Strike at GM: UAW workers come out at the first stoppage of work for more than a decade – Live Updates

The stalemate comes at a difficult time for the United Auto Workers union, one of the most powerful working groups in the country.

UAW President Gary Jones was directly involved last Thursday in a growing scandal involving the union and its finances, the Detroit News reported.

This could further undermine the necessary trust of the grassroots union members in leading the union in negotiations.

The scandal involves embezzlement of union funds and, in some cases, union officials accepting bribes from officials of one of the automakers, Fiat Chrysler.

FBI, IRS and Labor Department agents raided Jones' home at the end of last month, an FBI spokesman told CNN.

On Thursday, a senior union official, Vance Pearson, became the first active union leader to be indicted in the scandal.

Nine other people who pleaded guilty to the scandal were former union leaders, the widow of one of its officers or employees of Fiat Chrysler who dealt with the union.

The indictment did not mention Jones, but the Detroit News said he was one of the unidentified co-conspirators named in the government's file, identified only as "UAW Official A." The News cited three unnamed sources for his report.

The allegations against the president of the UAW, even if it is only in a press article, could be bad news for GM in the hope of reaching an agreement with the union to a difficult time for the industry, said Kristin Dziczek, vice president of industry and economy. for the Center for Automotive Research, a Michigan think tank.