Challenger Wins Narrowly to Become the New United Auto Workers Union President

A new person won a famous election and promised to take tough action with big car companies. This is according to an official who said the challenger, Shawn Fain, beat the current president of the United Auto Workers union in a close competition. Plus, workers voted out most of the incumbents due to a bribery and stealing problem.

A group of 372,000 people held an important election called the International Executive Board. This election was due to a scandal that got two former leaders of the group thrown in jail. The counting for this election started on March 1 and when Saturday came up, it was still not clear who won because some ballots had been challenged.

Curry had argued that some rules were broken during the election, but he accepted defeat and said Fain would be officially made the new leader of the union on Sunday.

Fain also declared that they were ready to take a harder stance against automaker companies.

He stated in a video, “Now we’re sending out a message to these car makers – we’re ready to fight!”

Fain promised to put a stop to contracts that give some workers fewer benefits and lower pay. He also said that the UAW will fight against factories closing which could lead to losing union jobs. According to Fain, unions have allowed too many plants to close without standing up for themselves, resulting in 40% of union members disappearing over the last 20 years. He vowed that things will change from now on. Finally, he promised to make sure the union was free of corruption or dirty deeds.

Fain, who is now 54 years old and an administrator for an international union in Detroit, got 50.2% of the votes (69,459 votes). Curry was close behind with 49.8% of the votes (68,976 votes), according to the unofficial tally that was done almost finished counting up all the ballots.

Curry wanted another election because he thought there were some irregularities happening but this request was denied by Barofsky, the court-appointed monitor.

Fain’s UAW Members United team has 7 members on the board, and somebody else is also supporting this team. The Curry Solidarity Team has 6 members. Out of 5 top officers in total, 4 them come from Fain’s team, like the treasurer and 2 out of 3 vice presidents.

The new leadership will have to act fast to get ready for a difficult negotiation that’ll happen this summer with car companies Ford, GM, and Stellantis.

Many people in the business are predicting labor strikes from the union. Fain doesn’t have much time to get ready for the union’s negotiating forum, which begins on Monday in Detroit. The convention will decide what demands the union wants for their upcoming contract negotiations.

In the past, how much people got paid in Detroit factories set the bar for wages across the country. Fain wants workers in all different kinds of jobs to get the same high pay and benefits as factory workers did before.

Fain and his company are dealing with workers’ requests to change back the conditions they accepted when the car makers were having money issues in 2007. This includes getting higher wages for cost of living, pay rises for everyone, pensions for all staff, and giving everyone the same wage and advantages.

But car makers like giving every worker a yearly profit-sharing check instead of salary increases as it helps them save money during tough times.

In a document he wrote in February, Fain mentioned all the changes he was planning to make after taking office. This includes job switching, adding new responsibilities to existing staff and having some people leave their positions. The message conveyed is that “a new leader is here”. Furthermore, the memo also talks about preparing for possible strikes or other labor actions.

Mike Booth, one of the new vice presidents, said automakers believe they don’t have enough money to make electric vehicles. He also added that “We should not make UAW members suffer while creating electric cars”.

The union is trying to get better working conditions in factories owned jointly by companies. They are also trying to stop the closure of a factory in Illinois. For the past two years, the UAW has been taking more forceful action including going on strike against companies such as Volvo Trucks, John Deere, University of California and CNHI which makes farming and building supplies.

Ford CEO Jim Farley said that whoever leads the United Auto Workers (UAW) union, his company will have a great relationship with them. In June 2021, Rory Curry was elected to become the UAW’s top leader and he had nothing to do with any scandal that was involved.

Recently, a big change happened in the 87-year old union. Instead of being picked by people chosen by local unions, leaders were voted on by all union members. Before this change, the current leaders chose the new officers and hardly ever did anyone go against it.

Eleven people who work for a union and one of their late friend’s partner agreed to be guilty about something bad they did in 2017. As a result, two former presidents got sent to prison. To prevent the government from taking over the union, members agreed to changes and somebody called Barofsky was chosen to watch and control elections of their leaders.

Shawn Fain said he wants to come back to the United Auto Workers, which is a group that helps set wage and benefit standards for other industries. Two reporters, Adrian Sainz from Memphis, Tennessee, and David Koenig from Dallas also helped give information on this story.