United Auto Workers’ President Ron Gettelfinger, who led the union during some of the most tumultuous times in the Big Three’s history, announced today that he will not seek re-election and plans to retire when his term ends next year, The Associated Press reports. 

Gettelfinger, who will turn 65 in August, said the union has a policy of letting board members finish terms if they are 65, but other employees have to retire at the end of the month following their 65th birthday. A new president will be elected at the union’s constitutional convention in Detroit in June of 2010.

(Chris Killian is a freelance journalist based in Kalamazoo and writes regularly for the Kalamazoo Gazette.)