Fraser, Douglas Andrew

Fraser, Douglas Andrew, 1916–, American labor leader, b. Glasgow, Scotland. His family emigrated to the United States when he was a child and settled in Detroit, where he began his working life in an auto plant at 18. Becoming active in the United Automobile Workers (UAW), he rose through the ranks to a position as a union executive and earned wide respect as chief negotiator in union disputes with the Chrysler Corp. As president of the UAW from 1977 to 1983, Fraser led the union as it granted wage concessions in exchange for greater job security during the severe automobile-industry slump of 1981–82. A member of the Chrysler board of directors from 1980 to 1984, he was the first union leader elected to such a post. He retired from the UAW in 1983, became university professor of labor studies at Wayne State Univ. (1983–), and also lectured at numerous colleges about labor issues.