Two of the past three presidents of the UAW have been sentenced to prison time for embezzling union funds, which might lead a reasonable person to think that there might be something wrong with how the UAW selects its leaders. But not Ray Curry, the UAW’s current president.
Curry succeeded Rory Gamble this summer and initially said the right things, you know about respecting reforms, accepting the federal monitor, etc. But today he made it clear that he is just more of the same nonsense, saying that he thinks the way the union currently selects its leaders — with an election by delegates at the UAW Constitutional Convention, and not by a vote of the full membership — is just fine.
That’s apparently because the current system has served it so well? Or something? From Automotive News:
Months ahead of a federally-mandated referendum that could alter how the UAW selects its leaders, President Ray Curry said he supports the current election system over the potential one-member, one-vote model.
“We believe the current delegate system represents every local union around the country having the ability to elect their respective delegates to attend constitutional convention events and bargaining conventions and, as the need may arise under the constitution, any emergency meeting that would need to be facilitated,” he said in his first media roundtable as UAW president. “We would advocate for that to continue to be in process.”
UAW members will get secret ballots in October for a referendum on whether the UAW will continue with the current delegate system or move to a system in which members elect leaders directly. One of those systems produced two UAW presidents that have been sentenced to prison for embezzling union funds. For Curry’s own good he should probably prefer one that hasn’t.
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