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ANNIMI

10/3
1997

134

1!#

Catca Tae Best
C o of Melsic Reviews IN
,1 *( JN Codertaimasient Joi

■•■

of the Line: Autoworkers and the
American Dream, the 1988 landmark
oral history which features a series of
interviews conducted by Feldman and
then-Detroit Free Press staffer Michael
Betzold with workers at the Ford
Michigan Truck Plant.
Said Feldman, paraphrasing Scott,
"It is going to be up to ordinary
people to define what the future
should be."
"I really believe that," he said. "My
job is to provide the education and
the opportunity for people to get
involved in the union, to understand
the contract, to understand their
rights and responsibilities, and
inform them of different opportuni-
ties that they can get involved in as
union citizens."
Does being Jewish ever come up in
the workplace? Feldman said that,
counting himself, there are probably
only half-a-dozen Jewish workers at
the plant, a 50 percent increase over
the figure The Jewish News reported
in a 1992 profile of Jewish workers at
the factory.
"I think that most people are very
respectful about my culture and my
background and my values that come
from that, from a Jewish upbringing,"
said Feldman. "Incidents have been
sort of minor over the years, and they
involve a lot of people not knowing,
and statements said, rather than any-
thing done.
"Being in an environment where
most folks aren't Jewish provides me
with an opportunity to educate folks
why something is derogatory and
insulting, especially if they didn't even
know that it was. They may just have
thought it was normal. And whether
that's around being Jewish, or race or
gender issues, to me it is all the same.
It is all part of trying to point out
stuff so people can just be a little more
human than they were.
"If you don't know, you don't
change. Sometimes I can talk about
things because I know it, and that
becomes a new experience for them,"
said Feldman.
As plant chairman, Feldman plans
to emphasize educational programs
available to the workers. He is trying
to establish classes with Wayne State
University's Labor Studies Program. In
addition, he said he is working with
UAW Region IA to arrange "educa-
tionals where folks learn about the
contracts, they learn leadership skills,
they learn the history of the union,
learn the questions facing the union,
such as what do we need to do with

the membership to implement a visio -,
for our union?
"There's a program that Local 900
has done over the years called 'Put Cif\
You Back into the Union.' And now
there's a big movement within unions
to go from what has been a servicing
model of unions to an organizing
model of unions, which means that
members actually get involved in lead-
ership in departments and zones and
become teachers on sort of a pyramid
kind of scale," said Feldman.
He cited the success of the recent
United Parcel Service strike as an
example of the effectiveness of this
new emphasis. But he also points to
the Detroit newspaper strike as being
the other side of the coin.

There are
probably a half-
dozen Jews at
the plant.

Feldman has often publicly shown
his support of the Detroit newspapeu–'
strikers. "I try to go (to the picket
line) with my family as often as possi-
ble," he said. "The Detroit (newspa-
per) strike is not over. Fifteen hundred
people are still being denied the
opportunity to return to work," said
Feldman. Among them his co-author,
Michael Betzold.
"We need to not buy the (Detroit
News and Free Press) newspapers, an.:_\
we need to not be buying goods from
those that are advertising in the news-
papers," said Feldman.
Feldman served from 1993 to 199(
as a union district committee person,
representing 250 day-shift workers in
the paint and chassis departments. He
served as a bargaining team commit-
teeman from 1990 to 1993.
Born in New York, Feldman grew
up in a Brooklyn Jewish neighbor-
hood, where he had only two non-
Jewish friends — a sharp contrast to
his current status. He has worked at
the Wayne plant since December
1971.
Feldman began on the assembly
line in the paint department. It wasn't
long before his activism surfaced. He
started an employee rank-and-file
newsletter, and organized walkouts. In
1984, during the contract negotia-
UNION LABEL on page 136