Born
in Michigan in 1946, Bob King graduated
from
the University of Michigan with a bachelor's degree in political
science in 1968.
From 1968 to 1970, he served
in the U.S. Army and was stationed in South Korea. In 1970
he found full-time employment at the Ford Motor Company's Detroit
Parts Depot and joined the United Auto Workers' (UAW) Local
600.
Two years later he became an electrician's
apprentice, and in 1973 he earned a J.D.
from the University of Detroit Law School.
In 1981 King became
vice president of UAW Local 600; three years later he was elected president. After his re-election
in 1987, King was named chairman of the UAW-Ford
Negotiating Committee.
From
1989-98, King
served
as UAW's director in three Michigan counties. Early in that tenure –
in May
1991 – he participated in a welcoming
reception for the first Cuban trade-union delegation ever to be
granted visas to the United States during the Castro regime. The visit was organized
by the National Council of American-Soviet Friendship (a front group
created
by the Communist Party USA) and the Detroit
Justice for Cuba Coalition.
In 1998 King began serving the
first of three
consecutive four-year terms as a UAW vice president.
In
the winter of 2001, King and six fellow UAW leaders hailed
Democratic
Left,
a publication of the Democratic Socialists of America, as “a strong
voice for social and economic justice.”
In June
2010 King was elected president
of the UAW.
On
August 28, 2010 (the 47th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s
March on Washington), Bob King and Rev. Jesse Jackson co-organized a
Detroit protest march to demand
“jobs, peace, and justice.” Among the elected officials attending
this event were John Conyers, Maxine Waters, and Marcy Kaptur. Guest
speakers included newly-elected SEIU president Mary Kay Henry,
Farm Laborers Organizing Committee president Baldemar Velasquez, and
AFSCME Council 25 president Al Garrett.
On
February 16, 2011, President Barack Obama appointed King to the Advisory Committee for Trade Policy and
Negotiations.
In
the fall of 2011, King lauded
“the
courage and determination” of the newly formed
Occupy Wall Street movement which not only had “galvanized
generations of Americans fed up with corporate greed,” but also
pointed the way toward “a more just, equal and fair society.”
An
original
member of the AFL-CIO Elected Leader Task Force on Organizing,
King also founded the International Labor Solidarity Network.
Moreover, he is a life
member of the NAACP and a member
of the Coalition of Labor Union Women. King also serves on the board
of directors of the Economic
Policy Institute along with such notables as Leo
Gerard, Julianne
Malveaux, Robert
Reich, and Richard
Trumka.[1]
For additional information on Bob King, click here.
NOTE:
[1] Among
EPI's more prominent former
board members
were Andrew
Stern and
Raul
Yzaguirre.