IEB Salary transparency
UAWD Priority resolution for
the UAW Constitutional Convention
IEB Salary Transparency
Amendment to Article 11
We want to increase the transparency of IEB salaries by stating them plainly—instead of the recent practice of listing them as a multiplier of international staff salaries. The 30% IEB salary increase that was enacted at the height of the corruption scandal in 2018 should be reversed.
Background
- UAW has had a tradition of transparency in finances spelled out in our Constitution, which requires Locals to provide members with monthly finance reports.
- International Executive Board officers’ salaries used to be explicitly stated in Article 11 of the Constitution—until 2014, when the Constitution was changed to list IEB salaries as a multiplier of international staff salaries.
- At the 2018 Convention, IEB salaries got a 30% raise, at the height of the corruption scandal perpetrated by the top ranks of the Administration Caucus.
Opposition from the Administration Caucus
- The Williams-Jones administration—which was later convicted of embezzling our dues money—not only raised their own salaries but made it complicated for members to know the exact amount of their salaries, going against UAW’s historic tradition of financial accountability.
- As part of rebuilding our union after the corruption scandal, this leftover practice from the Williams-Jones era must be nullified.
Why Salary Transparency Matters to Our Union Democracy
- Members should be the ultimate decision makers of our union, as evidenced here at the Constitutional Convention.
- It should be members who approve the salaries of our leaders in a clear & transparent manner.
- There’s no reason members should have to do complicated multiplication to find out how much of our dues are going to our elected leadership.
- After the devastation of corruption scandal after scandal, we need to rebuild trust in our leaders and simplify accountability mechanisms from members.
Why salary transparency matters to us
- As an auto worker, I believe that our leaders’ living conditions and salaries should be tied to those of the UAW members they represent to ensure they understand the difficulties we face and that our fight is also their fight.
- As an academic worker, our relatively short-term positions require us to constantly sign up new workers as union members. New members often have questions about how their dues money is spent, and more transparency will facilitate our organizing efforts.
- As a legal aid worker, many of us work in open shops in “right-to-work-for-less” states. When we organize our coworkers & ask them to pay dues, we need to be able to show them that our union is committed to transparency from top to bottom.
2022 Convention
Unite All Workers for Democracy (UAWD) is a grassroots movement of UAW members united in the common goal of creating a more democratic and accountable union.
Follow what we're fighting for at the 2022 UAW Constitutional Convention.
