Strikers have doubts about UAW leaders
ROMULUS, Mich. — The strike against General Motors by the United Auto Workers is playing out amid a corruption scandal inside the UAW that has caused distrust of the union leadership among many rank-and-file members.
On picket lines at plants across the country, many of the 49,000 workers have expressed doubts about whether UAW leaders are acting in their best interests in the dispute and in their handling of union money in general. Some have gone so far as to wonder whether the leadership took them out on strike to show that the union is working for them.
“Where there’s big money, there’s dishonesty, unfortunately,” 41-year employee Brian Jaeger said outside a parts distribution center in Van Buren Township, Michigan. He said he is grateful for the life that the union has brought his family and he supports the strike, but he is also suspicious of the leadership.
The walkout began Monday, with UAW members saying they want a bigger share of the billions that the No. 1 U.S. automaker has made off their hard work since it emerged from bankruptcy a decade ago with the help of union concessions. The strike — authorized Sunday in a vote by about 200 local union representatives — has shut down more than 30 factories in nine states.
In August, the FBI raided the suburban Detroit home of UAW President Gary Jones as part of the widening federal investigation. He has not been charged and has not commented . Earlier this month, Jones’ successor as union regional director in Missouri was charged in a $600,000 embezzlement scheme, and another UAW official pleaded guilty to taking kickbacks from union vendors.
Eight other people — including five UAW officials — have been convicted over the past two years of looting a jointly run Fiat Chrysler-UAW training center for bluecollar workers, with prosecutors alleging that $1.2 million was diverted to keep union officials “fat, dumb and happy” while they collaborated with the automaker in contract talks.
Amid all this, the UAW is trying to reach a new four-year agreement with GM.
“That’s sickening,” Clarence Trinity, 47, a UAW machinist, said of the scandal. “If it’s true, that’s upsetting because they raised our union dues. But it seems like they raised our union dues maybe just to line their pockets.”
Trinity, who works at a GM engine and transmission plant in the Detroit suburb of Romulus, said he remains loyal to the union and will picket for more hours than scheduled to support workers. He said he wants to preserve their health care, get permanent jobs for temporary workers and stop the company from moving production to other countries.
Still, the 22-year GM employee and others questioned the union’s negotiating tactics and its motives in calling the walkout. Phil Cuthbertson, who works at GM’s transmission plant in Toledo, Ohio, said he wonders whether the leadership was quick to strike this time because it wanted to restore members’ faith.
“We voted to strike and they listened to us,” he said.
Others questioned why UAW leaders didn’t give them information before the strike about an offer made by GM on Saturday. A UAW vice president told GM in a letter that if the automaker had presented the offer to the union sooner, the walkout might not have happened.
In the union’s defense, UAW spokesman Brian Rothenberg said the workers had a say in whether to strike:
The UAW summoned local leaders to Detroit, and they voted unanimously in favor, he said. Rank-and-file members also voted to authorize a walkout earlier in the month.
“This strike is about them, and their local leadership had a direct voice in the process,” Rothenberg said.