Latest / Best of: Features / The United Auto Workers tries to reassert political power in Michigan as it faces internal divisions

Transcript

The United Auto Workers tries to reassert political power in Michigan as it faces internal divisions · Best of: Features

• 0:05
  The United Auto Workers tries to reassert political power in Michigan as
• 0:08
  it faces internal divichons. Written by Jacqueline Ganoon.
• 0:14
  This article is being read by an automated voice generated by Everlet.
• 0:20
  Shelby Township, Michigan, the AP. Walter Uzakowski was mowing his lawn in
• 0:24
  a northern suburb of Detroit when three canvassers from the United Auto
• 0:28
  Workers approached. I don't even need to talk to you, Uzikowski said.
• 0:33
  As a retired member, he was already supporting the Union slate of
• 0:36
  Democratic candidates in the november third midterms. But he is not sure
• 0:41
  how many of
• 0:42
  the other guys in the shop will vote for Democrats. He worked
• 0:44
  at Ford Motor Co dot S Sterling Axle Plant for more than
• 0:48
  forty five years, and he knows many members who backed Republican President
• 0:52
  Donald Trump. The election year canvassing was one part of the UAW's
• 0:57
  efforts to reassert its political power in Michigan, a premier political battleground.
• 1:02
  Although the Union generally backs Democrats, its membership is more divided over
• 1:06
  which party best represents working class interests. It also is reckoning with
• 1:11
  past corruption scandals, a drop in membership, and a lack of transparency
• 1:15
  that has eroded trust within its ranks. It's not going to be
• 1:19
  an overnight thing, said J. J. Jewell, who is part of the
• 1:21
  UAW's Community Action Programme Executive Committee. Even if this election goes fantastically,
• 1:27
  that's not mission accomplished. That means we're one percent of the way
• 1:31
  done. Internal divishons and distrust pose challenges. Jewell and others
• 1:37
  made the rounds on a recent sunny Saturday in Macomb County, where
• 1:41
  Trump won by nearly fourteen percentage points in twenty twenty four. Many
• 1:45
  of the Union members they met in a neighborhood of well kept
• 1:48
  suburban houses were retirees, and while most said the cost of living
• 1:52
  was their top concern, they did not agree on whether Democrats or
• 1:56
  Republicans would better address it. One resident, who said she blamed billionaires
• 2:01
  for the country's problems, planned to vote for Democrats. Another street over,
• 2:05
  a couple said they both supported Trump and declined to take a
• 2:08
  flyer of the UAW endorsed candidates. In a microcosm of broader political
• 2:14
  rifts, Union voters remain politically divided. Union voters have traditionally been seen
• 2:19
  as a democratic leaning constituency, but Trump made direct appeals to them
• 2:23
  with his anti elite rhetoric and promises to overhaul international trade agreements
• 2:27
  that sapped factory jobs. In twenty twenty four, voters who were union
• 2:32
  members or were in a household with a union member split between
• 2:36
  Trump and Democratic nominee Kamala Harris, with more
• 2:39
  than half voting for the then vice president and forty four percent
• 2:43
  for Trump. Betty Anderson, a UAW member, thinks the organization is on
• 2:48
  the right track, but she is not confident about bridging internal political
• 2:51
  divisions. She said she is angry with members who voted for Trump
• 2:55
  whom she sees as selling out the working class. I don't think
• 2:59
  those people are ever going to be on our side, Anderson said.
• 3:03
  They think the have an opportunity to be in an elite class.
• 3:07
  Leaders hope to rebuild trust with transparency. Since twenty seventeen, more than
• 3:12
  ten UAW officials have pleaded guilty in a corruption investigation that found
• 3:16
  millions of dollars of union dues were stolen. Members also faulted leaders
• 3:21
  for closed door contract negotiations that the said destroyed trust in The
• 3:25
  UAW Sean Fain was elected UAW president in twenty twenty three on
• 3:30
  a platform of transparency, and victories in labor disputes with Detroit's three
• 3:34
  major automakers bolstered member support. Leaders hope this will translate into votes
• 3:39
  for its candidates. I
• 3:41
  think the UW members now are starting to fall a little more
• 3:44
  in line, said Uzikowski, the retired Axel plant worker. On Friday Fayne
• 3:49
  said he won re election to lead the Union for four more
• 3:52
  years. The results have not yet been certified. Mark DePaoli, director for
• 3:57
  one of the UAW's Southeast Michigan regions, said the Union hosted forums
• 4:01
  with candidates where any member could ask questions. The UAW endorsed Progressive
• 4:06
  Democrat Abdul El Sayyid in the U.S. Senate primary, even though rival
• 4:10
  Haley Stevens, a four-term congresswoman, worked as chief of staff on an
• 4:14
  auto bailout task force during the Great Recession, a position she frequently
• 4:18
  cited while campaigning. I don't think anybody expected us to endorse him,
• 4:23
  DePauli said. In its announcement, the Union referenced El Said's support for
• 4:27
  universal health care and criticism of corporate money and politics. El said
• 4:32
  wore a UAW pin during the first Senate debate with his Republican
• 4:35
  opponent, former US Representative Mike Rogers. The UW's backing of Abdul was
• 4:41
  critical in winning a historic primary despite being outspent by tens of
• 4:45
  millions of dollars, and will be just as critical in winning next
• 4:48
  month, El SayAid spokesperson Kol Wozniak said. In a statement. Rogers is
• 4:53
  emphasizing his opposition to controversial federal regulations under Democratic President Joe Biden
• 4:59
  that would have required automakers to ramp up production of electric vehicles,
• 5:04
  which some feared would lead to factory closures. Mike knows The challenges
• 5:08
  our autoworkers face, and he'll be their champion in the U.S. Senate.
• 5:12
  Roger spokesperson Alyssa Bruy said in a statement. They same can't be
• 5:16
  said for Abdul and UAW national leadership. The Union needs to turn
• 5:21
  out the vote to be politically relevant. Robert Bruno, a professor in
• 5:26
  the School of Labor and Employment Relations at the University of Illinois
• 5:29
  Urbana Champaign, said the UAW's strength relies on its ability to mobilize
• 5:34
  voters. You don't win campaigns off of your endorsements, Bruno said. You
• 5:39
  win campaigns at the door, or at the bar, at the Union
• 5:42
  Hall. In the nineteen eighties there were more than six hundred thousand
• 5:46
  active and retired UAW members in Michigan, according to the Union. Today,
• 5:50
  that number hovers around three hundred fifty thousand. The UAW is still
• 5:55
  the largest union in the State. UAW leaders are optimistic after a
• 6:00
  primary election campaign drive and what they see as better, more transparent
• 6:04
  leadership. The Union said about one hundred thirteen thousand of its members
• 6:08
  voted early during Michigan's August primary, and it has volunteers canvassing and
• 6:13
  calling voters before election day. In September, the UAW hosted a conference
• 6:18
  of its Michigan political arm for the first time since 2018. Fain
• 6:23
  told reporters at the Lansing event that the organization wants members to
• 6:26
  drive the direction of the Union, focusing on issues like affordability. We
• 6:31
  are as active as we can be right now, he said. Ganun
• 6:35
  is a core member for the Associated Press Report for America State
• 6:38
  House News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program
• 6:43
  that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.