Auto Workers Win Direct Democracy in Referendum-Harvard Graduate Students Union Leads the Vote

The members of the United Auto Workers have voted overwhelmingly to move to a direct voting system for choosing their union leadership—“one member, one vote.” With all votes counted as of December 2, direct elections had the support of 63.6 percent of voters. It's a historic win for reformers in one of the nation’s most important unions, where members have pushed for this change for decades. The referendum is the product of a consent decree between the UAW and the U.S. Department of Justice, after a years-long series of prosecutions of top union officials on corruption charges ranging from embezzling union funds for personal use to accepting bribes from an employer, FCA (formerly Chrysler, now Stellantis), in exchange for accepting contract terms more favorable for the company. ....large bases of support came from higher education locals, which make up a fifth of the union’s active membership. University of California graduate workers Local 2865 voted 84 percent yes for direct elections, a percentage beaten only by Local 5118, the Harvard Graduate Students Union, which voted a whopping 97 percent yes.