protesters sprang into action.
As United Auto Workers members continue voting on their new contract, the controversial proposal that shocked many union members into action -- health care coverage for abortions -- has been quashed.
UAW President Ron Gettelfinger was furious that union and company sources taking part in confidential contract talks had leaked the contentious proposal to the press for the first time. The union had quietly asked for the coverage of elective abortions, which aren't medically necessary, in the past.
Unintended result
The UAW, which refused to comment on the issue, may have always intended the issue to fall by the wayside. The union sometimes makes throwaway demands during contract talks that it can easily abandon in exchange for something it really wants.
But the move into the highly charged, divisive abortion issue -- when core issues such as jobs, pensions and basic health benefits were at stake -- offended many union and nonunion workers.
The proposal also raised questions about the UAW's liberal political leanings, what bargaining information members think they are entitled to and whether the union will ask for abortion coverage again in the future.
The union has not taken an official position on abortion, and workers never had any prior indication the topic was up for discussion. Conservative autoworkers, many of whom find their beliefs increasingly in conflict with the UAW's, were shocked when they heard the news.
"Everybody was upset," said Robert Pollard, a Lansing, Mich.-based UAW member who has worked for General Motors Corp. for 42 years. He said the union should be more worried about job security and called the proposal "an insult to every Christian member of the UAW."
Some also doubted the request was a throwaway one. They expressed concern that other union members do favor abortion coverage and that the demand seemed reminiscent of another benefit change that some conservative members disliked.
The union helped secure benefits for the partners of gay workers in 2000 by getting the automakers to agree to study the issue in the 1999 national contract. The move prevented the actual change from going before members when they voted to ratify or reject the deal, and workers said they fear abortion coverage might take a similar path.
An undetermined number of protesters called Gettelfinger's office to complain about the abortion request. He is a devout Catholic, and many callers said they were, too.