Joseph Szczesny writes for the Detroit Bureau:
…the Administrative Caucus, which has controlled the union’s internal politics for decades, had to scramble to fight off a large block of reform minded delegates.
The biggest clash revolved around strike pay, which was raised to $400 per week by the union’s executive board last month after a push by UAWD to avoid a clash during the convention. But reformers and more independent-minded delegates did succeed on the third day in calling out a resolution to raise the strike pay to $500 from day one of a work stoppage.
The next day, even though the hike in strike pay was reported on the UAW’s official website, the Administrative Caucus forced a reconsideration and rolled back the increase in the last hours of the convention. This time blocks of delegates, many of them local union officers who depend on the support of union’s professional staff and their resources to resolve local grievances and contract snarls, went along with the motion to reconsider.