UAW President's Office: Stephen P. Yokich Records

Collection

Identifier: LR001626

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

The UAW President's Office: Stephen Yokich Records reflect the activities of the union’s offices of President and Vice-President during Yokich’s respective tenures. These records are critical to understanding the activities of the International Union during the late twentieth century, as well as metro Detroit’s labor movement during that same period. The collection covers a wide variety of union business, including conventions, political activity by the UAW Citizenship and Legislative Committee, various negotiations with Ford and GM, agricultural implement negotiations, the UAW’s 50th anniversary, the creation of the golf course at Black Lake, proposed unification with the USW and IAM, local bylaws, the public review board, and more. The Records also reflects Stephen Yokich’s involvements outside of the UAW, including supporting the Detroit Newspaper Strike, his work with the AFL-CIO, the NAACP, and local Michigan Arab-American organizations.

Dates

1935-2004

Creator

International Union, United Automobile, Aerospace, and Agricultural Implement Workers of America. Office of the President (Organization)

Conditions Governing Access

Series 3: Local union files (boxes 58, 109-129) and Series 6: Public Review Board cases (boxes 44-56 and 136-139) require a signed restricted use statement for access, and may not be duplicated. Privacy laws and restrictions imposed by the Library prohibit the use of names and other personal information which might identify an individual, except with written permission from the Director and/or the donor.

Conditions Governing Use

Refer to the Walter P. Reuther Library Rules for Use of Archival Materials. Restrictions: Researchers may encounter records of a sensitive nature – personnel files, case records and those involving investigations, legal and other private matters. Privacy laws and restrictions imposed by the Library prohibit the use of names and other personal information which might identify an individual, except with written permission from the Director and/or the donor.

Biographical / Historical

Stephen Phillip Yokich was President of the UAW from 1994-2002. As president of the union during a time of great change to the auto industry, he oversaw negotiations for increased benefits, expanded the union into new fields, and helped navigate autoworkers through a period of job cuts. Born in 1935, the same month as the UAW’s founding convention, Stephen’s parents and grandfathers were UAW members. According to his mother, he “walked” his first picket line when he was just a year old. These connections to the auto industry led him to a job at Hiedrich Tool and Die Co. at a young age. He would soon become involved in union activities through his UAW chapter, Local 155, which soon led to an appointment to the UAW Region 1 staff by then President Walter Reuther. In the 1980s, he was elected to the position of Vice-President, while also heading up the UAW’s Ford Motor and then General Motor’s departments. In 1995, he was elected at the UAW’s Constitutional Convention to succeed Owen Bieber as International President. In 1998, delegates re-elected him to the same role, which he served in until 2002. In his time overseeing negotiations with automakers, the UAW bargained for substantial gains. This included COLA gains for retirees, healthcare upgrades, and much more. Operating in a post-NAFTA environment, Yokich unsuccessfully tried to organize “transplant” foreign car factories in the US. He also oversaw the union as the Big Three shrunk their workforces. To counter these losses in membership, the UAW further organized workers in new fields, such as casinos and higher education. These non-automotive workers now make up a large portion of the UAW’s overall membership.

Yokich served in numerous roles in the greater community. He was named Arab American of the Year in 1995. He was a Democrat and a member of progressive organizations such as the NAACP and Coalition of Labor Union Woman.

He was married to Tekla Baumgartner and had two children with her. Just months after retiring from the UAW, Stephen unexpectedly suffered a massive stroke, and soon passed away in August 2002.

Extent

147 Linear Feet (139 storage boxes, 4 oversize boxes)

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Abstract

Arrangement

Arranged in six series Series 1: UAW international offices of the President and Vice President Boxes 1-13, 26-39, 42-43, 70-86, 103-109, 129-135, 140-143

Series 2: UAW international offices of the President and Vice President: Bylaws Boxes 5-6, 14-25, 40-43, 57

Series 3: UAW international offices of the President and Vice President: Local union files Boxes 58, 109-129

Series 4: UAW international offices of the President and Vice President: Subject files Boxes 59, 88-103

Series 5: UAW international offices of the President and Vice President: Office of Frank Musick Boxes59-69

Series 6: UAW international offices of the President and Vice President: Public Review Board cases Boxes 44-56, 136-139

Immediate Source of Acquisition

The UAW Office of the President: Stephen Yokich Records were deposited in the Walter P. Reuther Library in during a period from the 1990s-2000s by the International Union, United Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of America.