June 10, 2021 Gary Jones, the former President of the international United Auto Workers union, was sentenced to 28 months in prison today for conspiring with other UAW officials to embezzle UAW funds and to defraud the United States announced Acting U.S. Attorney Saima S. Mohsin.
Federal judge hands UAW ex-President Dennis Williams wrist-slap sentence of 21 months for corruption charges
On Tuesday, a federal judge for the Eastern District of Michigan sentenced former United Auto Workers International President Dennis Williams to 21 months in prison with one year of supervised release, three months less than originally recommended. In addition, he must pay $132,000 in restitution and a $10,000 fine. Williams is one of 15 individuals to have been charged in connection to the ongoing criminal investigation into corruption within the UAW.
US District Judge Paul Borman handed down the sentence after Williams’ conviction of conspiracy to embezzle UAW members’ dues payments between 2010 and September 2019 with former International President Gary Jones and other high-ranking UAW officials “for the benefit of himself and other senior UAW officials,” according to the Justice Department’s official release.
The sentencing of former UAW President Dennis Williams and the case for rank-and-file committees
Earlier this week in the US District Court in Detroit, federal prosecutors argued that Dennis Williams, the president of the United Auto Workers from 2014 to 2018, should be sent to a prison for two years for embezzling union funds.
The sentencing memorandum filed by prosecutors detailed how Williams and other top officers concealed the theft of union dues through reimbursements for “union conferences” held in Palm Springs, California, and other locations. The conferences, supposed to last three to five days and held ostensibly to train local union leaders, were used as “all-expenses-paid vacation[s]” by Williams and his fellow executives, who stayed up to four months in their villas and “racked up substantial bills at golf courses, restaurants, and other venues before, during, and after the conferences.”
Federal government selects former US banking regulator as UAW monitor
The US Attorney’s office selected the high profile ex-banking regulator Neil Barofsky as its choice for independent monitor for the United Auto Workers in a court filing Monday. If confirmed by the court, Barofsky will be responsible for overseeing enforcement of the six-year consent decree signed in December by the UAW and federal prosecutors.
The decree put an end to a massive federal corruption probe, which led to the convictions of 15 top UAW officials and corporate executives. UAW officials pleaded guilty to accepting millions of dollars in bribes from Fiat Chrysler (now Stellantis), stealing millions in union dues to finance lavish getaways to Palm Springs resorts and the use of third-party apparel contracts as a conduit for pocketing millions more in kickbacks.
COVID-19 spreads at Stellantis Jefferson North as safety protocols break down
World Socialist Web Site Autoworker Newsletter about the rapid spread of the virus where she works. The majority of COVID-19 outbreaks in Michigan are at schools and workplaces, according to state health officials. However, when Michigan Democratic Governor Gretchen Whitmer issued voluntary guidelines Friday calling for the suspension for two weeks of in-person high school classes, sports and in-person dining, she excluded auto plants and other nonessential industry, which are major sources of outbreaks.
JNAP in Detroit is now part of the Detroit Manufacturing Complex alongside the newly opened Mack Avenue plant. It employs 5,000 workers building the Jeep Cherokee and Dodge Durango. Stellantis has been hiring large numbers of new temporary part-time workers (TPTs) at JNAP for training as the Mack Avenue plant ramps up production.