UAW’s recruiting chief retires

Bill Koenig / Bloomberg News

The United Auto Workers recruiting chief said he will retire at the end of the month, halfway through his four-year term as the union struggles to stem a membership decline.

Vice President Terry Thurman, 57, wouldn’t comment on why he was retiring and on whether he would be replaced in his post. Roger Kerson, a spokesman for the Detroit-based union, didn’t return a telephone message seeking comment on Thursday.

"There’s nothing to tell," Thurman said. "People retire all the time."

The UAW’s membership, which peaked at 1.5 million in 1979, fell to 464,910 at the end of 2007 as General Motors Corp., Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler LLC cut production jobs. Thurman was in charge of pulling in new members.

"Organizing is the future of the union and it is a critical position for the union," Harley Shaiken, a labor- relations professor at the University of California at Berkeley, said of Thurman’s post.

The union has been largely unable to organize production employees at U.S. plants owned by Asian and European automakers. Job losses at U.S.-based automakers have overwhelmed organizing gains in other industries, including government and casino workers.

Thurman is one of five union vice presidents.

The others are Bob King, 61, head of the union’s Ford department; General Holiefield, 55, who supervises the union’s dealings with Chrysler; Cal Rapson, 63, in charge of the UAW’s bargaining with GM and Delphi Corp.; and Jimmy Settles, 58, who works with auto-parts, aerospace and agricultural-equipment companies.