June 10, 2018
UAW Convention delegates: Undo corruption in the UAW by supporting Resolution #138 in support of fired injured GM workers!
How did the corruption at the top compromise our UAW? How did workers get sold out in exchange for
joint funds illicitly funneled to UAW leaders’ pockets?
Former UAW-GM Vice President Joe Ashton is a case in
point. Ashton is currently under
criminal investigation by a Federal Grand Jury for misappropriating $ from the
UAW-GM Joint Funds. He’s also being
investigated by GM. When Ashton retired
from the UAW in 2014, GM put him on their Board of Directors – a first in
UAW/GM history. When the FBI probe went
public, Ashton was forced to resign.
In August 2012, as head of the UAW-GM Dept, Ashton traveled with
GM executives to Colombia, South America. That’s where non-union injured workers were
protesting their illegal firings from a GM assembly plant. They tried to fight the firings in court, but
their lawyer was bought-off by GM, as was the judge. They formed an association
(ASOTRECOL), set up a protest encampment and demanded reinstatement to jobs
they could do & back wages, or a fair severance package.
The workers
were at the tent for a year before the GM execs and Ashton showed up, and that
was only after 8 of them went on a hunger strike for 22 days, with lips sewn
shut. Ashton went along with GM setting
up a rigged “mediation.” When the
workers rejected GM’s meager “final offer,” Ashton and the executives all
packed their bags and split. Back home, GM
and Ashton lied that the it was ASOTRECOL that ended the mediation, and that they
were just too greedy!
Ashton could
have stood up for the workers, exposed GM’s rotten working conditions and illegal
practices, and demanded a fair settlement. But then GM wouldn’t have put him on their Board
or given him personal access to the joint funds. They rewarded him for his cooperation and degraded our
union.
UAW
delegates can turn this around, by supporting a resolution submitted by Local
Unions in solidarity with the Colombian GM workers. SEE "RESOLUTIONS COMMITTEE RESOLUTIONS" #138. The UAW leadership must reject Ashton’s
betrayal and demand that GM reach a fair settlement with the injured workers,
who’ve been at the encampment now for nearly seven (7) years. The UAW must publicize the actions of these heroic
workers to the membership. Please make a motion to put it to the
Convention for a vote.
All eyes
are on the UAW Convention. What better
way to show our Union’s integrity and solidarity than by fighting on behalf of autoworkers
who were forced to work in unsafe conditions and were then fired?
UAW delegates are also urged to protest at 8:30 AM Tues. June 12th
at GM headquarters at the Renaissance Center
That's where GM is holding its annual shareholders meeting. What better way to show the world your solidarity than with your feet!!! Let’s show GM where we stand!
That's where GM is holding its annual shareholders meeting. What better way to show the world your solidarity than with your feet!!! Let’s show GM where we stand!
Frank Hammer
Former President & Chairman, UAW Local 909,
Warren
