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Sean Fein declared victory over incumbent President Ray Curry in the UAW runoff Saturday afternoon, drawing attention from dissidents who delivered a scathing denunciation of the caucuses that have dominated the union for decades. The campaign that should have been concluded.
Fain will take office on Sunday, according to a Curry statement posted on the UAW website.
The independent federal observer group overseeing the election had yet to declare a winner, but the announcement by Fain’s team and Curry’s statement were hours before voting resumed in Taylor’s Union Hall, with observers in hand. The news comes as the union prepares for this year’s contract negotiations with owners of Jeep, Ram, Chrysler, Dodge and Fiat, General Motors and Stellantis, amid intense debate over trade union direction. It put an end to weeks of uncertainty in the conflict.
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Fain, who led the UAW Member’s Coalition slate in the first direct election of federal autoworkers, led Curry with 483 votes, according to a news release from Fain’s campaign.
But it wasn’t easy to decide that Fain had won. Clearing the eligibility of contested ballots led to weeks of delays, and the Monitor’s office had to respond to protests from Curry’s campaign.
In a statement on Saturday, Fain thanked the members who voted in the historic election.
“This election was not just a competition between two candidates, but a referendum on the direction of the UAW. It has been dominated by strong leadership, and as a result, we have seen nothing but concessions, corruption and factory closures. “The future of the working class is at stake.”
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In a statement, Curry expressed his gratitude:
“I would like to express my deepest gratitude to all UAW leaders, current and retired members for their support and solidarity over the years. It has been the honor of my life to serve our great union. Tomorrow.” , Sean Fain joins the UAW: “I will work to ensure that this transition is smooth and undisturbed. I wish him, the entire UAW International Executive Committee, staff and administrative support, and UAW membership is the future.”
Fain focused on the need to be aggressive in contract negotiations with Ford, General Motors, and Stellatis, and tried to capitalize on the desire for reform in light of the corruption scandals that rocked the union. He maintained his lead over Curry in the first few days of the count, but the lead tightened significantly as the results tallied in Region 8, which consisted primarily of southern states. It turns out that
Fine’s win means his slate will be wiped out. It also highlights the frustration many UAW members feel about the direction of the union in the aftermath of a long-running corruption scandal that has sent a former union leader and a former auto executive to prison.
Candidates who have run as reformers now hold a majority of the union’s international executive committee.
Fain’s slate won seven of the 14 board seats, and David Green won Region 2B as an independent.
Still, the split marks the work of Fain and others to try to unite the union after a divisive election cycle. will join Legion 9 Director Daniel Vicente as the winner of the runoff vote. In the first election last year, all three were forced to a runoff vote after failing to produce a clear winner in their respective races.
Voting tally began March 1 in Dayton, Ohio, and continued until March 4, when it was paused. Fain was leading with his 645 votes at that point, with most of the votes tallied, but some 1,608 unresolved dissent votes meant a margin between his two. The nominee was too big to declare a winner, according to the Monitor’s office. Clearing ballots for eligible voters was described as a lengthy process, and vote numbers were put on hold until they reopened in Detroit last week.
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With the ballots sent back to Dayton, there was still no winner and work continued this week to clear the remaining contested ballots. The delay has prompted former UAW President Bob King to urge Monitor Neil Barofsky to report the results as soon as possible so the winner can be sworn in ahead of his UAW negotiating convention, which is scheduled to begin in Detroit on Monday. rice field.
The election marked a dramatic change in the UAW, where delegates previously elected top leaders at the UAW Congress. Instead, delegates to his UAW convention in Detroit in July nominated candidates for office who then had to campaign.
The process was the result of an agreement between the federal government and unions sparked by a corruption scandal. UAW members and retirees were given the opportunity to choose how to elect their top leader, opting for a direct election process by referendum.
Participation in the run-off vote surpassed the number of participants in the first election, in which five candidates were vying for the presidency. Criticism of low participation in that first round prompted candidate Will Lehman to file a federal lawsuit, which was later dismissed, asking for an extension of the deadline for returning ballots.
An independent UAW monitor, appointed as part of an agreement reached between the government and trade unions, reported that 141,548 votes had been received by the run-off deadline. It was not immediately clear how many were deemed ineligible.
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Both Fain and Callie offered long-term tenure in the union despite their different backgrounds.
Fain serves as an administrative assistant to the UAW Vice President, who oversees the union’s Stellantis division. He was tasked with overseeing the union side of the transition at his UAW-Chrysler National Training Center in Warren. Fain served as the International Representative of the UAW for 10 years, where he is currently a Stellantis Kokomo Casting Plant in Indiana, where he was a seasoned Trade Board Member and Plant Manager.
Curry was elected President by the International Board of Directors in 2021 to succeed the now retired Rory Gamble. According to the union, Curry began working for the UAW in 1992 when he was hired as a truck assembler at Freightliner Trucks in Holly, North Carolina. He has previously held positions such as Director and Secretary and Treasurer for Region 8.
Please contact Eric D. Lawrence: elawrence@freepress.com. Become a subscriber.
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