# George Addes

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{{Short description|Founder of the United Automobile Workers of America}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name        = George Addes
| image       = George Addes 3x4.jpg
| alt         =
| caption     = Addes in 1942
| office      = 2nd Secretary-Treasurer of the<br />[United Auto Workers](/source/United_Auto_Workers)
| term_start  = April 27, 1936
| term_end    = November 11, 1947
| president   = [Homer Martin](/source/Homer_Martin_(labor_leader))<br />[R. J. Thomas](/source/R._J._Thomas)<br />[Walter Reuther](/source/Walter_Reuther)
| predecessor = Ed Hall
| successor   = [Emil Mazey](/source/Emil_Mazey)
| birth_name  = George F. Addes
| birth_date  = {{Birth date|1911|8|26}}
| birth_place = [La Crosse, Wisconsin](/source/La_Crosse%2C_Wisconsin), US
| death_date  = {{Death date and age|1990|6|19|1911|8|26}}
| death_place = [Grosse Pointe, Michigan](/source/Grosse_Pointe%2C_Michigan), US
| other_names = 
| known_for   = 
| occupation  = Politician, activist, [trade unionist](/source/trade_unionist) 
}}
'''George F. Addes''' (August 26, 1911 – June 19, 1990) was a founder of the [United Automobile Workers of America](/source/United_Automobile_Workers_of_America) (UAW) union and its secretary-treasurer from 1936 until 1947.<ref name=NYTobitAddes>{{cite news|url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C0CE1DB1231F932A15755C0A966958260|title=Obituary for George Addes|accessdate=2008-03-27 |author=New York Times website|date=1990-06-21 | work=The New York Times}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://info.detnews.com/redesign/history/story/historytemplate.cfm?id=115 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120709170359/http://info.detnews.com/redesign/history/story/historytemplate.cfm?id=115 |url-status=dead |archive-date=2012-07-09 |title=The most important strike in American labor history |accessdate=2008-03-27 |author=detnews.com website |date=1997-06-23 }}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,802101,00.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080829120006/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,802101,00.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=August 29, 2008|title=The importance of United Automobile Workers|accessdate=2008-03-27 |author=time.com website|date=1951-08-18 | magazine=Time}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine|url = http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,934440,00.html |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110219235848/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,934440,00.html |url-status = dead |archive-date = February 19, 2011 | title = Who's George For? | magazine = Time | date = March 18, 1946 }}</ref>  Along with [R. J. Thomas](/source/R._J._Thomas) and [Richard Frankensteen](/source/Richard_Frankensteen), he was a leader of the pro-Communist left-wing faction of the UAW.

==Background==

George F. Addes was born on August 26, 1911, in [La Crosse, Wisconsin](/source/La_Crosse%2C_Wisconsin), came from [Lebanese](/source/Lebanese_people) ancestry, and grew up in [Toledo, Ohio](/source/Toledo%2C_Ohio).<ref name=NYTobitAddes/><ref>{{cite web | url=https://politicalgraveyard.com/group/arabic.html | title=The Political Graveyard: Arabic ancestry Politicians }}</ref>

==Career==
At age 17, Addes went to work at the Willys Overland plant in Toledo.<ref name=NYTobitAddes/>

Addes and [Richard Frankensteen](/source/Richard_Frankensteen) led a major faction of the UAW, supporting [piecework](/source/piecework) and [incentive pay](/source/incentive_pay) in auto plants. The other faction, led by [Walter Reuther](/source/Walter_Reuther), accused them both of being [communist](/source/communist)s. Addes participated in the Battle of the Overpass.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://info.detnews.com/redesign/history/story/historytemplate.cfm?id=119 |title=Richard Frankensteen, the UAW's 'other guy' |access-date=2008-03-28 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120709174144/http://info.detnews.com/redesign/history/story/historytemplate.cfm?id=119 |archive-date=2012-07-09 |url-status=dead }}</ref>  In 1947, he lost his executive position to [Emil Mazey](/source/Emil_Mazey).<ref name=NYTobitAddes/>

After leaving the UAW, Addes joined [Ford Motor Company](/source/Ford_Motor_Company), from which he retired in 1975.<ref name=NYTobitAddes/>

==Personal life and death==
Addes married Gloria Saba; they had three children.<ref name=NYTobitAddes/>

George F. Addes died age 79 on June 19, 1990, at the Bon Secours Hospital in Grosse Pointe, Michigan.<ref name=NYTobitAddes/>

==See also==
{{wikisource|Ballad of the Gruesome Twosome}}
*[Battle of the Overpass](/source/Battle_of_the_Overpass)
*[Communists in the U.S. Labor Movement (1919-1937)](/source/Communists_in_the_U.S._Labor_Movement_(1919-1937))

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
* Barnard, John, ''American Vanguard: A History of the United Auto Workers, 1935–1970'' (2004) .
* Fink, Gary M. Biographical Dictionary of American Labor Leaders(Greenwood Press, 1974). pp.&nbsp;4–5.
* Halpern, Martin. "The 1939 UAW convention: Turning point for communist power in the auto union?" ''Labor History'' 33.2 (1992): 190-216.
* Kraus, Henry. ''Heroes of Unwritten Story: The UAW, 1934–1939'' (University of Illinois Press, 1993).

==External links==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20080216222205/http://www.reuther.wayne.edu/collections/hefa_263-uaw.htm UAW War Policy Collection]
* {{cite magazine |title=Labor's Communists Come Under Fire |journal=[Life](/source/Life_(magazine)) |date=24 March 1947 |volume=22 |issue=12 |url=https://archive.org/details/Life-1947-03-24-Vol-22-No-12/page/31/mode/1up}}

{{s-start}}
{{s-npo|union}}
{{succession box|title=Secretary-Treasurer of the [United Auto Workers](/source/United_Auto_Workers)|years=1936&ndash;1947|before=Ed Hall|after=[Emil Mazey](/source/Emil_Mazey)}}
{{s-end}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Addes}}
Category:American politicians of Lebanese descent
Category:Politicians from La Crosse, Wisconsin
Category:1911 births
Category:1990 deaths
Category:20th-century American people
Category:Activists from Wisconsin
Category:Activists from Ohio

{{US-activist-stub}}

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [George Addes](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Addes) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Addes?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.