DETROIT (AP) -- Douglas A. Fraser, who led the United Auto Workers union through dark hours in the 1970s and '80s and was instrumental in saving Chrysler from bankruptcy, has died. He was 91.þþFraser died late Saturday at Providence Hospital in Southfield, his wife, Winnie, said Sunday. She said he had emphysema and went into the hospital with breathing problems, but a cause of death wasn't determined.þþWith his mischievous smile and gregarious, easygoing manner, Fraser was popular with the union's rank-and-file, who appreciated his candor and accessibility. Everyone called him Doug.þþ''Everybody thought he was wonderful,'' Winnie Fraser said. ''He was a good guy, and he really was (wonderful).''þþHe also was a shrewd and pragmatic negotiator who won the respect of Big Three executives. In the 1960s and '70s, he helped win such benefits as comprehensive health care, uncapped cost-of-living allowances and improved working conditions.þþBut he faced challenges as UAW president from 1977 to 1983, a period of severe financial hardship for the industry that forced the union to make unprecedented concessions.þþ''Doug was a voice of reason,'' UAW President Ron Gettelfinger told The Associated Press in a telephone interview. ''He could interject humor in a very tense situation. He was realistic. He was abreast of what was going on.''þþGettelfinger, who has led the union through a period of sharp job losses and contract concessions in the face of the financial downturn of the Big Three, said he often turned to Fraser for guidance and support.þþ''I was always relieved when on the other end of the line was Doug,'' Gettelfinger said. ''He would always make you feel good before you hung up that phone.''þþFraser considered his finest achievement the UAW's campaign to obtain $1.5 billion in federal loan guarantees for Chrysler Corp. in 1979, which saved the automaker from bankruptcy.þþ''At the time, he was probably the most respected labor leader in America, and he had great political charm, as well as substantive commitment,'' said former Michigan Gov. James Blanchard, who knew Fraser for more than 30 years and as a U.S. House member worked with Fraser on the efforts to guarantee Chrysler's loans. ''He was really key in everything that happened to save Chrysler.''þþFraser's decisions to give contract concessions to Chrysler in 1979 and to Ford Motor Co. and General Motors Corp. in 1982 were opposed by many UAW members but contributed to the U.S. auto industry's recovery.þþAs part of the agreement for concessions, Chrysler gave Fraser a seat on its board, making him the first major union chief on the board of a large corporation. He donated his board salary to Wayne State University in Detroit.þþA lifelong Democrat, Fraser proudly called himself a liberal. He marched with the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. in the 1960s and pushed an often reluctant UAW and the Big Three to recruit more minorities and women.þþFraser retired in 1983 but kept active in politics and union issues. He served as a professor in the College of Urban, Labor and Metropolitan Affairs at Wayne State.þþ''He was one of those folks, one of the few people that have it,'' said Mike Smith, director of the Walter P. Reuther Library at Wayne State. ''It's hard to describe, but he was a great labor leader, and he was a fine trade unionist who segued into a second career as a professor at Wayne State.''þþSaid Gettelfinger: ''Doug was kind of like Elvis. You say 'Doug' in the labor movement, and everybody knows who you're talking about.''þþFraser had been at work at Wayne State until a few weeks ago, Smith said.þþAfter the UAW reached historic agreements with the Detroit automakers last fall that include a lower wage scale for new hires and the union taking on retiree health care for the companies, Fraser said the deals were necessary to keep the companies afloat and competitive with their Japanese rivals.þþ''I frankly don't know any other alternative,'' Fraser said in an interview with the AP in November, praising Gettelfinger for finding creative ways to help the struggling companies while preserving as many UAW jobs as he could.þþWinnie Fraser said that a memorial service for her husband would be scheduled later, and that his body was being donated to Wayne State.þþBorn Dec. 18, 1916, in Glasgow, Scotland, Fraser moved to Detroit with his parents six years later. His father, an electrician, was active in unions and frequently brought his young son to political meetings.þþFraser said he never forgot his roots growing up in a working-class neighborhood and the effects of the Great Depression.þþ''In an auto neighborhood like ours, hardly anybody worked,'' he said in a 1997 interview with The AP. ''People lost their sense of dignity. They all were very proud, like my father. And it was shattering not being able to support a family.''þþFraser dropped out of high school in his senior year and joined the UAW in 1936. He said he was fired from his first two jobs for union organizing but eventually found steady work as a ''ding man,'' smoothing out dents in body panels at Chrysler's DeSoto plant.þþAt age 25, Fraser was president of the UAW local. After serving in the Army during World War II, he joined the UAW staff in 1947 and steadily moved up the ranks through the 1950s and '60s.þþHe was considered a potential successor to President Walter Reuther, but after the revered leader died in a plane crash in 1970, Fraser narrowly lost a poll of the executive board to Leonard Woodcock, head of the big GM unit.þþFraser succeeded Woodcock in 1977, when U.S. auto sales grew to a then-record of 12.7 million units. But by 1979, they tumbled to 8.3 million. At the same time, imports, with their focus on fuel economy, captured a surprising 21.7 percent share of the market.þþChrysler was on the verge of bankruptcy. Fraser worked with the Carter administration and Congress to get the loan guarantees approved. Chairman Lee Iacocca helped persuade Republican members of Congress, but Fraser said Iacocca was given too much credit.þþ''I resent it a bit, not for myself but for the Chrysler workers, when people say Lee Iacocca saved the Chrysler Corporation,'' Fraser said. ''The Chrysler workers saved the Chrysler Corporation.''þþIn 1997, Fraser said he had no regrets about his life.þþ''I can say, without equivocation, I'd do the same thing,'' he said. ''You get a lot of satisfaction from that.''þþFraser has two daughters from his first marriage, Judith Yonish and Jeanne Fraser, and his wife has two daughters from her first marriage, Barbara Mackenzie and Sandy Bryner. The Frasers also have several grandchildren.þþ
Source: NY Times
