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Folks,
This week, the FBI raided the home of UAW President Gary Jones as part of growing corruption probe into the union. The ongoing corruption probe has already seen 4 top UAW officials convicted on charges of accepting bribes from employers in exchange for concessions at the bargaining table. (For background on the probe, check out the Detroit Free Press).
The FBI raid greatly increases the likelyhood that rank-and-file workers at General Motors may go on a strike against the company when their contract expires on September 14th.
Increasingly, the rank and file membership of the UAW has grown disillusioned with the corruption problems at the top of their union. Many workers at Volkswagen in Chattanooga, Tennessee cited the corruption probe as the primary reason they voted against the UAW. (See my on-the-ground reporting from Chattanooga for more background).
Now, many rank-and-file members at General Motors want to take militant action to chart for their union. Many union members are upset with a two-tier wage structure, agreed to as part of the auto bailout, that they feel that the two-tier hurts the union greatly on the shop floor.
Additionally, many workers want to strike at General Motors to demand the re-opening of the companies’ Lordstown plant in Warren, Ohio that was closed earlier this year.
The situation is fluid and complex and exactly type of story that I want to cover at Payday Report. So this Labor Day, I am asking my readers to help fund a reporting project on what looks brewing rank-and-file rebellion at General Motors.
Payday, located in Pittsburgh, only an hour south of the Lordstown plant, is uniquely situated to cover the brewing rank-and-file rebellion within the UAW.
So for Labor Day, I am asking my readers to help me raise a thousand dollars so I can cover the growing calls for wildcat strikes at General Motors.
