Labor's Hall of Fame Inducts Fraser, Holleran
Monday, June 2, 2014
(Metropolitan Washington Council, AFL-CIO)Labor's International Hall
of Fame inducted the late UAW President Doug Fraser and the late AFSCME
women's rights activist Susan Holleran on May 15 in Detroit, the Hall of Fame
and the Coalition of Labor Union Women (CLUW) announced. Holleran, who died in 2007, was a labor
journalist at AFSCME's national headquarters and for its magazine. A
founding member of CLUW, Holleran was also active with the National
Organization for Women, the Metro Washington Council and the United Labor
Agency, the predecessor to today's Community Services Agency. Holleran
coordinated the first national conference on pay equity, which resulted in the
founding of the National Committee on Pay Equity in 1979, CLUW added. Fraser,
who died in 2008, led the UAW from 1977-83 and lobbied for the first Chrysler
rescue plan, through a federal loan guarantee, in 1979. The automaker
succeeded and repaid the loan with interest. A metal finisher at Chrysler
DeSoto, Fraser became a UAW activist in 1936, was twice fired for his activism,
and participated in sit-down strikes at Chrysler. Elected president of
UAW Local 227 in 1943, Fraser rose from there.