Earlier this year, UAWD Steering Committee member Jose Estrada Perez (UAW Local 6645) spoke with UAW icon, Paul Schrade about the importance of democracy within the union. Schrade has long been an advocate for direct elections of our International Executive Board officers.
Brother Schrade, now 97 years old, has had a storied career within the labor movement. He is a former UAW International Executive Board officer and was an administrative assistant to long-time UAW President Walter P. Reuther. Paul was Regional Director of the western states in the 1960’s, and a major supporter of Cesar Chavez, Dolores Huerta and the United Farm Workers throughout their struggle for dignity and during the Delano Grape Strike in 1965. Schrade was also the President of UAW Local 887 in Palmdale, California.
In addition, Brother Schrade also worked on Robert F. Kennedy’s 1968 Presidential campaign. Tragically, Kennedy was shot at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles, California on June 5, shortly after making his victory speech after winning the all-important California Democratic Primary. Kennedy would succumb to his injuries the following day. Brother Schrade — as well as five others — was also shot during the assassination, suffering serious injury to his head. Fortunately, he was able to recover.
Paul was greatly opposed to the Vietnam War — a position that put him at odds with Walter Reuther (Reuther was reluctant to criticize the war, which he knew would anger President Lyndon B. Johnson). Schrade’s stance on the war also put him at odds with Reuther’s successor, Leonard Woodcock, so much so that in 1972 Woodock campaigned against Schrade’s re-election bid for Regional Director. Schrade would end up losing that election and would return to blue-collar work at North American Rockwell in California. He would retire in the 1980’s.
In the decades since the assassination of Robert Kennedy, Paul has spent considerable time and effort into making the case that there was a second gunman who was actually the one who killed the Senator from New York. It has long been the official story that Sirhan Sirhan was the lone assassin at the Hotel that night. Schrade adamantly disagrees with that assessment.
“Who was this guy they were covering up? Who was so important for the district attorneys to keep covering up for 52 years that shot RFK?” Schrade told KGET in an interview earlier this year. “I don’t excuse him (Sirhan) for what he did, but I don’t excuse the LAPD and the district attorneys for 52 years of saying he’s guilty when he is not.”
Brother Schrade is currently a member of the Board of Directors of the Dolores Huerta Foundation.
We thank Paul for his generosity and knowledge during the campaign to win direct elections of our IEB officers. In April 2021, Brother Schrade — along with other supporters of the labor movement — signed a statement of support for the One Member One Vote campaign during a crucial time for our fundraising efforts.