Bob King is a dedicated socialist who has steadily been climbing up the ranks at the United Auto Workers Union. From 1989-1998. he worked as the Union’s Director for most of Wayne, Monroe and Washtenaw Counties in Michigan. He then served three four-year terms as a Vice President until 2010. In 2010. he was elected as President of the union which represents about one million workers (390,000 active members and more than 600,000 retired members). Then on February 16, 2011, President Barack Obama appointed King to the Advisory Committee for Trade Policy and Negotiations. Who is the man who leads this powerful union and has the ear of the President?
In May 1991, King, then director of UAW region 1A, met with the members of the first Cuban trade union delegation to be granted visas to the US since the 1959 revolution. The visit was co-organized by the National Council of American-Soviet Friendship. Bob King is also a life member of the NAACP and a member of the DSA-connected Coalition of Labor Union Women. On August 28th 2010, King worked with Operation PUSH founder and director Reverend Jesse Jackson, Sr. to organize a march down Washington Boulevard, Detroit, to demand “jobs, peace and justice.” (Operation PUSH is affiliated with United for Peace and Justice). In the Winter of 2001, along with fellow UAW leaders Stephen Yokich (President), Ruben Burks (Sec-Treasurer) and Vice-Presidents Elizabeth Bunn, Ron Gettelfinger, Nate Gooden and Richard Shoemaker, King placed an advertisement saluting the Democratic Socialists of America‘s publication, the Democratic Left. The advert stated, “The men and women of International Union, UAW salute Democratic Left – A strong voice for social and economic justice.”
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