Members of the United Auto Workers union have overwhelmingly approved selecting their leaders in direct elections.
The historic referendum resulted from a federal corruption investigation that led to the conviction of 11 senior UAW officials and others.
With all votes tallied as of Thursday, almost 64 percent favored direct elections, also known as one member one vote, while about 36 percent wanted to keep the current system of delegates selecting the union’s leadership. A federal court-appointed monitor conducting the election posted the results on his website.
“Our members spoke, and I’m glad they did,“ said Bruce Baumhower, president of Local 12. ”Now they’ll have a stronger voice in everything that goes on, especially at the international [leadership] level.”