The UAW faces an internal tug-of-war between union members demanding reform of what they see as a corrupt system and the union’s old guard defending it.
Hundreds of members are backing a campaign to have the UAW hold direct elections for union president, a move they believe will bring more inspiring union leaders, ones they say will fight harder for the unionâs rank-and-file.
In recent decades, the UAW has been run by a single party or caucus, with each union president having a powerful say in choosing his successor, and that, dissidents say, led to internal rot â and the wide-ranging scandal in which top UAW officials embezzled more than $1.5m in union money and accepted more than $5m in kickbacks from auto company contractors and Fiat-Chrysler executives.
Workers Rally for Union Protections
May 13, 2021
Jenny Craig, a representative of Our Revolution (speaking), and a group of union members from across the Ohio Valley held a “Pass the PRO Act Rally” Wednesday evening in front of the Walter Reuther statue at Wheeling’s Heritage Port. The group is asking United States Senators to support and pass the Protecting the Right To Organize Act, a federal bill that expands various labor protections related to employees’ rights to organize and collectively bargain in the workplace.
(Photo by Scott McCloskey)