A federal judge on Monday ordered the United Auto Workers to continue with the steps being taken to amend the union's constitution to adopt direct elections of its international executive board members.
Judge David Lawson of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan granted approval of the referendum results. UAW members last fall with 64% support voted to implement the "one member, one vote" reform over the existing delegate-based system to elect the 13-member board. He directed the court-appointed monitor, attorney Neil Barofsky, to work with the UAW to amend the constitution by June 30 prior to the UAW's next constitutional convention, which is scheduled for July 25-28 at Detroit's Huntington Place downtown conference center.
"The Court," Lawson wrote, "has considered the record submitted by the parties and is satisfied that the election properly was conducted, and that the monitor's adequate supervision of the process provides sufficient assurance that the election results faithfully represent the desire of the union's members to alter the method of electing officers for the union's executive board."
UAW members were given the chance to vote on whether to change the election system that has been in place for seven decades. It was included as a part of a consent decree the union reached with the Justice Department following a years-long corruption investigation that resulted in the convictions of 15 people, including two former UAW presidents.
"We designed the Consent Decree so that the members of the UAW would be able to decide for themselves how they would choose their leaders going forward, rather than having the government impose one system or another," U.S. Attorney Dawn Ison said in a statement.
"Now that the members have spoken and chosen a system of direct elections, we will continue to work with the Monitor to ensure that the UAW is fully reformed, free of corruption and fraud, and that the union's elections will be fair and in compliance with the will of the membership."
