Ron Gettlelfinger had this to say at the UAW Convention, according to the speech posted on the UAW website: “For decades now, the UAW has been a staunch advocate of single-payer national health insurance and we’re going to keep fighting to make affordable, quality health care a right for every American.”

Yes, I agree but what we need to do is actually make that fight a central priority. Now.

Somber Tone and Protest as U.A.W. Convenes
By MICHELINE MAYNARD

The United Automobile Workers’ convention opened here Monday with leaders and members in a familiar fighting mood, but with a new battle plan aimed at protecting what they have rather than gaining new ground.

The change reflected the falling fortunes of Detroit’s automakers, a new reality that the union’s president, Ron Gettelfinger, laid out for members both in his speech and in a written report that the U.A.W. issued on Sunday.

“This isn’t a cyclical downturn,” Mr. Gettelfinger told the convention. “The kind of challenges we face aren’t the kind that can be ridden out. They’re structural challenges, and they require new and farsighted solutions.”

That statement, part of an hourlong speech, drew silence from the audience.
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What brought the delegates to their feet was Mr. Gettelfinger’s dismissal of comments by pundits who try to argue that the U.A.W. has lost its influence.