Fraser, UAW Head, To Speak On Labor in American Politics

The United Auto Workers Douglas Fraser will offer a prospectus tonight on the possibility of a labor third party in America and an inside view of the Carter administration's co-optation of labor.

Fraser, who is president of the 1.5 million member UAW, will speak tonight at 8 p.m. at the Kennedy School's Room 150 on "Labor in American Politics."

Fraser is coming to Harvard at the behest of UAW staff member Don Stillman and Harvard Law/Public Health student Edgar James, who are running the "American Labor Movement in Crisis" student study group sponsored by the Institute of Politics.

Building a Coalition

In Detroit two weeks ago, Fraser convened a meeting of trade union, civil rights, community organizing and political groups to discuss a program to counter what he sees as a resurgence of right-wing activism.

Fraser will address tonight the question of whether the Detroit coalition-building attempt was a first step toward creating a third party in America.

Fraser resigned this past summer from a presidential labor-management council, charging that the group served only to benefit business.

Fraser, who was a close associate of former UAW president Walter Reuther, has been a leader of the left-wing within the labor movement along with such often-isolated progressives as Jerry Wurf of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) and William Wimpisinger of the International Union of Machinists.

Wimpisinger is famous for his belief that "there's nothing wrong with the labor movement that a few retirements wouldn't cure." Both Wurf and Wimpisinger will speak to the study group later this fall.