Rory Gamble, who took over a UAW rocked with a corruption scandal and facing an uncertain future just 15 months ago, said this week that not only did he prove his skeptics and doubters wrong, but he’s proud to be turning over a clean union to his successor in 2022.
Gamble took over the top spot in November 2019 from Gary Jones, one of two now-disgraced former UAW presidents awaiting sentencing in the corruption scandal that rocked the 400,000-member union. Fifteen people, including both former UAW officials and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles executives, have been convicted.
“My administration was met with a lot of skepticism. There were a lot of articles written about things I was doing along the way that said it was too little, too late and the UAW was pretty much dead and you can write them off,” Gamble said this week in a video interview with the Automotive Press Association in Detroit, his first with the group since becoming president.
“Well, the UAW is very much alive,” Gamble said.
Gamble is now 65 and was contemplating retirement rather than the top union leadership post in 2019. He set a goal then of being able to turn over a clean union to his successor in 2022.
More:Acting UAW President Gamble: Praying for charged ex-VP, but if guilty, should face justice
More:Rory Gamble picked as UAW president, will serve until 2022
“We are well on our way to achieving that goal that I set initially that a lot of people said couldn’t be reached,” Gamble said.
It took a lot of work, he said.
“I asked the board initially for two things, that I wanted their complete support and I wanted the ability to go where I had to go and do what I had to do to save the union,” Gamble said, referencing the UAW International Executive Board.
By the time, he met with federal prosecutors in June to start negotiations toward a settlement, Gamble said he was able to provide four pages of ethical protocols and changes that were in place for the whole UAW. The efforts showed the government that the union would be able to self-govern, he said.
More:Can the UAW take a reform cue from the Teamsters’ direct elections?
More:Training center in UAW scandal has big price tag, but will its role change?
In December, the union announced a deal with the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Detroit that set up a consent decree, ending the criminal investigation of the union. The agreement calls for an independent monitor for the union and for an election to determine how top leaders are picked. The union has submitted the names of candidates for the monitor’s position to the government, and the election will be scheduled after that person is selected.
Gamble predicted that the monitor would have a boring job. He also had a few words to share about union elections. Gamble pushed back against concerns that the way top leaders have been selected by delegates at UAW conventions is somehow problematic. The upcoming election will give members the option of retaining that system or switching to direct elections, often described as “one member, one vote.”
Critics say the current system allows for a long-entrenched leadership group to avoid accountability. A dissident group, Unite All Workers for Democracy, has been among the most vocal supporters of changing the election process.
More:UAW, feds reach settlement after corruption scandal: Here are the details
More:Judge signs off on government deal with UAW to reform union
Gamble said the union will educate members on both options, but he disagrees with the premise that there is something improper about the current system.
“How you elect someone does not define whether they’re going to be corrupt or not. Corruption begins in the heart,” Gamble said. “To say how we elect our leadership involves corruption in any way is just not true. It is simply a political reach and something being perpetrated by people who see an opportunity here from a very bad situation.”
Contact Eric D. Lawrence: elawrence@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter: @_ericdlawrence. Become a subscriber.