Ten days before the expiry of the contract, the main contributor to GM's UAW negotiators pleads guilty of taking $ 2 million in bribes

Ten days before the expiry of the contract, the main contributor to GM's UAW negotiators pleads guilty of taking $ 2 million in bribes

By
Jerry White

September 5, 2019

Less than ten days before the expiry of contracts with 155,000 US automakers GM, Ford and Fiat Chrysler, another senior executive of United Auto Workers has pleaded guilty to bribery.

Michael Grimes, former assistant to current and former vice presidents of the UAW, pleaded guilty in federal court in Ann Arbor, Michigan, under charge of wire fraud and money laundering. # 39; money. Prosecutors say he has received more than $ 1.5 million in bribes and bribes in twelve years during which he served on the UAW-governing council. GM Center for Human Resources (CHR).

The charges can go up to 20 years in prison, but federal prosecutors recommend a delay of 46 to 57 months and the penalty is set for 14 January. The plea agreement is a sign of Grimes' cooperation with federal prosecutors.

Grimes' plea agreement adds to the extraordinary circumstances that precede the expiry of the contracts with the big three automakers. He is the ninth leader of the UAW to have pleaded guilty in the investigation of corruption so far. Last week, FBI raids targeted the home of incumbent President Gary Jones and his predecessors, Dennis Williams.

The UAW is touted as a corrupt business management tool, run by a syndicate of criminals that has conspired with companies to enforce concession contracts. And yet, this organization is supposedly "negotiating" with automakers on behalf of the workers.

At the same time, auto workers have expressed their determination to fight corporate demands for new attacks on jobs and wages through almost unanimous strike votes over the past two weeks in all three companies.

Arguments in favor of the formation of independent control organizations, of basic factory committees, could not be more clear. Workers must respond to the company-UAW conspiracy by independently organizing meetings at each factory and workplace to formulate their own demands and prepare for a nationwide strike when contracts expire at midnight on September 14 .

In no sense can the UAW be described as a "workers' organization" sensitive to the interests of its members. It is led by upper middle class executives who use their position to steal money from dues and take advantage of the increased exploitation of the workers they claim to represent.

In the plea agreement, Grimes admitted to conspiring with two unnamed UAW officials to use their positions with the UAW and CHR "to enrich themselves by soliciting, influencing and deceptively obtaining contracts from UAW and CHR "for outside suppliers, receiving kickbacks in return.

According to sources close to the survey, cited by the Detroit News, the two unnamed UAW officials are Joe Ashton, who headed the UAW-GM department and the 2011 bargaining committee and also served on GM's board of directors. His main lieutenant, Jeff Pietrzyk, who was also a member of the UAW 2011 – GM Negotiating Committee.

In 2011, the UAW agreed to extend a wage freeze and pension benefits for several years and significantly increase the number of low-paid "second-rate" workers.

The plot lasted from 2006 to 2018, the government said. Meanwhile, Grimes also served as UAW Vice President, Cindy Estrada, who led negotiations with GM in 2015, alongside former UAW President Dennis Williams. Estrada is currently the UAW Vice President of Fiat Chrysler.

The biggest fear of business and Trump administration is that the anger of the auto workers will explode regardless of the UAW.

GM President and CEO Mary Barra meets with President Trump at the White House today, where they should discuss the imminent conflict with auto workers. As part of its nationalistic economic turmoil, the president blamed GM for closing four US factories while continuing production in Mexico and China.

The UAW announced Tuesday that GM would be the leading company in an agreement defining the model for Ford and Fiat Chrysler. The UAW, GM and the Trump administration are seeking to force workers to accept even deeper concessions, including the removal of medical benefits and the expansion of temporary and contract workers.

The Trump administration is considering more repressive measures to prevent a further revolt of auto workers, as was the case in 2015, which would catalyze a much wider movement of the working class against the government. austerity and social inequality.

Reflecting the discussions within the ruling class, the the Wall Street newspaper In an editorial released on Wednesday, "the extension of the federal investigation to the governing bodies of the UAW also raises the possibility that prosecutors are trying to place the union under the control of the federal government. In 1989, the International Fraternity of Teamsters signed a decree of consent providing for the control of its internal affairs. "

Such support by Trump's Ministry of Justice and Labor could include measures to deprive workers of their right to strike and compel them to accept a type of binding arbitration and a federal government-supported agreement. conditions of management.

As part of its trade war against China, Trump said in May that protecting the US auto industry was vital to national security. The administration could use this as a pseudo-legal justification to break a strike if auto workers withdraw to defend their jobs and their standard of living.

Such a move would put the automotive industry workers in conflict not only with automakers and the UAW, but also with the state apparatus. They are plunged into a political confrontation with the Trump administration, the Democrats, the courts and the entire corporate-controlled political system, which has been leading a class war against the workers for four decades.

This makes it all the more urgent to form independent core committees to organize the opposition and prepare a strike action.

This must be associated with an appeal to the auto workers of Mexico, Canada and other countries and all categories of workers (teachers, Amazon workers, the telecommunications sector, and others). of health) to launch a powerful industrial and political counter-offensive against the capitalist system and companies. the financial elite, which has enriched itself at the expense of the broad masses of the working class.

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