UAW Is Sued by Labor Dept. Over Election

The Labor Department has sued the United Auto Workers in U.S. District Court in Detroit, seeking to overturn a controversial election for one of the union’s regional director positions. The election was held in June at the UAW’s convention in Anaheim.

The Labor Department suit seeks to compel the union to hold a new election for the directorship of UAW Region 5, which covers eight states stretching from Colorado to Louisiana. Regional directors serve on the union’s international executive board.

Incumbent Ken Worley defeated challenger Jerry Tucker by one-tenth of a vote in the only close contest at the convention. Tucker filed a protest with the Labor Department and with the union’s public review board, contending that delegates from Brownsville, Tex.--who had voted for Worley--had not been properly elected.

The Labor Department conducted an investigation this summer and filed a complaint on Friday alleging that the UAW had violated several provisions of federal labor law. The suit contends that the union denied members in good standing the right to vote for convention delegates and otherwise support candidates of their choices, denied members the right to nominate candidates of their choice, failed to mail notices of delegate elections and violated the Landrum Griffin Act by using union funds to support the candidacy of a candidate, namely Worley.

Backed by Union

Worley was strongly backed by UAW President Owen Bieber and other ranking union officials. Tucker questioned the direction that the union was heading on collective bargaining, organizing and other issues. The subsequent charges that he filed and the Labor Department investigation have alarmed the union, which prides itself on its internal democracy and integrity.

On Friday, Tucker said he felt that since the Labor Department had found irregularities in the election, it should have simply overturned the result and installed him in office. However, he said he is prepared to run again. His lawyer, Chip Yablonski, said: “We are delighted that the Labor Department has confirmed that the election was stolen from Jerry.”

The UAW, in a statement objecting to the Labor Department’s action, said it is prepared to defend the conduct of the election in court. The union said that requiring all 72 locals in Region 5 to hold new delegate elections “would be expensive, time-consuming and disruptive to the operations of those local unions and of the union as a whole in that area.”