UAW kicks Marines out....

[RetPara]

Ron Gettelfinger, President
UAW International
Solidarity House
8000 East Jefferson Avenue
Detroit, Michigan 48214
(313) 926-5000

Marines driven out of UAW lot

The union says Marines in foreign cars, displaying Bush stickers unwelcome.

By Eric Mayne / The Detroit News

DETROIT -- The United Auto Workers says Marine reservists should show a little more semper fi if they want to use the union's parking lot.

The Marine Corps motto means "always faithful," but the union says some reservists working out of a base on Jefferson Avenue in Detroit have been decidedly unfaithful to their fellow Americans by driving import cars and trucks.

So the UAW International will no longer allow members of the 1st Battalion 24th Marines to park at Solidarity House if they are driving foreign cars or displaying pro-President Bush bumper stickers

"While reservists certainly have the right to drive nonunion made vehicles and display bumper stickers touting the most anti-worker, anti-union president since the 1920s, that doesn't mean they have the right to park in a lot owned by the members of the UAW," the union said in a statement released Friday.

Shocked and disappointed, the Marines are pulling out.

"You either support the Marines or you don't," said Lt. Col. Joe Rutledge, commanding officer of the battalion's active duty instructors. "I'm telling my Marines that they're no longer parking there."

At a time when U.S. armed forces are fighting and dying in Iraq and Afghanistan, quibbling over parking privileges is "silly," Rutledge said.

The UAW has a long history of barring foreign-made cars from its parking lots. The subject is touchier than ever as Detroit's Big Three loses market share, driving down union membership.

The pro-Bush bumper stickers are another sore spot after last year's election.

UAW President Ron Gettelfinger opposed President Bush, accusing him of ignoring calls for labor law reform and failing to combat unfair business practices in China -- a growing threat to U.S. manufacturers.

The dispute arises as the UAW, using laid-off workers for labor, is building a $300,000 home for the Veterans of Foreign Wars. The home in Eaton Rapids will operate a residential program for children of veterans who don't have parents, or whose parents can't care for them.

"We do not think it is unreasonable to expect our guests to practice the simple principle of not insulting their host," the UAW statement said.

Rutledge is unmoved.

"I don't see it as a snub against them," he said, adding no conditions were set when the union first began allowing the Marines to park in the lot several years ago. "We're appreciative of what they've done, but you don't come into my office and say, 'OK, we're not going to support some of your Marines.' I don't know what a foreign car is today anyway. BMWs are made in South Carolina now."


You can reach Eric Mayne at (313) 222-2443 or emayne@detnews.com.
http://www.detnews.com/2005/autosins...C01-115531.htm

[MACTANK]

While I don't agree with this, as the UAW is thumbing their noses at the very source of their freedom to have a Union in place, several UAW locals have had signs in their parking lot's diallowing foreign cars for years.

They should be ashamed!

[cb88]

Foreign cars is one thing...while I don't agree with it, I see their point...that is their livelihood. But to not allow basic 1st amendment rights by having Pro-Bush bumper stickers????? Yeah, liberals are all about the 1st Amendment....except when it's against something they are for.

[RetPara]

The 'situation' has been resolved... The UAW President, who claims to have been a former Marine Reservist, reinvited all the Marines from the Reserve Center to start parking in the UAW lot again. The Marine LTC commanding the center turned him down flat. On WJR radio the LTC said that you were either with the Marines or against them... No Marine will park in the UAW lot. Another facility nearby has offered the Marines parking.

WJR morning host, Paul W. Smith, took a real lead in this the morning. He was taking calls on this and pre-empted all his other scheduled guests for this. The god-father of his 2 YO daughter is a Marine.

www.wjr.com

[kruser79]

Wow, that had to have been an excellent show. I'd like to have heard it.

[Bluehawk]

I like that concept, if UAW can't pull its head out of its rear-end long enough to recognize what they should about military and freedom of speech, then a Marines parking lot sounds perfect. No draft-dodgers, non-vets or anti-Bush or Kerry-Edwards stickers allowed. No pink or red vehicles either

Here's somethin' else though... I have long been and will always be a "Union" supporter.

I just don't think the Democrats oughta get quite so smug as they are about "owning" Union political allegiance... if the Repubs had one brain cell left they'd do whatever it took to get labor Unions on their side.

First step = Unionize Wal-Mart... make that company's privileged tax/tariff life so potentially tricky that they HAVE to unionize to survive.