Here are key players negotiating during the UAW strike on the Detroit Three
Detroit Free Press Staff
Updated 6 min read
There are scores of people negotiating a new labor contract between the United Auto Workers union and Detroit Three automakers. Here are key players, whose deal ultimately must meet the approval of auto CEOs and UAW President Shawn Fain before being put to a membership vote.
At the General Motors table
For the UAW
Mike Booth, UAW's vice president of the General Motors Department
Name: Mike Booth
Title: UAW's vice president of the General Motors Department
Age: 58
History: Booth grew up on a farm in Bad Axe and left it in 1983 to attend Michigan State University's Electrical Technology Program. He is a master electrician. He has been a union member for nearly 33 years, starting when he was hired at auto parts maker Kelsey-Hayes in Romulus in 1991. A year later, he joined then-Chrysler's Detroit Axle, transferring to Marysville Axle in 2011 and then on to Stellantis' Sterling Heights Assembly in 2020. At all three Chrysler locations, he was a skilled trades electrician and involved in the union as a representative. He was elected to his current role earlier this year.
For General Motors
Mike Perez, General Motors chief of labor relations
Name: Mike Perez
Title: General Motors chief of labor relations
Age: 48
History: Perez, a graduate of University of Michigan with a degree in mechanical engineering and an MBA from Rutgers University in Newark, New Jersey, joined GM full time in 1997. He spent about eight years in Production Operations and Manufacturing Engineering at GM factories in Atlanta, Orion Township and Warren. It was at GM's Doraville Assembly, northeast of Atlanta, where he worked as a production group leader overseeing about 30 employees on the final assembly line. By 2005, he was in China as a senior manager of manufacturing engineering. In 2010, he was made director of operations for a GM assembly plant in China. Perez served in various management positions in China and Thailand until returning to the states in 2017 to manage Flint Assembly. In 2020, GM promoted Perez to executive director of global manufacturing strategy and planning, working out of Warren. GM named him to his present position in August 2022.
At the Ford Motor Co. table
For the UAW
Chuck Browning, UAW's vice president of the Ford Motor Company Department
Name: Chuck Browning
Title: UAW's vice president of the Ford Motor Co. Department
Age: 59
History: Browning was born and raised in Downriver. He joined the UAW in 1987 and became a member of UAW Local 3000 when he went to work at the Mazda Plant in Flat Rock, Michigan. He held roles including bargaining committee and plant chairperson. He was appointed to a staff position in 2000 and assigned to the union’s National Ford Department. Browning went on to be coordinator, assistant director and administrative assistant within the National Ford Department. He was administrative assistant to UAW President Bob King from 2010-14 and top administrative assistant to UAW President Dennis Williams from 2014-18. His work during those eight years included collective bargaining and oversight of the various departments under the direct jurisdiction of the union president. He went on to be director of UAW Region 1A based in Taylor, Michigan, in 2018. He was elected to his current role in 2021. Browning, who also leads the Agricultural Implement unit, played a key role in John Deere contract negotiations in 2021 that led to a strike and resolution.
For Ford
Kevin Legel, Ford Motor Co., vice president, Global Labor Affairs
Name: Kevin Legel
Title: Ford Motor Co., vice president, Global Labor Affairs
Age: 55
History: Legel began his role in December 2019. For two years prior, he was a Ford director of U.S. labor affairs. He also spent a year working in U.S. labor affairs for assembly and stamping. Since joining Ford in 1993, he has held various human resources roles in the U.S. and China, including human resources manager at the Kansas City Assembly Plant in Claycomo, Missouri. He has plant experience in powertrain, assembly, parts, supply and logistics. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Michigan and an MBA from Michigan State University.
At the Stellantis table
For the UAW
Rich Boyer, vice president, head of Stellantis and competitive shop/independents, parts and suppliers
Name: Rich Boyer
Title: Vice president, head of Stellantis and competitive shop/independents, parts and suppliers
Age: 60
History: Boyer was elected as one of three UAW vice presidents in the union’s first direct election of top leaders. According to his UAW biography, “Boyer joined Local 12 in 1985 when he was hired into Chrysler’s Toledo Jeep plant. In 1987, he was laid off and redeployed to Chrysler’s Detroit Axle Plant and became a member of Local 961. He began his career as a union official in 1995 when he was elected skilled trades chief steward. ... In 1998, Boyer was elected president of Local 961. He held that position until the plant closed in 2010. Boyer was sent to Warren Stamping Plant (UAW Local 869), where he worked as a production worker from 2010-11. He was then placed back in his trade as a millwright at Warren Truck Assembly Plant (UAW Local 140). In 2017, he was elected to skilled trades committeeperson, where he served until being elected as the International UAW vice president.” He has been married to his wife, Darla, for 41 years, and they have two children, according to the bio. He’s a past president of the Toledo chapter of the Labor Council for Latin American Advancement.
For Stellantis
Christopher Fields, Stellantis, senior vice president, employee relations and manufacturing human resources
Name: Christopher Fields
Title: Stellantis, senior vice president, employee relations and manufacturing human resources
Age: N/A
History: Fields was appointed to his current position on Oct. 6, 2021, and he oversees U.S. and Canada manufacturing and parts distribution centers employee relations; labor economics and benefit finance; wage and salary administration, and the center for employee development as well as the human resources function for manufacturing, according to his company biography. He hired into Chrysler Corp., what is now Stellantis, in 1996 as a production operator at the company’s McGraw Glass Plant in Michigan and became a production supervisor the following year. Starting in 1999, he held positions of increasing responsibility in human resources and employee relations at several of the company’s manufacturing facilities, including Warren Truck and Jefferson North Assembly plants. He also has held similar roles at BP PLC and Federal Mogul, the bio said. Fields has degrees in education and business administration from the University of Michigan and the University of Detroit Mercy, respectively. He also has a negotiation and leadership certification from Harvard University, according to his bio.
