UAW

“All I can say is I am sorry.”

That’s what former United Auto Workers president Gary Jones told a federal judge during his sentencing hearing Thursday on embezzlement and tax evasion charges.

On Tuesday, U.S. District Court Judge Paul Borman sentenced former United Auto Workers president Dennis Williams to 21 months in prison. That will be followed by one year of supervised release. Williams has also paid $132,517 in restitution to the UAW.

Williams pled guilty last August to a multi-year conspiracy to embezzle funds for personal benefit.

The money went to pay for private villas, rounds of golf, and high end meals, liquor, and cigars for himself and his friends.

Fiat Chrysler has agreed to plead guilty to conspiring to violate the federal Labor Management Relations Act, also known as the Taft-Hartley Act, and pay a $30 million fine, for bribing United Auto Workers officials.

The company has also agreed to the appointment of a compliance monitor for three years.

Another player in the sprawling UAW corruption scandal was sentenced to prison on Wednesday.

Edward Robinson is the former president of the UAW Midwest Community Action Program, based in Missouri. He pleaded guilty to helping orchestrate a “multi-faceted embezzlement scheme over several years in order to benefit the most senior leadership of the UAW and himself,” according to federal prosecutors.

Five years after the FBI began investigating corruption in the leadership ranks of the United Auto Workers union, the U.S. Justice Department and the union have agreed to a consent order that places the union under the oversight of an independent monitor.

The investigation began with charges against a former Fiat Chrysler official, and spread from there, ending with two former UAW presidents, Gary Jones and Dennis Williams, pleading guilty to embezzlement, among other crimes.

DETROIT (AP) - A former union vice president who took a $250,000 kickback for a watch contract has been sentenced to 2 1/2 years in prison. It's the latest punishment in what the government calls "systemic" corruption at the highest ranks of the United Auto Workers.

Former United Auto Workers President Dennis Williams pleaded guilty to conspiring to embezzle union funds during a federal court hearing Wednesday.

As part of a plea deal, Williams will likely be sentenced to no more than two years in federal prison. He’ll be sentenced in January. 

The U.S. Department of Justice has charged former United Auto Workers President Dennis Williams with conspiracy to embezzle union funds.

A former UAW president faces prison time after pleading guilty Wednesday to charges including embezzlement, racketeering and tax evasion.

When he’s sentenced in October, Gary Jones could get up to five years on each of two counts and fined a quarter million dollars, though the sentence will likely be less, since Jones has agreed to cooperate with a federal investigation into the union.

Former United Autoworkers President Gary Jones was arraigned Thursday in U.S. District Court in Detroit on charges arising from a federal investigation into corruption in the union.

The arraignment hearing was conducted by video conferencing since federal district courthouses are closed on account of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Federal prosecutors have charged Gary Jones, the former President of the United Auto Workers, with three felonies, including embezzlement.

Jones is the highest-ranking official charged so far in an FBI investigation of corruption in the union. 

Another former UAW official has been sentenced to federal prison for his role in the ongoing corruption investigation of the union.

A judge sentenced Michael Grimes to 28 months in prison. That’s longer than what prosecutors requested.

Months after the strike at General Motors ended, thousands of workers are being required to work long hours to catch up on a parts backlog.

At least six GM plants – including five in Michigan – are on so-called “emergency status.”

Unionized workers at Fiat Chrysler have voted overwhelmingly to approve a new four-year contract with the company.

The ratification means the United Auto Workers union has settled with all three Detroit automakers.

The United Auto Workers announced some internal changes on Monday in response to a federal investigation into the union’s finances.

General Motors has filed an unprecedented federal racketeering lawsuit against its crosstown Detroit rival, Fiat Chrysler.

General Motors is suing Fiat Chrysler, alleging that its crosstown rival got an unfair business advantage by bribing officials of the United Auto Workers union.

The lawsuit, filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Detroit, alleges that FCA was involved in racketeering by paying millions in bribes to get concessions and gain advantages in three labor agreements with the union.

United Auto Workers Acting President Rory Gamble has announced the implementation of "widespread ethics reforms." The move comes in the midst of a widening FBI investigation that has uncovered a pattern of corruption among union leaders.

In a statement, Gamble says, "As the acting president, I'm committed to putting in place the right mechanisms to safeguard our union, regaining the trust of our members, and ensuring the misconduct that has recently come to light will never happen again.