Jordyn Grzelewski, Kalea Hall, and Breana Noble write for The Detroit News:
So how did an upstart faction within one of the country’s oldest and most powerful industrial unions pull off such an upset?
The path of the UAW Members United slate can in some ways be traced all the way back to an earlier reform movement calling itself “New Directions” that sprang up in the 1980s. More recently, it stems from perceptions that the UAW’s leadership had become too friendly with management — a sentiment exacerbated by the corruption scandal that landed two past presidents, among others, in prison.
Ultimately, those frustrations spurred a worker-led movement that led to the creation in 2019 of a reform-minded political caucus within the union, Unite All Workers for Democracy. UAWD members have spent the last several years focused on grassroots organizing and mobilizing, as well as assembling and campaigning for their IEB candidate slate.
Now they’ll have a seat at the table — just in time to sit across from the Detroit Three in a crucial set of contract negotiations next year.