Ian Thibodeau, The Detroit News Published 3:32 p.m. ET June 13, 2018 | Updated 4:05 p.m. ET June 13, 2018
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Gary Jones listens during officer nominations before he is elected UAW president a the convention at Cobo Center in Detroit on Wednesday, June 13, 2018.
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Detroit — Delegates of the United Auto Workers elected Gary Jones, director of the union’s Region 5 in the west and southwest United States, its new president Wednesday at its 2018 Constitutional Convention.
Jones succeeds Dennis Williams, who will retire Thursday following a single term as the union’s president. Under Williams, the union posted slow but steady gains in membership, rising profit sharing payouts from prosperous automakers, and what Williams has called “fiscally balanced … finances three years in a row.”
The leadership change comes as the union seeks to rebound from a devastating defeat in organizing Nissan workers in Canton, Miss., a failed organizing attempt of line workers at Volkswagen AG’s Chattanooga plant, and a continuing federal probe into the use of joint UAW-Big Three training funds financed by Detroit’s automakers.
Jones had been director of Region 5 since June 2014. Region 5 serves UAW members and retirees in 17 states in the western and southwestern United States, including Missouri, California and Washington state.
Gary Jones
(Photo: UAW)
He’s a graduate of the University of Tulsa and a certified public accountant. A UAW Local 1895 member, Jones was hired at Ford Motor Co.’s Glass plant in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, in 1975. He became a member of UAW Local 249 when he transferred to the Kansas City Ford Assembly Plant when the glass plant closed.
Jones and his wife, Cindy, live in O’Fallon, Mo., and have two daughters and three granddaughters.
Jones and other newly elected officers will be installed Thursday morning.
Williams in his farewell address Wednesday didn’t address the widening federal investigation, focusing instead on negotiations and other accomplishments during his tenure.
“It’s been an experience of my lifetime,” Williams said.
The elections come as federal prosecutors labeled the UAW and Fiat Chrysler co-conspirators in a widening corruption scandal, an allegation at odds with claims the labor union and automaker were victimized by rogue employees.
The allegation, contained in a federal court plea agreement obtained by The Detroit News on Tuesday, potentially exposes the automaker and the UAW — a cornerstone of the modern American automotive industry — to criminal charges, fines and governmental oversight, according to a former federal prosecutor.
Federal prosecutors say the union and Fiat Chrysler conspired from before 2009 through 2015 to violate the Labor Management Relations Act and the automaker enabled nepotism to flourish at a blue-collar training center. The law prohibits employers or those working for them from paying, lending or delivering money or other valuables to officers or employees of labor organizations — and from labor leaders from accepting such items.
The conspiracy described by prosecutors spanned three administrations at the UAW: presidents Ron Gettelfinger, Bob King and Williams, who will retire Thursday during the final day of the union’s convention at Cobo Center.
The allegation emerged almost one year into a prosecution that has led to six convictions, including former Fiat Chrysler Vice President Alphons Iacobelli. The case has revealed a cozy relationship between the automaker and the union, long-time adversaries who prosecutors allege forged a relationship designed to corrupt the bargaining process and implementation of a labor contract for thousands of workers.
Williams and Fiat Chrysler officials have called the scandal the result of a few individuals, and attempted to distance both organizations from the scandal.
Delegates voted for “Team Jones” Wednesday. After accepting the nomination, Jones said he’d be running on a “slate” with vice president nominees Rory Gamble, Cindy Estrada and Terry Dittes and nominee for secretary treasurer Ray Curry.
Estrada and Dittes were vice presidents for General Motors Co. and Fiat Chrysler, respectively.
Curry was director for UAW Region 8, which covers Tennessee, Kentucky, Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, and Florida, the District of Columbia, Maryland, Delaware and four Pennsylvania counties: Franklin, Cumberland, Adams, York.
Gamble was director of UAW region 1A in Michigan, which covers most of Wayne County, Monroe County and Washtenaw County, and extends to the Ohio border.
Jones and those he ran with received thunderous applause every time a delegate from each local present cast votes for “Team Jones.” Jason Starr, president of Local 249 in Kansas City, Missouri, nominated Jones. In a roughly five-minute nomination speech, Starr said Jones has “relentless courage” and “impeccable character.”
“He is a proven leader,” Starr said. “He is of sound judgment (and) tested ability. His love of humanity has prepared this brother to be the 12th UAW president.”
ithibodeau@detroitnews.com
Twitter: @Ian_Thibodeau
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