DETROIT — The United Auto Workers' 38th Constitutional Convention ended on a dramatic note Thursday, reflecting internal fissures — as well as some signs of progress — in a union attempting to move beyond a years-long corruption scandal and position itself for an uncertain future.
In an unexpected move, UAW President Ray Curry skipped the traditional state of the union address after repeatedly delaying it earlier in the week. Some delegates also left the convention furious and confused about a move late in the day to reverse a vote that increased strike pay. And much of the morning on the convention's final day at Huntington Place was spent on a procedural matter that some saw as an attempted filibuster.
Still, numerous delegates to the quadrennial event said they felt it was the most democratic convention they'd been to yet and were encouraged by progress they felt had been made on key reforms and policies.
"I thought Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday were wonderful. I thought they were democratic. Everybody got to speak their mind, including me, and I got to talk when I was saying things nobody wanted to hear," said Bill Bagwell Jr., 65, a delegate from Local 174 in Livonia. He works at General Motors Co.'s customer care and aftersales facility in Ypsilanti and has attended numerous constitutional conventions before.
But that progress, he said, seemed to have been "eliminated" Thursday, reminding him of past conventions where tactics like using noisemakers to drown out dissenting voices were common.
“In the past, if the Administrative Caucus didn’t like you and didn’t want to hear what you had to say, you did not get to say it. You would get shouted down from the floor. You would get denied access from the podium," he said. "Ray Curry is running a much more open and a much more democratic convention — up until (Thursday) morning.”
The convention came as the Detroit-based union operates under the oversight of a court-appointed monitor, a condition of its consent decree with the U.S. Justice Department following a years-long federal investigation into corruption among union officials and auto executives that put two former UAW presidents in prison.
The four-day meeting also served as the launch of the union's first direct elections this fall of its 13-member International Executive Board. Meanwhile, the union faces thorny issues including the electrification of the auto industry that stands to disrupt both the UAW's membership base and potentially their contracts with the Detroit automakers.
Much of the convention's final day was consumed by the nomination and election of trustees. Emilio Ramirez, president of Local 5242, was elected to a term that runs through 2030. And Dana Davidson, financial secretary for Local 249, was elected to a term that runs through 2034.
The nomination process that ultimately resulted in Davidson's election ended up taking more than an hour, during which dozens of delegates nominated Davidson. The rules of order stipulate that each candidate receive no more than two nominations. Delegates were repeatedly determined to be "out of order," but continued at length — a move that some delegates saw as a tactic to slow down the day's proceedings.
Meanwhile, some delegates who have been critical of the union's controlling Administrative Caucus and who nominated other candidates for the trustee position were shouted down.
"Democracy was breaking out all over the place — until (Thursday) morning," said Scott Houldieson, a leader of the union's reform-minded Unite All Workers for Democracy caucus who also was nominated for the trusteeship.
"What you saw (Thursday) is what we're trying to get away from, what our caucus is interested in reforming," he said. "We want to bring democracy to the UAW so that the members have a real voice, rather than this convention system where the administration lays down the law and tells the delegates what they're going to do and how they're going to vote."
Then, after some delegates had left to return home Thursday, a motion was introduced to reconsider a resolution delegates had approved just the day before to increase weekly strike pay to $500 from $400, an accomplishment some reform-minded delegates had seen as a sign of progress.
Secretary-Treasurer Frank Stuglin told delegates that if $500 in strike pay had been in place during the 40-day General Motors Co. strike in 2019, it would have cost the union an additional $29 million.
The increase had been heralded in a news release just a day before by Curry himself.
"Today's increase builds upon the changes implemented by the UAW International Executive Board to strengthen the hand of workers at the bargaining table," Curry said. "UAW members have high expectations around bargaining, and raising the strike pay is a statement from UAW delegates that they are ready to fight for the wages and working conditions that UAW members deserve."
A UAW spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment about Curry's position on the policy or on complaints from some delegates about Thursday's proceedings.
Brian Schenck of Local 259 said he voted in favor of increasing strike pay and was "stunned" by the reversal: "It's stunning. A labor organization just voted in a huge way to reduce strike benefits. A huge element of a viable strike threat is having the economic wherewithal to do that."
Still, the convention was his sixth since 2002 and he said it was "by far ... the most democratic and respectful" one he's attended.
Likewise, Michael Digiuseppe of Local 259 — who was "torn" on the strike pay issue because he was mindful of depleting the strike fund — thought the convention represented progress.
"I think the conversation's been changed. I really do," he said. “We can no longer be defined by our differences. What unites us is so much stronger in this union, and I hope people come away with that. And I want people to know, they were heard.”
Delegates were able to pass a resolution to make strike pay available on day one of a strike instead of day eight, a move championed by UAWD. Others, however, that would have instituted absentee voting in local elections and codified “equal pay for equal work” in the constitution failed.
Meanwhile, delegates supported a 3% salary hike for International Executive Board members, and experienced leaders with institutional ties had a strong showing in the nominations for office and the election of two trustees.
“The convention has provided an opportunity for a lot of disgruntled members to voice their concerns,” said Marick Masters, a management professor at Wayne State University. “In the end, it’s still in control by the Administrative Caucus. They were able to appeal to the more rational side to look at the ability to finance a major strike. You don’t want to dissipate its funds so quickly that a strike becomes unmanageable."
Some saw Curry's decision not to give a speech at the convention as noteworthy — and rare. “It’s unclear what that means,” said Harley Shaiken, a professor at the University of California, Berkeley, who specializes in labor issues. “He may have a sense that this is an unpredictable situation.”
The address is usually when “the president is setting out the ideas of where the union is, what it is doing, and where it is going. That is rare, if not unprecedented,” for the president not to address the delegates.
And while opposition caucus members within the union saw some of their policy wins fail, candidates who will challenge Administrative Caucus members in the direct elections were able to secure nominations.
Challengers such as Shawn Fain, an international UAW administrative representative who works in the Stellantis Department, for example, create some sense of "uncertainty, which hasn't happened in a long while," Shaiken said.
“It is very likely Ray Curry is going to be the next president of the UAW,” he said. “But there could be some surprises along the way based on the size of the votes for candidates, regional director voters, anything can happen there.”
Meanwhile, Daniel Vicente of Local 644 and a member of UAWD left the convention Thursday decidedly unhappy with what he'd seen from the union's leaders.
"Our leaders ... do not represent the rank-and-file members of our union. They represent the interests of staff and leadership. They represent the interests of their friends," he said. "They absolutely robbed us again. We've been robbed by the people in prison; we're getting robbed by these leaders here."
Vicente had already notified members of his local that they'd be getting $500 in strike pay, and would have to go back to them to report that the stipend had been reduced.
"The $500 was huge for us, for actual people that are going to go on strike," he said. "I think we showed them that there's a groundswell of anger that's coming towards them, but we have so much more work to do to try to reform this union."
