底特律——一名独立的监督员将监督联合汽车工人工会的财务和运作，成员们将根据与美国司法部的改革协议决定如何挑选未来的领导人。
该协议是在联邦政府对腐败进行广泛调查后于周一宣布的，调查涉及40万成员工会的高层。
由于对贿赂和贪污的调查已经持续了五年多，它阻止了联邦政府接管UAW的可能性。
除非各方同意结束或延长任期，否则由工会提名并经司法部批准的监察员将留任6年。这项协议在联邦法院的同意令中有所规定，但仍必须得到美国地方法官的批准。
底特律的美国律师马修·施耐德(Matthew Schneider)周一表示，对工会的调查已经结束，但调查人员仍在追查未指明的个人。
但他说，UAW现任总统罗里·甘布尔不是调查的目标。“我没有任何理由调查甘布尔先生，”施耐德说。
甘布尔说，和解虽然痛苦，但使工会朝着“恢复我们成员的全部信心和信心”又迈进了一步。
他说，该法案实施的保障措施超出了工会已经采取的措施，包括审查财务控制、聘请道德官员和聘请第三方公司审查财务。
甘布尔说:“未来的UAW是干净的，我们是一个更好的联盟。”。
调查导致11名工会成员被定罪，其中包括两名前总统。施耐德表示，该公司发现了超过150万美元的会费、供应商给工会官员的回扣，以及菲亚特克莱斯勒(Fiat Chrysler)高管350万美元的非法付款，他们希望通过腐败影响合同谈判。
他说，工会已经向与通用汽车、菲亚特克莱斯勒和福特建立的联合培训中心偿还了1500万美元的不当费用。它还同意向国内税收署支付150万美元，以解决一项税务调查。
根据该协议，工会成员将在监察员任命后的六个月内，通过无记名投票决定是否直接投票选举工会未来的领导人。
施耐德的办公室自2015年以来一直在调查工会腐败问题，他提出了政府接管的想法，并主张由成员直接投票选举工会领导人。目前，工会成员投票选举代表参加大会，然后由代表投票选举总统。
该协议称，监察员将管理选举，有权批准雇用或解雇工会员工，并可以终止或批准合同。
在底特律附近密歇根州罗穆卢斯的通用汽车发动机和变速器工厂工作的工人李·哈里斯(Lee Harris)表示，由于丑闻，工会需要额外的监督。
他说，他希望看到成员直接投票给领导人，因为旧的方法对工人不公平。
“作为一个缴纳会费的普通会员，我没有任何发言权，”他说。
许多工会官员被联邦当局指控与其他人合谋，掩盖工会现金用于加州棕榈泉的豪华餐饮、高档雪茄、高尔夫球和住宿的事实。
前UAW总统丹尼斯·威廉姆斯9月份在政府调查中认罪，他的继任者盖瑞·琼斯总统6月份认罪。
67岁的威廉姆斯从2014年开始担任总裁，直到2018年退休。他被指控与他人合谋，为奢侈的膳食、雪茄和大笔开支掩盖现金来源。
总部设在密苏里州、由琼斯领导的工会第五区领导层将在棕榈泉举行为期一周的务虚会，并邀请威廉姆斯参加。他说他留在了“我的工会业务所要求的”之外。
威廉姆斯告诉一名法官，他想知道钱是否被滥用，但琼斯向他保证，“一切都是光明正大的。”
根据一份法院文件，2015-18年，超过53，000美元的工会经费被用来为威廉姆斯租一栋别墅，为期一个月。
他可能面临18至24个月的监禁。
总部位于底特律的UAW以代表底特律三大汽车制造商的15万名员工而闻名。
该联盟称，威廉姆斯已经偿还了55，000美元的不当差旅费。另外，UAW正在出售在北密歇根的一个联合会议中心为他建造的湖边小屋。
自2017年以来，11名工会官员和一名已故官员的配偶已认罪，尽管并非所有罪行都有关联。第一波定罪包括菲亚特克莱斯勒的一些员工，涉及从底特律的菲亚特克莱斯勒-UAW培训中心拿钱。
UAW agrees to monitor, voting changes after corruption probe
DETROIT -- An independent monitor will watch the United Auto Workers’ finances and operations, and members will decide how they pick future leaders under a reform agreement with the U.S. Attorney’s office.
The deal was announced Monday in the wake of a wide-ranging federal probe into corruption that reached into the upper ranks of the 400,000-member union.
It forestalls a possible federal takeover of the UAW due to the probe into bribery and embezzlement that has lasted more than five years.
The monitor, to be nominated by the union and approved by the Justice Department, will stay in place for six years unless all sides agree to end or extend the term. The deal, spelled out in a federal court consent decree, still must be approved by a U.S. district judge.
Matthew Schneider, the U.S. attorney in Detroit, said Monday that the probe of the union has ended, but investigators still are pursuing unspecified individuals.
But he said that current UAW President Rory Gamble is not a target of the investigation. “I don't have any reason to investigate Mr. Gamble,” Schneider said.
Gamble said the settlement, while painful, takes the union another step toward “restoring the full faith and confidence of our members.”
He said it puts in place safeguards that go beyond what the union already has done, including a review of financial controls, hiring an ethics officer and retaining a third-party firm to review finances.
“The UAW going forward is clean, and we are a better union for it,” Gamble said.
The probe has led to 11 convictions of union members, including two former presidents. Schneider said it uncovered embezzlement of over $1.5 million in dues money, kickbacks to union officials from vendors, and $3.5 million in illegal payments from executives at Fiat Chrysler who wanted to corruptly influence contract talks.
The union, he said, already has repaid $15 million in improper charges to joint training centers set up with General Motors, Fiat Chrysler and Ford. It also agreed to pay $1.5 million to the Internal Revenue Service to settle a tax investigation.
Under the deal, union members will decide by secret ballots whether they will vote directly to pick the union's future leaders, within six months of when the monitor is appointed.
Schneider, whose office has been investigating union corruption since 2015, had floated the idea of a government takeover and has advocated for direct voting by members to elect union leadership. Currently the union’s members vote on delegates to a convention, who then vote on a president.
The monitor will administer the election, will have the power to approve hiring or discharges of union employees, and can end or approve contracts, the agreement says.
Lee Harris, a worker at a General Motors engine and transmission factory in Romulus, Michigan, near Detroit, said the union needs additional oversight because of the scandal.
He said he would love to see members directly vote on leaders because the old method was unfair to workers.
“I, as a dues-paying, rank-and-file member, have no say whatsoever,” he said.
Many of the union officials were accused by federal authorities of conspiring with others to cover up the use of union cash for boozy meals, premium cigars, golf and lodging in Palm Springs, California.
Former UAW President Dennis Williams in September pleaded guilty in the government’s investigation, and his successor as president, Gary Jones, pleaded guilty in June.
Williams, 67, was president from 2014 until he retired in 2018. He was accused of conspiring with others to cover up the source of cash for lavish meals, cigars and large expenses.
The union’s Region 5 leadership, which was based in Missouri and headed by Jones, would hold weeklong retreats in Palm Springs and invite Williams along. He said he stayed beyond “what my union business required.”
Williams told a judge that he wondered if money was being misused but that he was assured by Jones that “everything was above board.”
More than $53,000 in union money was used to rent a villa for Williams for monthslong stays in 2015-18, according to a court filing.
He faces a likely prison sentence of 18 to 24 months.
The Detroit-based UAW is best known for representing 150,000 workers at Detroit's three automakers.
Williams has repaid $55,000 in inappropriate travel expenses, the union said. Separately, the UAW is selling a lakefront house built for him at a union conference center in northern Michigan.
Eleven union officials and a late official’s spouse have pleaded guilty since 2017, although not all the crimes were connected. The first wave of convictions, which included some Fiat Chrysler employees, involved taking money from a Fiat Chrysler-UAW training center in Detroit.
