Yesterday, UAW staffers went on strike in the northeast against their international union.
Workers say that the union is relying heavily on temporary employees, a practice they have criticized at the Big Three, and attempting to exclude them from the staff union. Some UAW organizers are kept on temporary status for up to three years.
The UAW Staff United says that one union organizer, Alex Chan, was dismissed by the International for complaining about the exploitation of temporary staffers.
“Management’s insistence on being able to lay us off on a whim shows gross disregard for our needs and the needs of the rank-and-file,” said UAW staff union bargaining committee member Rita Akincillar in a statement.
(You can read the full statement here from the union of UAW staffers)
Today, the UAW announced that they were cutting off pay in a hardball move designed to intimidate staffers.
“@UAW pulled a classic corporate boss move and cut all striking workers’ pay yesterday,” tweeted UAW staffer Molly Ragan. “It’s strike day 2 and we are angry and determined to make this place better for staff organizers and the members we organize alongside. Cut our pay, cut our healthcare, we are not going away.”
Given the high-profile media attention on UAW President Shawn Fain and the fact that the strike is occurring in the media hub of New York City, you would think every labor reporter in the country would be covering this. However, outside of Payday Report, no other labor reporter or labor publication has covered the strike.
So, why would so many labor journalists ignore this story of hypocrisy by UAW President Shawn Fain? They need the social media engine of the UAW in order to make their work go viral.
Hamilton Nolan is arguably the most famous labor journalist in the country. President Obama even invited him to a special meeting at the White House after he led the landmark union drive at Gawker.
Earlier today, the UAW tweeted Nolan’s article on his substack. As the owner of a crowdfunded publication, the social media help of the UAW is a great assistance to Nolan.
Last August, Payday wrote a 6,000-word investigation entitled “UAW Federal Monitor Investigates Fain’s Purge of Top Allies While Convicted Felon Steers UAW Legal”.
The piece looked into how top-down bullying culture within the UAW was threatening to derail UAW’s reforms. A court-ordered, confidential survey of several hundred UAW staffers showed that 40% of UAW staffers feared retaliation if they spoke up about problems within the UAW.
While the piece was widely distributed by UAW rank-and-file, it was largely ignored by the rest of the labor press.
UAW Communications Director Jonah Furman controls the union’s multi-million dollar media budget. Furman, a DC-based union consultant, had previously worked as the top labor liaison for the Bernie Sanders campaign and at Labor Notes.
With over 60,000 Twitter followers, Furman is a social media powerhouse and commands a legion of labor fans, who have turned Fain into the most famous labor leader in the country.
However, members of the UAW’s Local Union Communication Association (UAW-LUCA) complained that Furman was turning away previous hires from the rank and file of the UAW to hire Beltway-connected consultants, hiring many of the talented content makers of the Bernie campaign.
The hires paid off and made Fain a household name, but rank-and-file UAW members felt excluded.
“The latest round of hiring for the International UAW Communications Department is to be filled with all candidates that are non-UAW candidates, bringing the department to a ratio where less than 50% (fifty percent) of the staff was UAW before entering the department,” wrote the rank-and-file members in a leaked petition obtained by Payday Report.
The group of UAW leaders signing it included Jessie Kelly of UAW Local 160, Luiji Gukal of UAW Local 51, Lynda Jackson of UAW Local 7, Ben Bell of UAW Local 7, Jackie Robinson of UAW Local 160, and Kristian Graham of UAW Local 228.
“We the undersigned UAW-LUCA representative(s), petition a meeting with Jonah Furman to discuss the recent decision and direction of the department to cease to use content that is created by rank and file UAW members until the International UAW Communications Department is represented by a majority of staff, whom were UAW members prior to accepting the role in the department,” wrote the group.
With Fain facing increasing pressure from within the UAW and complaints that they lost a high-profile UAW election in Alabama over a digital media-heavy and organizing-light model, he has increasingly relied on Furman to work his contacts in the press.
In June, UAW Federal Monitor Barofsky filed a complaint in court asking a federal judge to order the UAW to hand over more documents. A rash of negative headlines appeared about the UAW.
Then, a story relying on one anonymous source went viral accusing Barofsky, who had served as a monitor investigating Credit Suisse for hiding Nazi money, of having a Zionist bias.
The UAW’s social media influencer allies kicked into high gear to brand Barofsky a Zionist, one who was upset over the UAW’s position on Gaza and was retaliating by investigating Fain’s controversial purges. The reporting mentioned nothing about the court-ordered survey of hundreds of UAW employees that showed widespread fear of Fain’s purges of allies suspected of disloyalty.
Ryan Grim, the author of the viral hit piece that relied on a single anonymous source, failed to mention one key point: that his top editor was married to the UAW’s Communications Director Jonah Furman.
Our reporting revealed that the smear campaign against Barofsky was false, but still the smears continued.
Now, once again, rank-and-file concerns within the UAW are being ignored and no one is listening.
In an era, where viral labor influencers are replacing labor reporters like myself, Payday is dedicated to telling the truth. Rank-and-file union members have a right to know what’s going on in their unions.
