The US United Auto Workers union, currently in the final stages of renewing its labour contracts with the Detroit Three automakers, said its international executive board had filed charges under Article 30 of the UAW constitution against president Gary Jones – who recently took a lengthy leave of absence – and his aide Vance Pearson, aiming to remove them both from their elected positions and to expel them from the union’s membership.
Jones reportedly stepped down as rumours circulated about his role in an ongoing federal investigation of senior union officials.
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Reuters last night (20 November) reported GM had filed a lawsuit against Fiat Chrysler alleging its rival bribed UAW union officials over many years to corrupt the bargaining process and gain advantages, costing GM billions of dollars.
The Article 30 charges, signed by the entire UAW board, assert that Jones and Pearson directed the submission of false, misleading and inaccurate expense records to the UAW accounting department and further concealed the true information concerning those expenses, in violation of the UAW’s ethical practices code and applicable US federal labour laws.
“This is a sombre day, but our UAW constitution has provided the necessary tools to deal with these charges,” said acting president Rory Gamble in a statement.
“We are committed to take all necessary steps including continuing to implement ethics reforms and greater financial controls to prevent these type of charges from ever happening again.”
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By GlobalDataIn a separate statement in response to the GM suit, the union said: “The UAW is focused on continuing to implement ethics reforms and greater financial controls to make sure the misconduct which has been uncovered will never happen again.
“Iacobelli [ex-Fiat Chrysler executive Alphons who was sentenced to 5½ years in prison last year for his role in a US$4.5m scheme which diverted training money meant for blue collar automaker workers to UAW officials and himself instead] worked for both FCA and General Motors, and he is currently in prison for his crimes, which include the misuse of Joint Program funds.
“As to the collective bargaining agreements negotiated with FCA while Iacobelli was an FCA manager, we are confident that the terms of those contracts were not affected by Iacobelli’s misconduct, nor that of any UAW officials involved in the misuse of Joint Program funds at FCA.
“Those contracts, which were ultimately ratified by our membership, were negotiated with the involvement of both local and international representatives and the process had multiple layers of checks and balances to ensure their integrity.
“That said, the fact that these issues can cause doubt about the contracts is regrettable. The UAW leadership is absolutely committed to making whatever changes are necessary to ensure on our end the misconduct that has been uncovered will never happen again.”
Also last night, the Detroit News delivered a crushing verdict on the late Sergio Marchionne’s tenure as head of FCA.
His legacy at Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV was moving from weighty to crushing, the paper said.
“The sweeping allegations contained in General Motors’ racketeering lawsuit against the Italian American automaker… depict a manipulative mastermind who led the remains of the old Chrysler Group from bankruptcy. Within weeks, the lawsuit and court records show, the new company moved to corrupt the bargaining process with cash, gifts and favourable contracts essentially underwritten by American taxpayers.”
