US, UAW and GM bribery investigation close to contract deadline

DETROIT (Reuters) – A federal investigation into the bribery of top trade union officials has sparked growing uncertainty about collective bargaining on Saturday as United Auto Workers (UAW) and General Motors Co. (GM.N) was due to expire at midnight.

This year's discussions between the union and GM, Ford Motor Co (F.N) and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV (FCA) (FCHA.MI) (FCAU.N) has always promised to be difficult, with thorny issues such as health care costs and profit sharing, while new vehicle sales in the United States are falling.

Normally, when the four-year contracts with the Detroit automakers expire, the question is whether the contract negotiations will be extended or whether the unionized workers will go on strike?

This time, things are more complicated.

In the past two weeks, the long-running federal investigation into union corruption has raised questions about UAW President Gary Jones, who, according to one source, is an unidentified official in a complaint tabled by the federal government this week.

On Friday, the union's executive committee met, but no changes were made to management, said a union spokesman.

The union targeted GM as the first automaker with which it wanted to enter into contractual negotiations.

The survey tends to arise raises new questions about the union's options and the position of its leaders with grassroots members. Last month, more than 96 percent of GM's hourly workers voted for a strike if necessary, meaning that if no deal was reached, Jones could ask for a walkout without further approval.

GM's last employees made a brief two-day strike in 2007 during contract negotiations. A more painful strike took place in Flint, Michigan in 1998; it lasted 54 days and cost the American automaker number one more than $ 2 billion.

But the recent strike vote took place before the dramatic events of recent weeks, including an FBI raid at the end of August on Jones' home and other locations as part of the investigation of corruption.

Sources informed on the subject this week have indicated that GM may request a temporary extension of the contract and look for other options, including seeking third-party assistance. Although the UAW did not grant that to GM, it extended the time period indefinitely with Ford and FCA.

Elected in 2018, Jones was chosen as an outsider with a blank slate because he was leading Region 5 of the union, which includes 17 states in the west and southwestern United States, far from the epicenter of the scandal. in Detroit.

The federal government's complaint this week against Vance Pearson, Jones's former deputy commander and successor to Region 5, listed lavish parties and spending by union leaders in the region, including "UAW Official AT.".

Sources confirmed that Jones was the Official Agent A and, according to the complaint, agents seized $ 30,000 in cash from Agent A's residence.