Steve Yokich - Grace Under Fire

  
by John Davis UAW Local 2195
On Friday, August 16, 2002, labor lost one of her great leaders. Retired UAW International President Stephen P. Yokich died quietly at St. John’s Hospital in Detroit after suffering a stroke on August 15. He was 66 years old.
The news sent a shock and wave of sadness throughout the UAW and the entire labor movement. Only ten weeks before, Yokich had retired as International President and turned his attention toward political reform and social issues. This brief time of retirement followed a 46-year career in labor.

Steve was a third generation union member, taking his first steps on a picket line when he was just 22 months old. His parents, Steve and Julia Yokich, were union activists, so young Steve learned early on what belonging to the union meant.

From 1952-1956, Steve served his country in the Air Force, joining UAW Local 155 as tool and diemaker apprentice at Heidrich Tool and Die Company in Oak Park, Michigan following his discharge. In 1967 he was appointed to the Region 1 staff by Walter Reuther, being elected Regional Director in 1977.

In 1980 he was elected Vice President of UAW and directed the union’s Agricultural Implement Department for the next three years, preserving UAW benefits at ag-imp companies and winning new profit-sharing agreements. After his reelection as International Vice-President in 1983, he headed up the Ford Department until 1989 when he moved to the GM Department. During Steve’s years as head of the Ford and GM Departments, he led contract negotiations that resulted in new gains in job security and worker involvement. In 1995, convention delegates elected him as President of the International Union, a position he held until June of 2002 when he retired.

Steve Yokich directed the UAW through some of the most trying times in its history. The economic downturns of the 1980’s provided him with many challenges as he directed the Ford and GM Departments. During his tenure as President the industry faced the challenges of ridiculous trade agreements such as NAFTA, which resulted in the loss of thousands of manufacturing sector jobs, particularly in the auto industry. However, during these trying times Yokich led negotiating teams that won landmark contracts with job security and improved worker’s rights. Other gains included dependent tuition assistance and a paid holiday for election day, so all members would have the chance to get out and vote. Even though Steve was retiring, he had no plans to sit down. . “When we retire,” he told delegates at the Convention this past June in Las Vegas, “we expect you to do your share to make it an even greater union. Every generation has an obligation, and your obligation is to build a better union.”
Steve’s passing was felt not only within the UAW, but across labor and the automotive industry as well.

UAW International President Ron Gettelfinger offered these comments “Our union lost a powerful and eloquent leader today, and working people all over the world have lost a tireless advocate for economic and social justice. Steve Yokich led our union during a period of unprecedented economic and political challenges. He was extraordinarily skilled at adapting to changing times and changing circumstances, and extraordinarily committed to a core vision of social unionism: organizing the unorganized, representing our members as forcefully as possible at the bargaining table, and speaking out as strongly as possible on social issues that affect all workers and citizens, whether or not they are union members, in this country and abroad.”

AFL-CIO President John Sweeney had this to say about Steve Yokich. “As a Vice President of the AFL-CIO and a member of our Executive Council, he helped lead our movement to new heights of legislative and political effectiveness and to new depths of concern for the disenfranchised, the unemployed, and the poor. He devoted his entire working life to others, and it is a tragedy his years of rest were cut so short. Every worker in America is in his debt, and I know that every leader in our movement joins me in sending expressions of profound sympathy and condolence to his family, and to the UAW members he so proudly represented.”

Delphi Chairman, CEO and President J. T. Battenberg III expressed condolences to Mr. Yokich’s family, friends and colleagues. “Steve was a true advocate for UAW members and working people everywhere. He worked tirelessly to increase job security for them and to improve American competitiveness,” Battenberg said. “I admired his passion for his work and his tenacity in getting things done. Our industry has lost one of its most vocal ‘fans’ and we will miss him. Our sympathies to his family, to the UAW’s members and leadership, and to the members of Team Delphi who knew and admired him.”

As stated, Steve Yokich led the UAW through some very troubled times. Downsizing and unfair trade agreements placed an additional burden on the Union, and the leadership. It is easy to pilot the ship when the seas are calm, for all you have to do is stand with your hand on the rudder and let the ship guide itself. It is when the winds blow and the waves rise up angry that a captain’s metal is really tested. Steve Yokich withstood that test and kept the ship afloat.

The term “grace under fire” could well be used to describe Steve Yokich, because he always kept his focus. Whether it was delivering a gut-wrenching speech to a convention or offering words of support on a picket line, Steve Yokich had the membership’s best interest at heart. He was never one to pull punches, and always shot from the hip. At the 2002 CAP Convention, Steve condemned our government’s trade polices and practices, blasting both the Bush and Clinton Administrations. Prior to Steve’s speech, New York Senator Hillary Clinton had just spoken to the conference and was still setting at the head table when Steve gave his address. He was close enough to Senator Clinton to reach out and touch her, but that didn’t matter. Her presence made no difference in his speech.

As the Editor of Local 2195's publication Steering South, I had the opportunity to listen to Steve Yokich speak a number of times. The PR Department seldom issued copies of his speeches afterward, because he seldom kept to the text. His message was from the heart, and not a script prepared by someone else.

There are those who will point out missteps that were made, but Steve Yokich was human just as you and I. However, when you add the good against the bad, the deck will definitely be stacked in Steve Yokich’s favor. He will always be remembered for the good he did and we should never forget the advancements we knew as a result of his efforts. While a great voice for labor has been silenced, his words and ideas will live on. Great American statesman Horace Mann once said, “Be ashamed to die until you have won one battle for humanity.” With that said, Steve Yokich died with absolutely nothing to be ashamed of.

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