Doug Fraser, 1916 - 2008

I read with sadness today of the passing of one of labor's true lions, Doug Fraser, long-time president of the once-great United Auto Workers union. He saw the UAW through its heyday and beyond, dealing with some very difficult economic adjustments along the way.  I had the pleasure of meeting him a time or two and heard him speak several times. The one story he loved to tell is recounted in the NY Times piece here, of a student describing the stereotypical labor leader, only to hear Fraser opine that the student had just precisely described Lee Iaccoca. I remember hearing Fraser one day talk about his travels with one of his predecessors, the equally legendary Walter Reuther. Everywhere he went, Fraser said, people would come up to him to say, "I was there with you that day on 'the overpass'," site of the historic and infamous labor battle. Reuther once remarked to Fraser that if in fact all those who claimed to have been there with him were really there, "The damned overpass would have collapsed!"

Fraser was a great storyteller, a  good speaker and a true believer, a committed leader. They really don't make labor leaders quite like him anymore. The labor leaders of today, with rare exception, put politics before people, are part of a political movement, not a labor movement. Fraser, who immigrated from Scotland at an early age, was never in doubt that he was part of a movement about labor, about people. He will have plenty of successors, but none will ever quite replace the committed and larger-than-life figure that was Doug Fraser.