Read more on Ford and sign up for our autos newsletter.Detroit - Federal prosecutors charged a local United Auto Workers official Wednesday with embezzling more than $2 million in union funds, money laundering and spending the funds on gambling, guns, cars and child-support payments. LaReau contributed to this report.Ĭontact Phoebe Wall Howard: 3 1 or. This sends an important message of integrity to all the members, officers, and staff of the UAW."įree Press staff writers Eric D. Curry repaid the money and issued a public apology. "In an abundance of caution to further transparency and remove any question of impropriety, Mr. There is no reason to doubt that this was a legitimate trip to Florida taken by Curry on UAW business and that the tickets were incidental," Masters said. shows the UAW operating at its highest ethical standard. "The exoneration of UAW President Curry, after two independent investigations.
Marick Masters, a professor at the Mike Ilitch School of Business at Wayne State University, said the UAW is positioned well moving ahead. The UAW, an acronym for the International Union, United Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of America, currently represents approximately 400,000 members. That first election will be held this summer. In November, UAW members voted to amend the UAW constitution to require direct elections of international leaders going forward. The latest news comes as the UAW moves past a corruption scandal involving misuse of union and worker training funds. More: Ford promotes 290 UAW members from temp to full-time ahead of schedule More: Michigan auto industry struggles to hire, keep workers - some quitting by lunch More: UAW grows by 17,000 academic workers in California after threat to strike UC Hope for the futureĮrik Gordon, a business professor at the University of Michigan, said, "You hope that this is the last of UAW brass appearing to personally benefit from their high position." Shaiken is the grandson of a Russian immigrant who moved from Ohio to Detroit to earn $5 a day at Ford’s Highland Park plant and spent most of his 33 years on the line at The Rouge. But anything like this becomes problematic.” “Curry paid the money back and apologized. “Were the optics poor in the current environment? Absolutely,” Shaiken said. Still, the facts of the football ticket situation raised valid questions, he said. Shaiken, a professor at University of California, Berkeley, is a national expert on labor and his grandfather worked for Ford. Harley Shaiken with his grandpa, Philip Chapman, in Detroit circa 1940.
Curry violated UAW policies or otherwise acted unethically by using the tickets, purchased by Region 8 as part of an advertising buy, for himself and three other UAW representatives."Ĭurry "provided a reasonable explanation as to why he was in Florida and the tickets were incidental," the report said. The ethics investigation "found no evidence Mr. Although there is more work to be done, I can confidently say that we have come a long way." Tickets 'incidental'
In a letter to members Curry sent Thursday, he said, "I’ve committed to lead with transparency and in full support of the ethical reforms necessary to restore full confidence in our union. "Years ago, no one would even bat an eye at this kind of allegation, but now the UAW is turning over every stone to investigate - which proves the UAW reforms are truly working.”Ĭurry, the former secretary-treasurer of the union, a truck assembler and military veteran, took the helm in June 2021 after Rory Gamble retired. “The fact that this ethics complaint was so thoroughly investigated is even more important than the outcome," Schneider said.
Attorney who led the corruption prosecution of more than a dozen UAW and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles executives for theft and bribery, told the Free Press he was pleased with the outcome. Matthew Schneider, a lawyer at the Honigman firm in Detroit and the former U.S. However, the UAW since has tightened up policies to prohibit the union from entering into contracts that include tickets to entertainment or sporting events as part of sponsor packages. The latest report noted that Curry had to be reminded that he had tickets available to him at the time. More: Stellantis UAW workforce eligible for $14,670 profit-sharing checks More: UAW fight organizes Stellantis supplier in Marysville, adds 350 members