UAW Takes Control of Local for Election

The United Auto Workers international union announced Thursday that it will temporarily take over its large Long Beach local in order to ensure a “fair, free election” for the local union’s officers.

The UAW acted after a 12-hour hearing in Detroit Wednesday in which members of the local said there were substantial irregularities in the conduct of the local’s election two weeks ago.

UAW Local 148 represents about 10,000 active and 5,000 retired members at the Douglas Aircraft Division of McDonnell Douglas Corp. It is the largest UAW local in the western United States.

A preliminary count in the election showed that incumbent President Bob Berghoff led the field with 3,946 (48.8%) of the 8,079 unchallenged ballots cast, leading challengers Doug Griffith, who received 2,811 votes and Jean Gregory, 1,322. All three candidates asserted afterward that there were irregularities in the conduct of the election. The international’s action effectively sets aside the vote.

The election was held amid a protracted slowdown campaign being waged by members of Local 148 in Long Beach and by the International Assn. of Machinists at Douglas plants in nearby Torrance and Huntington Beach. Members of both unions are angry about changes in their contract imposed by the company after collective bargaining broke down last fall.

The UAW international has had disagreements with Berghoff, the leader of the slowdown campaign. Bruce Lee, the union’s western regional director, sent out a letter to all members that was critical of Berghoff shortly before the May 12 election. However, a prepared statement from UAW President Owen Bieber Thursday stressed that imposing a temporary administratorship over the local has nothing to do with the slowdown.

“We want it clearly understood that our action . . . had nothing whatever to do with the programs or position of any candidate or caucus in the local union,” Bieber said.

“The overwhelming weight of the testimony presented yesterday (Wednesday), much of it unrebutted by the Local 148 officers who were present . . . led our board to the conclusion that a short-term administratorship is essential in order to permit the members of the local a chance to elect their local union officers with complete confidence that the election will be conducted in a fair and orderly manner,” Bieber said in a statement issued from union headquarters in Detroit.

Berghoff retorted by asserting that the international did not give him an adequate opportunity to rebut charges made at the Wednesday hearing. He also repeated charges he had made earlier that the international is trying to steal the election from him.

Thursday afternoon, the local’s executive board voted to send a letter to the international vigorously protesting the imposition of the administratorship.

“It is a disgrace and deals a blow to unionism,” the letter said.

Additionally, the local executive board passed a resolution calling for the use of paper ballots that can be counted in the new election and advocates hiring the American Arbitration Assn. to conduct the election.

Berghoff said that allowing the international to conduct the election “would be like allowing Dracula to supervise a blood bank.”

A UAW source in Detroit said he thought that a new election could be held in three to six weeks.

Bieber’s prepared statement did not detail any of the alleged irregularities. However, sources said that a host of allegations were raised at Wednesday’s hearing. They included charges that: Poll workers received eight hours pay for four hours work, the number of votes cast outnumbered the voters who registered, some ballots were counted more than once, some vote counters tried to take ballots home with them and that the company interfered with the conduct of the election.

Most of the allegations dealt with assertions that people loyal to Berghoff had improper control of the election process. But Berghoff has accused the company of seeking to defeat him, pointing to a letter sent to employees a few days before the election. The letter criticized the slowdown and raised the specter of lost jobs if it did not stop.

Company officials have denied that they tried to affect the outcome of the vote.