UAW Boss Shawn Fain: “Workers have been exploited for years!”
More woes: Another 200 employees represented by UAW were dismissed.
In a recent article in the European newspaper the Guardian, Union Boss Shawn Fain may have accidentally uttered the truth, [UAW union monopoly controlled] “workers realized they’ve been getting screwed for decades.ii”
We added the brackets for emphasis, but a quick internet search reveals that in 2022, a Local Union UAW representative, Timothy Edmunds, pleaded guilty to embezzling over $2.1 million in union funds and money laundering. And just to remind you, it’s widely known that most plea deals result from criminal admissions to lesser charges to avoid potentially harsher prison sentences and fines for the accused and to reduce the workloads for prosecutors.
The IRS press releaseiii referring to Edmunds included more UAW news, a list of other UAW scoundrels. And, just to note they were not ”Former” UAW officials when the crimes were committed:
Edmunds was the seventeenth defendant convicted in connection with the ongoing criminal investigation into corruption within the UAW or relating to illegal payoffs to UAW officials by FCA executives. The following individuals had already pleaded guilty to their participation in the schemes and have been sentenced:
IRS Press Release
- Former UAW president Gary Jones (28 months in prison)
- Former FCA vice president for Employee Relations Alphons Iacobelli (66 months in prison)
- Former FCA financial analyst Jerome Durden (15 months in prison)
- Former director of FCA’s Employee Relations Department Michael Brown (12 months in prison)
- Former senior UAW officials Virdell King (60 days in prison), Keith Mickens (12 months in prison), Nancy A. Johnson (12 months in prison)
- Monica Morgan, the widow of UAW vice president general Holiefield (18 months in prison)
- Former UAW vice president Norwood Jewell (15 months in prison)
- Former senior UAW official Michael Grimes (28 months)
- Former UAW Midwest CAP president Edward “Nick” Robinson (12 months in prison)
- Former UAW vice president Joseph Ashton (30 months)
- Former UAW president Dennis Williams (21 months)
- Former UAW Region 5 director UAW Board member Vance Pearson (12 months in prison)iv
Even the World Socialist Web Site (WSWS) seems disappointed with Fainv:
Two years ago, Fain rose to power, promising to bring about a “democratic” change in the UAW. This promise was made in the aftermath of several high-ranking officials being jailed by federal investigators for accepting bribes and misappropriating workers’ dues.
However, instead of fulfilling his promise, Fain orchestrated a limited strike that had little impact. Subsequently, Fain pushed through a contract last year that has so far resulted in job losses for thousands of autoworkers.
WSWS
In another WSWS post, they provide more details about their disappointment with Shawn Fain and his touted 2023 UAW contract:
Continuing its program of mass job cuts in the wake of the 2023 [UAW] sellout contract, automaker Stellantis has cut another 229 jobs …
The cuts hitting Stellantis SEs are a particularly hard pill to swallow since they had been promised full-time jobs under the 2023 contract. …
The continuing cuts and the refusal of the UAW to wage any fight have angered autoworkers. The latest report of layoffs comes as UAW President Shawn Fain wined and dined with corporate CEOs at a lavish White House reception …
Fain’s rubbing shoulders with billionaires is ironic and revealing. During the the 2023 contract talks Fain had demagogically posed as a foe of the billionaires, wearing a T-shirt with the slogan “Eat the Rich” during one strike update livestreamed on Facebook.
A Stellantis worker from Kokomo, Indiana who recently lost their job told the World Socialist Web Site, “It makes me sick. When he (Fain) wore that shirt (“Eat the Rich”) he meant “eat WITH the rich.”
WSWS