AUTO COMPANIES REFUSAL TO LISTEN TO WALTER REUTHER LEADS TO CURRENT DILEMMA OVER IMPORTED AUTOS
Scope and Content Note: Current givebacks hard to take after years of militancy to achieve gains for workers. Recalls automobile bumper company in Chicago that threatened to close unless wages scaled back, but actually lack of orders would have forced plant to close anyway. Solution to contemporary problem is for American people to buy American-made cars. Reuther wrote paper in late 1940's (“A Car Named Desire”) urging that smaller, more efficient cars be built. Current automaker dilemma is a management, not a union issue.