[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 96 (Thursday, June 24, 2010)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1203-E1204]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




        HONORING RON GETTELFINGER FOR HIS LEADERSHIP OF THE UAW

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                         HON. JAMES P. McGOVERN

                            of massachusetts

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, June 23, 2010

  Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, Ron Gettelfinger, a lifelong defender and 
advocate for workers' rights, retired last week as President of the 
United Auto Workers, UAW. From the start, working on the assembly line 
in 1964 at Ford Motors in Louisville, Kentucky, to his recent 
retirement as the UAW President, Ron has tirelessly fought for labor 
rights for the American worker. In addition, Ron has been willingly 
worked in a pragmatic fashion with the automobile industry, helping to 
stabilize business and labor relations.
  Whether it's been pushing for health care reform, fair trade 
agreements, or collective bargaining rights, Ron has been a staunch and 
steadfast leader. Fighting hard against what the UAW has dubbed ``the 
corporate global chase for the lowest wage which creates a race to the 
bottom that no workers, in any country, can win,'' Ron has been a 
galvanizing figure in workers' rights here in America and across the 
globe.
  While Ron will surely be missed at the UAW, but the mark he has left 
there will continue to serve as a source of inspiration. I thank Ron 
Gettelfinger for his service to workers and to his country.

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