(Note: The following article represents the opinions of the author and is not an official statement by UAWD.)
On Wednesday, former IUAW President Gary Jones pleaded guilty to embezzling over $1 million dollars from the rank-and-file.
Jones is the latest in a string of UAW officers who have betrayed the trust of our membership for the sake of their own personal interests.
Following Jones’ plea hearing, US Attorney Matthew Schneider reiterated that a government takeover of the union is still very much a possibility.
A few thoughts on the state of our current situation:
During the course of the investigation I have seen many a UAW member post on social media that they hope the government takes over the union and cleans house. I believe a government takeover via the RICO Act would be a disaster for our union. The government is no friend to the labor movement. If anyone is under any illusion that the government is going to side with the interests of blue collar workers over the interests of corporate power, I have a beach front property in Kansas I’m willing to sell you.
I also believe this inclination to see a government takeover voiced by many of our Brothers and Sisters comes from the desire to take the easy way out and let someone else do all of the work. Many of us do not want to have to be involved in the processes of our union, to educate ourselves, and to invest our time to weed out the corruption ourselves or to fight for a different path forward. We’d rather someone else fix all of our problems. Just as many of our members keep waiting for the Administration Caucus to finally fight for equality.
It’s not going to happen.
The behavior of those who have been found guilty should not come as a surprise to the membership of our union. This is the logical outcome when one party is in control of the UAW for seventy-plus years with few safeguards to actually hold them accountable. As time has went on, the membership as a whole has become less and less engaged and is not interested in the inner-workings of the union or how to build shop-floor power, thus, we have only emboldened the Administration Caucus to continue down the path of greed and self preservation of their power.
As Lord Acton once so eloquently stated, “Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”
At the end of the day, these bureaucrats are getting off extremely easy given the seriousness of what they have done. And at the end of the day, the rank-and-file are the ones who will ultimately pay the price for their actions via a potential government takeover and public perception. Just as the rank-and-file made all of the concessions during the Great Recession in order to help save the automakers while the big wigs making the decisions got off scot-free.
Norwood Jewell can accept bribes from an automaker and still end up with a pension, while only serving a few months in prison before being sent home to finish out his 15-month sentence. In our union’s current state, in-progression and temporary autoworkers won’t ever sniff a pension despite working their asses off right alongside workers WITH pensions.
The moral of this whole investigation scandal story is that, unfortunately, white collar crime often pays. Screw over your constituents, get busted, roll over on your co-conspirators, and spend under a year in jail. Serve your time and then enjoy your retirement.
Every UAW member should be outraged with the behavior of those who have been found guilty of betraying us. The question is, how do we channel that outrage in order to start winning again? In my opinion we’re not going to win at a Convention, or on a Hollywood strike organized by the same people who help the companies keep us in our little sandbox far away from the opportunity to actually wreak havoc on corporate profits.
Workers have to start thinking outside of the parameters the corporations and the Admin Caucus want to confine us to.
If you’re in need of some inspiration, make sure you follow the UC grad student wildcat strike.
In Solidarity,
Justin Mayhugh
UAW Local 31