Posts tagged monitor
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.
Free at last: Carpenters union nearly rid of court-appointed monitor
July 8, 2022 // Two consecutive presidents stepped down, one after allegations of misconduct, while the other cited “mistakes” from several years ago (he had worked off the books earlier in his career as a carpenter). The union also recently increased the monitor’s authority to bring charges against members with connections to organized crime. The change was partly inspired by the 2019 indictments against leaders of two local union chapters, who were charged with accepting bribes in exchange for union membership. Last year, a union leader retired after the monitor concluded that he should be removed from office; an investigation found that he had associated with a “barred” person at a golf event. Joseph Geiger, Glen McGorty, District Council, 421a expired,
UAW members challenge Ray Curry for union presidency
July 5, 2022 // Instituting direct elections of United Auto Workers' international officials is leading some members to step up and challenge President Ray Curry to the union's top role, even from within Solidarity House. Passage last year of the "one member, one vote" system by a referendum vote of the membership was brought on by a years-long corruption scandal, implicating 17 people, including two former UAW presidents. It's setting up a historic leadership selection process ahead of next year's critical contract negotiations with the Detroit Three automakers as their transition to electrification increasingly affects shop floors and as the union covers an increasingly diverse swath of members. court-appointed UAW monitor, Reuther or Administrative Caucus, pension and retirement health-care benefits, socialist,
Unions prepare to fight as California state departments order employees back to offices
April 5, 2022 // Union leaders are pointing to pandemic directives from Gov. Gavin Newsom to help make their case. Newsom said early in the pandemic that the state would offer permanent telework options for employees, citing savings on leased building space and reductions to traffic and air pollution.
UAW Vice President Estrada, head of Stellantis department, to retire
March 9, 2022 // "As I complete my term, I will continue my work on strategic national organizing campaigns in the EV sector to demand that new EV work be union built and existing members in the traditional technologies are not abandoned," Estrada wrote. "The new economy must create good union jobs, racial justice, benefit the communities and protect our planet."
Direct Election Of UAW Officers Approved By U.S. Judge
February 4, 2022 // “We will continue to work with the monitor to ensure that the UAW is fully reformed, free of corruption and fraud, and that the union’s elections will be fair,” said U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan, Dawn Ison.