UAW elects Jones as new president

DETROIT — Members of the United Auto Workers union have elected regional director Gary Jones as the organization’s new president.

Jones was picked in a roll- call vote Wednesday at the union’s 2018 constitutional convention in Detroit.

He’ll take over a 400,000- member union that’s facing a federal investigation in a cor- ruption scandal involving a worker training center run jointly by Fiat Chrysler and the union. The UAW also has had trouble organizing at factories in the South run by foreign- based automakers.

But its finances have stabilized under President Dennis Williams, who is retiring.

Jones is a certified public accountant and was director of the UAW’s regional office in St. Louis. His four- year term begins Thursday.

Ray Curry, a regional director from Tennessee, was named secretary- treasurer. Current Vice President Cindy Estrada was re- elected. She’ll be joined by new vice presidents Rory Gamble and Terry Dittes. Gamble was a regional leader in Michigan, while Dittes led a regional office based in New York.