As the first-ever one-person, one-vote election for the United Auto Workers top officers nears its end, the number of complaints to the court-appointed monitor about the process are mounting.
Most of those center on instances of entrenched union officials deliberately spreading false information about voter eligibility or inappropriately using union resources for their campaigns.
UAW members, active and retired, are now voting by mail for top officers and the Monitor recommends return their ballots in the return mail by Nov. 18. The elections officer appointed by the Monitor will begin tabulating votes, which have been returned starting Nov. 27.
Final stretch of historic election draw near
As of Nov. 14, approximately 91,000 ballots or less than 10% of ballots mailed by the elections officer have been returned. “It suggests that a lot of members have just given up on the UAW” following the scandals, which engulfed the union, said one observer.
But with campaigns by the administration caucus’ “Curry Solidarity Team” slate headed by the UAW’s current president, Ray Curry, and the reform-minded “UAW Members United” slate headed by Shawn Fain, a member of the UAW’s professional staff, complaints have mounted.
Critics of the Monitor’s oversight also have said there is not enough transparency by the Monitor about the handling of the election complaints. Some cite the expense of the Monitor, who is being paid millions of dollars out of union dues to ensure a fair election, as a problem. Other complaints include that issues are rarely addressed in a timely manner and that some have not been even handled yet.
In an email, the Monitor said, “The Monitor continues to hear and adjudicate allegations and protests of potential violations of the Election Rules or the other constitutional or legal standards for which the Monitor is required to ensure compliance, and otherwise take all necessary actions to ensure a fair, honest, open, and informed 2022 Election.”
The Monitor has cited the two candidates for UAW executive board for UAW Region 1 in Detroit and its Eastern Suburbs. James Harrison, the current regional in UAW Regional and a member of the administration caucus, was cited for retaliation — a major issue addressed in the election rules — when he refused to give opponent for the Regional Director’s office, LaShawn English, a floor pass at the UAW’s constitutional convention in July.
However, English, the president of UAW Local 1264, was cited for improperly inviting Margaret Mock, a fellow member of the reform slate challenging the union establishment, to address a regular union meeting.
The Monitor’s election rules prohibit candidates from using regularly scheduled union meetings for campaign. English had to invite Mock’s opponent, UAW Secretary-Treasurer Frank Stuglin to address the 30 members, who attended the meeting.
In region 2B, which includes Ohio and Indiana, the Monitor also ruled the Curry Solidarity Team Slate violated election rules, making it clear federal law prohibits the use of Union resources, including contact lists that were created or compiled as part of official duties or functions, to promote the candidacy of any person in a Union election. The Curry Team used an e-mail list compiled by UAW employees for a campaign mailing.
Monitor’s failure to act cited in complaints
Another complaint filed by Frank Hammer, however, the Monitor failed to act.
During a Retiree Chapter meeting, held at UAW Region 1 headquarters in Warren, Michiganj Hammer said he and a colleague distributed election fliers for LaShawn English, the reform slate’s candidate for UAW Region 1 Director in the parking lot, in advance of the meeting, as provided for by the monitor’s rules.
“No sooner had the meeting begun that an official employed by the current Director, James Harris, who is running as part of the ‘Curry Solidarity Team,’ announced from the podium that possession of the opposition flyers at the meeting was illegal. To the shock of the retirees, he immediately proceeded to confiscate them from the approximately 100 retirees present,” Hammer said.
Similar complaints have been filed in other parts of the country,” said Michael Cannon, a supporter of the reform slate.
Will Lehman, one of the five candidates, also complained via text and twitter UAW officials were telling “TPTs” or temporary part-time workers, who are UAW members, they could not vote in the election. The rules said they could.
One big issue cited by reformers the campaign has been the Curry team’s flip-flop on strike pay. At the UAW convention in July, delegates voted to raise strike pay from the UAW Strike and Defense Fund to $500. In the very next session, under prompting from Curry and the administration caucus, a delegate asked to have the motion reconsidered and the delegates then voted to trim strike pay back to $400 per week, citing concerns about the financial stability of the strike fund long term.
But post-convention, critics of the administration caucus, after reviewing reports by the UAW’s independent auditors, failed, at the time of the vote to provide delegates with a full and accurate picture of the assets contained in the UAW strike fund.
Of wider concern is that the Monitor reported in July that it had 19 different investigations underway inside the UAW. In one case, information was disclosed after a union official was arrested for embezzlement by the FBI.
The other investigations, however, have been kept under wraps and union members had no clear picture of the scope of the investigations prior to the elections, noted Lisa Xu, a spokesman for the reform slate.