When Union Corruption Detracts From a Strike
United Auto Workers members recently voted to strike against the Big Three automakers. But as a rank-and-file General Motors worker explains, the ongoing corruption cases within the union make it hard to prepare to walk off the job.
General Motors Chairman and CEO Mary Barra and United Auto Workers President Gary Jones open the 2019 GM-UAW contract talks with the traditional ceremonial handshake on July 16, 2019 in Detroit, Michigan. (Bill Pugliano / Getty Images)
The Auto Workers’ bargaining for 150,000 blue-collar workers at the Big Three auto companies was further complicated on August 28 when the FBI raided the homes of UAW President Gary Jones and former president Dennis Williams. The FBI had search warrants for six locations in Wisconsin, Missouri, Michigan, and California.
The union had already seen four officials including a vice president (plus the widow of a vice president) convicted of graft arising from the UAW’s joint “training” center with Fiat Chrysler. The union has operated similar centers with Ford and GM for decades, a source of make-work jobs for loyal appointees.
UAW members were waiting for the shoe to drop at the other two companies. Then three weeks ago a former top assistant to Vice President Cindy Estrada in the union’s General Motors Department was charged with taking $1.99 million in kickbacks from vendors for UAW swag, such as fifty thousand “Team UAW-GM” jackets. He has pleaded guilty and is cooperating with authorities.
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