Was There Fraud In The UAW Contract Ratification Vote At Ford Motor Co?

Last week, the United Auto Workers wrapped up all three of its contracts with the Detroit Three automakers. However, dues to alleged irregularities, doubts are lingering about the authenticity of the UAW’s contract ratification process at Ford Motor Co.
Despite an initial rejection with Fiat Chrysler, and rejection with General Motors’ skilled trades workers, though delayed, both of the UAW’s contracts with FCA and GM were eventually ratified.
At Ford, however, the UAW purportedly negotiated the “richest” contract of the three. Yet, despite that, the contract faced heavy opposition from the UAW rank-and-file.
This has led to speculation that there may have been something suspicious in how UAW officials handled the vote count, as noted by WSWS writer Shannon Jones.

There are reports that UAW officials at the Ford Rouge Complex (UAW Local 600) drove around the Dearborn Truck Plant pressuring workers to vote “yes,” and that unnumbered ballots, marked in pencil, were dumped in buckets. A photo circulating on the internet reportedly shows a trash barrel that UAW officials were taking to workers on the production line. There are also claims that the UAW preloaded the trash cans with fake “yes” ballots.

In the midst of the Ford contract vote, the UAW decided to reschedule the ballot at the Rouge Complex to be last nationally. The decision meant that UAW officials knew exactly how many votes they needed at the complex to secure ratification.

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The UAW then announced a massive “yes” vote by members of Local 600 on the Ford agreement, resulting in a razor-thin 51 percent approval margin for the contract nationally.

Under normal democratic procedures, such a narrow margin would warrant at least a recount of ballots. However, the UAW has stonewalled all questions regarding the vote.

There was no known recount of ballots.
The UAW declared the Ford contract ratified.
Thus, while there may continue to be lingering doubts about the UAW vote count at Ford, since the UAW has declared the contract ratified, there doesn’t appear to be too many options for UAW members if their suspicions were to be true.
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