April 18, 2000 
 

          UAW Membership Falls 10 Percent 
 

          Filed at 9:31 a.m. EDT 

          By The Associated Press 

          DETROIT (AP) -- The United Auto Workers reports its membership fell 
          nearly 10 percent last year. 

          In its latest annual financial report, the UAW said it ended 1999 with 
          762,439 members, down from 846,371 members in 1998. 

          ``The signs are ominous,'' Raymond Hilgert, a labor professor at 
          Washington University in St. Louis, told The Detroit News. ``The old 
          blue-collar economy is slowly fading away.'' 

          But the UAW has said it organized 42,000 new members in 1999, 
          including 10,000 cafeteria workers in Puerto Rico and 8,300 college 
          teaching assistants. 

          According to the union's Web site, 407,000 of its active members work 
          for General Motors Corp., Ford Motor Co. and DaimlerChrysler AG. It 
          said about 48,000 work for Michigan and Indiana state governments. 

          GM trimmed 8,900 hourly workers in 1999 and Delphi Automotive 
          Systems cut 11,000 hourly jobs. 

          Union ranks in manufacturing nationwide fell by 103,000 last year, while 
          the number of manufacturing jobs dropped by 440,000. 

          Meanwhile, UAW President Stephen Yokich's 1999 salary rose 3.78 
          percent to $116,864, topping the 3 percent hike given UAW workers at 
          Detroit automakers, the report said.