Owen Bieber

Owen Frederick Bieber (/ˈbiːbər/;^[1] December 28, 1929 – February 17, 2020) was an American labor union activist. He was president of the United Auto Workers (UAW) from 1983 to 1995.

Born in Michigan, Bieber joined the McInerney Spring and Wire Company, an automotive parts supplier in Grand Rapids, after finishing high school. His father was also employed at the company, and had co-founded a UAW local there. Bieber himself became active within the local, rising from shop steward to its president between 1949 and 1956. In 1961 he became a part-time union organizer for the UAW's international union and retired as president of the local a year later, to work full-time for the international UAW. In 1980 he was elected as the head of the UAW's General Motors Department.

After a hotly contested election in 1983, he was chosen to head the union in October of that year. His time as president of the union was marked by support of several political causes, including the boycott against South African apartheid and opposition to the North American Free Trade Agreement. He oversaw the union during the shrinking of the automobile manufacturing industry in the US, and led them through a number of tense negotiations with the Big Three automobile manufacturers that included strikes and other labor action. While he set a goal of adding new union members throughout his presidency, he largely failed as union organizing efforts at Honda and Nissan plants were defeated. His presidency also saw the splintering of his own union, with the Canadian division breaking off to form its own independent organization (the Canadian Auto Workers), amid deep internal divisions which developed throughout his term. He retired from the UAW in 1995.