UAW Corruption Probe Fingers Another Union Official, Implicates General Motors

A federal probe that’s been dropping United Auto Workers staff like flies has another one in its crosshairs, this time with ties to General Motors. Up until now, the investigation has primarily involved members connected to the union’s Fiat Chrysler Automobiles department or the UAW-Chrysler National Training Center. But, according to court records filed Wednesday, retired UAW-GM Center for Human Resources board member Michael Grimes is also formally accused of corruption.

Grimes becomes the ninth individual to be slapped with corruption charges and the first with links to an automaker outside of FCA. He is not, however, alone. Court documents suggest he’s one of several UAW officials suspected of accepting bribes and kickbacks from automakers; they’ve just yet to be named.

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UAW Corruption Probe Continues as Jewell Heads to Prison

Former union vice president Norwood Jewel has become the highest ranking UAW member to be convicted of corruption charges in a federal investigation that has lasted four years and delivered prison sentences for eight people, including Fiat Chrysler’s former labor negotiator, Alphons Iacobelli. You might recall him from to his extravagant spending habits.

The probe amassed evidence showing UAW officials receiving extravagant gifts, private residences, vacations, parties, and even cash furnished by FCA. Bribes, essentially, to help draw union concessions. Investigators looked into claims that high-ranking UAW members received kickbacks after giving business executives contracts to produce union-branded chachkies (shirts, keychains, frisbees, etc) and concerns that union members’ donations to flower funds intended for funeral services were misappropriated by the leadership.

Ford and General Motors are also under the microscope, with both saying they’re in full cooperation with authorities and cannot comment further.

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Opulence and Automakers: With Sentencing Looming, Former UAW Veep's Lawyer Tries the Titanic Defense

Ahead of an August 5th sentencing date, federal prosecutors hoping make an example of former UAW vice-president Norwood Jewell (seen above, on the left) rolled out a raft of visual evidence to back up their case for a jail term.

Jewell was not the “Miller Lite kind of guy” his legal defense wished to portray; rather, the former head of UAW’s Fiat Chrysler division made gluttonous use of FCA funds earmarked for the two groups’ joint training center, prosecutors argued. Jewell was all too happy to accept the financial grease FCA poured on its labor wheels, they added. He wanted to be a “big shot,” and FCA made sure he lived the life of a touring rapper.

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UAW/FCA Corruption Scandal Grows

Norwood Jewell, the former head of the United Auto Workers’ unit attached to Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV, has been charged by federal prosecutors in Detroit with violating the Labor Management Relations Act. This makes him the highest ranking UAW member to be charged in the union corruption case that appeared to be on pause while investigators reexamined suspects, following a string of convictions in 2018.

Federal investigators are relatively certain that FCA engaged in the widespread bribery of union officials who were able to tap into funds allocated for their National Training Center — a scheme dating back to 2009. According to defamed former FCA vice president Alphons Iacobelli, the goal was to keep union officials “ fat, dumb and happy.” Millions of dollars were believed to have been used to buy the UAW’s cooperation, and Jewell appears to have gotten a slice.

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This Union Corruption Scandal Is Getting Awfully Messy

The multimillion-dollar corruption scandal involving the United Automobile Workers and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles is starting to cross the line from hubbub to full-on fiasco. Earlier this week, three FCA employees filed a federal lawsuit against the automaker and the UAW seeking hundreds of millions of dollars in damages over allegations that union officials colluded with company executives to influence collective bargaining.

Meanwhile, a recently released plea deal with former FCA labor relations head Alphons Iacobelli implicated former UAW Vice President Norwood Jewell — the man tasked with overseeing the most recent round of contract negotiations with FCA. Iacobelli claims he and other FCA employees transferred hundreds of thousands of dollars in illegal payments to tax-exempt organizations controlled by UAW officials, including Jewell’s Making Our Children Smile Foundation.

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UAW Choses New Leader to Oversee Troubled FCA Department

The United Auto Workers’ executive board has selected Terry Dittes, current regional director on the East Coast, to become the union’s newest vice president. Dittes is tasked with overseeing the UAW’s Fiat Chrysler department, which is currently involved in an ugly federal corruption probe involving millions of dollars from a joint training center allegedly embezzled by both union and company officials.

Replacing Norwood Jewell, whose retirement became effective upon the close of 2017, Dittes is stepping in roughy six months before his first four-year term was supposed to end. While Jewell has not been formally charged with corruption, his supervisory role during the FCA-UAW scandal likely forced the early retirement.

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UAW Locals, FCA Reach Tentative Agreements Ahead Deadline

As national contract talks begin between the UAW and FCA US, the union’s lead negotiator for FCA says most of the locals have tentative agreements ready.

United Auto Workers Chrysler Department head of labor negotiations Norwood Jewell said in a letter to the union’s members Monday a few of the remaining locals were “having challenges reaching an agreement,” The Detroit News reports. The locals negotiate their own contracts — covering individual plant rules and issues — at the same time the union as a whole hammers out a national contract with the automakers.

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  • Jalop1991 going back to truth in advertising, they should just call it the Honda Recall.
  • Plaincraig A way to tell drivers to move over for emergency vehicles. Extra points if it tells were it is coming from and which way you should move to get out of the way.
  • EBFlex Ridiculous. “Insatiable demand for these golf carts yet the government needs to waste tax money to support them. What a boondoggle
  • EBFlex Very effective headlights. Some tech is fine. Seatbelts, laminated glass, etc. But all this crap like traction control, back up cameras, etc are ridiculous. Tech that masks someone’s poor driving skills is tech that should NOT be mandated.
  • Daniel There are several issues with autonomous cars. First, with the race the get there first, the coding isn't very complete. When the NTSB showed the coding and how that one car hit the lady crossing the road in the storm, the level of computation was very simple and too low. Basically, I do not trust the companies to develop a good set of programs. Secondly, the human mind is so very much more powerful and observant than what the computers are actually looking at, Lastly, the lawsuits will put the companies out of business. Once an autonomous car hits and kills someone, it will be the company's fault--they programmed it.