Douglas Fires Ousted President of UAW Local

Bob Berghoff, the deposed president of United Auto Workers Local 148 at the Douglas Aircraft Division of McDonnell Douglas Corp. in Long Beach, has been fired along with 15 other union leaders for allegedly inciting workers to participate in a work slowdown and half-day walkout on June 8.

“We had a very severe breach of discipline in the factory and we had to take action accordingly,” company spokesman Don Hanson said.

Said Berghoff: “There’s no surprises here. This company has a reputation for unscrupulous activities.”

Was on Suspension

Berghoff, whose 9,500-member local is the largest UAW local in the Western United States, had been suspended indefinitely after the walkout, along with about 300 workers who had participated in it. This week the company notified most of the others that they could return to work on June 23.

But Berghoff and 15 leaders--including the local’s deposed financial secretary, several bargaining committee members and a former member of its executive board--were singled out for dismissal because each had been identified by witnesses as having personally promoted the action, Hanson said.

“We could not tolerate that kind of activity,” Hanson said, adding that employees had been warned after similar walkouts in December and January that any such future actions would be dealt with severely. “It’s terribly disruptive of our attempts to build airplanes.”

Berghoff and his supporters had called for the walkout to protest the takeover last month of their local by the UAW international after allegations of serious irregularities in the local’s election of new officers on May 12.

In that election, preliminary ballot counts indicated that Berghoff--who had been president since 1981--had garnered 48.8% of the unchallenged votes to lead a field of three candidates. But the international decided to set the vote aside and assumed temporary leadership of the local to assure a “fair and free election” after opponents charged that people loyal to Berghoff had improperly controlled the election process.

Contract Dispute

The voting took place amid a protracted contract dispute between the local and the company during which Berghoff had advocated a “build it by the book” strategy in which workers performed their duties at a slower than usual pace. Douglas executives say the tactics seriously hampered their production schedule and could put them behind by as many as 55 airplanes in 1987.

The tactic also was severely criticized by both the UAW’s international leadership and by Berghoff’s local opponents, a fact that prompted the union leader to characterize the recent takeover as an attempt by the international to steal the local election and install a handpicked leadership that would negotiate a “sweetheart deal” with the company. A sweetheart pact is one between a union and management that favors management and that is usually arranged by a union official without the participation or approval of union members.

Both company and international UAW officials deny that any sweetheart arrangement exists.

“That’s just Berghoff,” said Henry Gonzalez, assistant director of the UAW international’s Western region. “He’s always looking for a straw man and in this case it’s the international union.”

Ironically, the international has already filed grievances on behalf of Berghoff and the other fired union leaders charging that their suspensions--and now dismissals--were improper.

Called Protected Activity

“We consider (the walkout) a protected activity,” Gonzalez said. Because the union does not recognize and has never ratified a contract that was unilaterally imposed by the company several months ago, he said, it does not view its no-strike clause as operable. “We don’t think (the firings) were justified,” he said.

Negotiations on the contract--which centered, among other things, on the extent to which retirees would have to pay for their own medical insurance--broke down several months ago.

A federal judge last week barred the international from holding any local elections at least until June 23 when a hearing is scheduled to consider a request by Berghoff that the polling be returned to local control. On Tuesday, the U.S. Department of Labor agreed to oversee the elections on Aug. 15, provided that the judge agrees.

“I consider that a minor victory,” Berghoff said during a telephone interview from his home. Regardless of his employment status with the company, he said, he intends to run for reelection as president of UAW Local 148.