Posts tagged monitor
UAW’s Fain shares post-election message with auto workers: What he said
November 18, 2024 // The letter, posted on social media late Wednesday, started by acknowledging that "the people have spoken" in electing Trump to a second term as U.S. president. Fain said it was not the outcome the UAW advocated for — because the UAW endorsed Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris — but the union members must remain true to the UAW mission of fighting for their jobs and better benefits.
New Details Emerge in the Misconduct Investigation Into Shawn Fain and the UAW
July 22, 2024 // A recent third-party audit of the union’s culture, which was recommended by the monitor, confirmed these concerns. The audit found that 40% percent of UAW’s staff members would decline to report acts of misconduct over fear of retaliation.
As UAW ‘is being watched with a microscope,’ new investigation puts Fain in crosshairs
July 1, 2024 // The Free Press has made numerous requests — none granted — over the years, including following the release of the latest status report, to interview the monitor, Neil Barofsky, a former assistant U.S. attorney and current partner in the Chicago law firm Jenner & Block. The consent decree stemming from the union's corruption scandal sets in place a six-year term of oversight by the monitor. Barofsky’s appointment was OK’d by U.S. District Court Judge David Lawson in May 2021. The monitor’s charge is broad, with the consent decree giving him “the authority and duty to remove fraud, corruption, illegal behavior, dishonesty and unethical practices from the UAW and its constituent entities.” The oversight by the independent monitor means that internal divisions and disagreements in addition to specific actions are much more likely to be brought to light. Masters described the situation as a fishbowl.
OPINION A regulatory change promises to make the unionization of restaurants even easier
May 31, 2024 // And if that employer shows even mild resistance during that process to the staff being organized, a judge can declare the union has won the right to represent the employees, with no vote needed. In that instance, it’s not even necessary for a majority of the employees to favor unionizing. Working Lunch co-hosts Joe Kefauver and Franklin Coley explain how that radical change in the organizing process is already being used by unions to organize single-unit restaurant operations.
The Daily Dirt: Carpenters’ union eyes freedom, 30 years after scandal
February 2, 2024 // This doesn’t mean the union is free and clear of potentially corrupting influences. In fact, the union’s court filing notes that an investigation by the inspector general led to the removal of member Thomas Ficarotta, described as a captain of the Genovese crime family, in September.
STATEN ISLAND: Amazon Union Dissidents, in Challenge to Leader, Move to Force Vote
July 11, 2023 // On Friday, the reform caucus sent the union’s leadership a letter laying out its proposal to hold prompt elections, saying it would go to court Monday if the leadership didn’t embrace the proposal. The reform group is made of up more than 40 active organizers who are also plaintiffs in the legal complaint, including Connor Spence, a union co-founder and former treasurer; Brett Daniels, the union’s former organizing director; and Brima Sylla, a prominent organizer at the Staten Island warehouse. The group said in its letter that enacting the proposal could “mean the difference between an A.L.U. which is strong, effective, and a beacon of democracy in the labor movement” and “an A.L.U. which, in the end, became exactly what Amazon warned workers it would become: a business that takes away the workers’ voices.”
Narrow win adds to challenges for new UAW President Shawn Fain
March 28, 2023 // Curry’s team argued that “tens of thousands of ballots” were returned to the union as undeliverable and questioned whether the monitor’s office made “all reasonable efforts” to ensure those members could vote. They also called into question the validity of Daniel Vicente’s victory as director of Region 9, which represents workers in New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Curry argued that Vicente was not able to run because he had not paid the dues necessary to be a UAW member in good standing until after the original November vote. Curry also said campaign rules were not consistently enforced and that campaign donations to his opponent came from employers with whom the union has a bargaining relationship, which would be against the rules. The monitor dismissed Curry’s calls for a new election, although it’s unclear if he’ll take additional steps to challenge the results. In the meantime, Fain will have to build out his staff within a UAW bureaucracy he criticized as a candidate. According to a transition memo first reported by the Detroit Free Press, he plans big shakeups within the union’s staff.
UAW Election Results Delayed to “Challenged” Ballots
March 7, 2023 // The outcome will be decided by 1,608 “challenged ballots.” The court-appointed monitor is determining whether the challenged ballots come from eligible voters. In many cases, the voters never included the number of their Local Union on the ballot. In other cases, the elections officer appointed by the monitor was unable to determine if the voter appeared on a list of a local union’s list of active or retired members, observers said. “The independent monitor is continuing to conduct the vote count process. No outcome has been determined,” the Curry Solidarity Team said in a Facebook post. “This is a process that make take a while,” Members United noted. So far, the elections officer has counted 137,591 votes and Fain, boosted by the fallout from a scandal, is leading by 645 votes, according to the unofficial results compiled by the monitor, who was appointed in the wake of the recent scandal during which a dozen union officials were sent to prison.
Reform candidates lead in UAW races with 73% of vote counted
December 2, 2022 // Members of the United Auto Workers union appeared on Thursday to favor replacing many of their current leaders in an election that stemmed from a federal bribery and embezzlement scandal involving former union officials. Reform-minded candidates, many part of the UAW Members United slate, are leading or close in multiple key races with about 73% of the vote in. Many challengers campaigned on rescinding concessions made to companies in previous contract talks, including cost-of-living pay raises, elimination of a two-tier wage and benefit system, and other items.
UAW ballots to be mailed out this week for direct elections of top leaders
October 20, 2022 // More than 900,000 members were slated to receive their ballots in the first batch of mailings that began Monday, according to a representative for the UAW’s independent monitor in response to questions from the Free Press. Additional mailings to another 100,000 members are planned over the next few days, followed by more ballot distributions on Monday and Nov. 11. Those additional mailings will include members who have become active or joined the union in recent weeks, according to the monitor's office. The monitor, former assistant U.S. attorney Neil Barofsky, was picked to oversee the union and the election process as part of an agreement between the federal government and the union in connection with the union's corruption scandal.