Wednesday, March 16, 2005

U.A.W. Apology Comes Too Late For Marines

The UAW has apologized to U.S. Marine Corps reservists and reversed its stand on which Marines can use the UAW parking lot. But it's too late -- the Marines have moved on. The UAW recently banned autos owned by Marines that are either nonunion built or sport a George W. Bush bumper sticker. The union -- whose offices are near a reserve center in Detroit -- had allowed the Marines to park without conditions in its lot for years. After several days of bad publicity, UAW President Ron Gettelfinger -- a former Marine reservist -- retracted the decision Monday. "I made the wrong call on the parking issue," Gettelfinger's statement said. "I'm glad he decided to change his decision," said Lt. Col. Joe Rutledge, commanding officer of the Marine Corps Reserve Center. But the apology came too late. "The decision's already been made that we're not going to park there," Rutledge said. "We've already made other arrangements to park elsewhere."
These are Marines and they have a right, like anybody else in America, to express their First Amendment rights."