Hundreds of members are backing a campaign to have the UAW hold direct elections for union president, a move they believe will bring more inspiring union leaders, ones they say will fight harder for the unionâs rank-and-file.
In recent decades, the UAW has been run by a single party or caucus, with each union president having a powerful say in choosing his successor, and that, dissidents say, led to internal rot â and the wide-ranging scandal in which top UAW officials embezzled more than $1.5m in union money and accepted more than $5m in kickbacks from auto company contractors and Fiat-Chrysler executives.