Detroit — United Auto Workers delegates on Wednesday were nominating candidates at their constitutional convention who will run later this year for the top 14 positions in the union, including president.
The International Executive Board governs the organization and will carry major influence in bargaining, organizing, spending and the political direction of the union.
After the nominations this week, the union’s membership will vote this fall. That election is expected to provide greater insight on how well members believe the current board led by President Shawn Fain has done, or if they feel their union needs to move in a different direction.
Since Fain’s election in 2023, the union won record contracts at Detroit’s three automakers and organized a major southern automotive plant, among other wins. But there have also been headaches: A court-appointed watchdog has investigated retaliatory actions and other alleged misconduct in Fain’s office. The union’s high-spending organizing efforts haven’t yielded significant new members in the South’s automotive sector beyond the victory at the Volkswagen AG plant in Tennessee. And the high-profile endorsement of Democrat Kamala Harris for the presidency in 2024 didn’t ultimately move the needle.
This year will mark the second time members will directly elect their leaders after members instituted the system over a delegate-elected board. That was changed in a referendum vote in 2021, which was a requirement of a federal consent decree following a years-long corruption scandal that embroiled several automotive executives and UAW officials, including two former union presidents.
Direct elections have opened the way for a large number of candidates to run. For decades, the Reuther Administration Caucus held control of the union, but after wins by dissident candidates, including the presidency, that power largely has diminished. Most candidates who ran on the Administration Caucus’ Curry Solidarity Team slate in 2022 have joined Fain’s Stand Up Slate this year.
Multiple contenders will challenge the ability for a candidate to achieve the needed majority of votes to win, setting up a high likelihood for a run-off race to follow the fall mail-in ballot election.
Here are the people who have been nominated:
President
Shawn Fain
Fain is the current president of the United Auto Workers. He ran as a dissident candidate four years ago, upending incumbent Ray Curry in a close run-off, while promising reforms in the corruption scandal-hit organization that put several union and automotive officials in prison, including two former UAW presidents. He was sworn in the day prior to the start of the union’s 2023 bargaining convention, which soon was followed by the six-week “Stand Up Strike” against the Detroit Three automakers that secured record contracts. In its wake, he led a major organizing drive that resulted in Volkswagen AG employees in Chattanooga, Tennessee, joining the UAW, propelling the belief for many that Fain would be a shoe-in to be re-elected.
Some, however, have questioned his leadership following investigations by the court-appointed UAW monitor that found a “culture of fear” and retaliation in Solidarity House, including against Secretary-Treasurer Margaret Mock. Despite a public campaign to organize the South, Mercedes-Benz Group AG employees voted against unionizing in 2024. And Fain was an outspoken critic of Donald Trump, who won presidential election to the UAW-endorsed Harris, though he since has supported protectionist efforts in the administration, while calling for them to be “strategic.” He’s emphasized the need for more work-life balance measures and job protections, including from artificial intelligence.
Rich Boyer
Boyer is the fedora-wearing vice president of the union and head of the Stellantis Department. He ran alongside Fain on the UAW Members United slate, but the two had a falling out. Fain in 2024 when Boyer was removed from leading the Stellantis Department described a “dereliction of duty” on the part of Boyer over the handling of contract enforcement and temporary-worker layoffs at Chrysler and Jeep maker Stellantis NV. Boyer later was reinstated after a UAW monitor’s report in December revealed a retaliatory scheme by Fain’s inner circle against Mock, who also had her department leadership positions revoked.
Boyer previously told The Detroit News he’s “concerned” about the UAW’s direction under Fain, emphasizing the need to prioritize members and for a union that’s “open, honest and not run in the interest of those at the top in the Solidarity House.”
Brian Keller
Keller is a Stellantis worker from Michigan who also ran for president four years ago. He’s garnered a reputation as a sharp Fain critic, including in lengthy Facebook Live sessions he frequently hosts. His platform calls for a number of internal reforms that include cutting bloat, ending “retaliation and politics of fear” under Fain, and enacting all of the monitor’s reforms.
He’s also advocated for improved work-life balance for workers, stronger retirement benefits, and a robust strike fund that can pay out higher wages to workers on the picket line.
Will Lehman
Lehman is a Mack Trucks Inc. worker from Pennsylvania who favors a complete overhaul of the organization. A self-proclaimed socialist, Lehman believes the union hasn’t been aggressive enough in bargaining under Fain or shown enough willingness to take on the Trump administration, despite offering in recent years what he’s called “pseudo-left rhetoric.”
His platform includes abolishing the union’s bureaucratic positions at Solidarity House, and other regional positions inside the union, because of the susceptibility they’ve shown to corruption. Instead, workers would operate the organization themselves through rank-and-file committees.
Tricia Geiger
Geiger is a UAW international servicing representative from the Toledo area. She emphasizes addressing the UAW’s reputation and rebuilding members’ trust, emphasizing the first direct leadership elections in 2022 were a start, but that the monitor reports reveal lackluster progress.
Geiger has said she’d push for stronger health care for members, as well as protections around artificial intelligence, both at the bargaining table and by lobbying for stronger legislation alongside other unions. She also pledged to seek more input from UAW retirees on how the union operates and make changes to how the union’s political arm supports candidates.
Greg Mooney
Mooney works in communications at tank-maker General Dynamics Land Systems in Lima, Ohio, and is focused on the threat of AI on jobs. He argues the risk of its disruption should be the union’s top focus, and the union needs to seek worker retraining opportunities. The union, he’s said, also should be pushing for contract language that prevents employers from using AI to monitor workers.
Secretary-Treasurer
Margaret Mock
Mock was elected as Secretary-Treasurer from the UAW Members United slate in 2022. She was removed from nine departmental positions and two outside organization boards in February 2024 on accusations that the monitor’s investigation found were false. She was reinstated following the December report, and a subsequent investigation by the monitor determined allegations by Fain’s office of misconduct were unfounded.
Amid the investigation, Mock mostly has limited what she’s said publicly, but Detroit mobile billboard advertising company Motion Ads was hired for the convention on Wednesday to have people in red zentai bodysuits walk around with large “Rock with Mock” signs on their backs like a backpack. She told The News last year that she believes the union should move forward differently and there should be total transparency, including of International Executive Board meeting minutes. Mock also said she hopes to see the six-year federal monitorship that began in 2021 come to an end.
Brandon Campbell
Campbell in 2022 was elected director of UAW Region 4, which covers heartland and western Midwest states. He was a part of the Curry Solidarity Team and now joins the Stand Up Slate. He’s a second-generation UAW member who originally worked at what-is-now Stellantis’ Belvidere Assembly Plant in Illinois. He’s worked in organizing, local roles and negotiated contracts and arbitrated grievances as a servicing representative before being elected to head of the region.
Campbell serves on a few IEB committees, including for investment advisory. He manages the Pat Greathouse complex training center in Illinois, and in Region 4, has increased funds and operates on a balanced budget, according to his online bio, which emphasizes his desire to give members a more “developed” understanding of the union’s finances.
Roc Ciers
A millwright journeyman by trade who holds a master’s degree in human resources and leadership from Wayne State University, Ciers today is Region 1 Education Coordinator, according to his website. He’s held multiple financial, accounting, auditing and compliance roles at Local 869 in Warren and secured a more than $700,000 federal rebate to preserve resources for members during the COVID-19 pandemic.
His plans emphasize regular financial updates, improved auditor training and establishing a 24-hour hotline to the Secretary-Treasurer’s office. He also wants to leverage local union reporting software to help save on costs.
Vice President (Three)
Mike Booth
Booth is Vice President and head of the General Motors Department. Despite running on the UAW Members United slate in 2022, he was not asked to join the Stand Up Slate this year, he told The News. Booth was the only IEB member besides Boyer not to sign a public letter that initially stated a refusal to reinstitute Mock’s department and board leadership.
He’s pointed to the progress made over the past few years for his credibility, including the record 2023 contracts with the Detroit Three and other gains that followed in gaming and other sectors. At GM, he noted the conversations to bring $15 billion in additional investment to the United States beyond the $9.6 billion value of the 2023 contract in the wake of Trump’s tariffs and efforts to roll back regulations on greenhouse gas emissions and fuel economy. Secure retirements for income and health care remain priorities along with protections for autoworkers from the threat of Chinese competitors.
Laura Dickerson
Dickerson is Vice President and head of the Ford Department. She ran on the Curry Solidarity Team slate in 2022 as director of Region 1A in Taylor and replaced Chuck Browning following his retirement a year ago, becoming the first African American woman to be vice president. She is running on the Stand Up Slate.
Dickerson has a master’s in General Administration with a concentration in Health Services from Central Michigan University. She joined the union through the Technical, Office and Professional workforce, held an elected position on the National Community Action Program Executive Committee, served on the national negotiations team with Ford Motor Co. in 2011 and has held other international roles that included bargaining contracts, grievance settlements and organizing. She’s publicly emphasized raising standards for the entire working class.
Kevin Gotinsky
Gotinsky is running on Fain’s slate of candidates. He’s a top administrative assistant in the union who, for part of 2024 and 2025, oversaw the union’s Stellantis Department after Boyer was stripped of that responsibility. Starting early this year, Boyer was reinstated as head of the department.
Now, Gotinsky formally will run for the vice president position, and he can point to the experience he already has gained. His tenure working in the Stellantis Department featured an aggressive fight against the automaker’s job cuts and other outsourcing decisions by former CEO Carlos Tavares.
Ryan Hiestand
Hiestand is a third-generation, 31-year UAW member and international servicing representative running on the Stand Up Slate. He has negotiated more than a dozen contracts with the Detroit automakers, part suppliers and aerospace companies, which has included more overtime opportunities and job security protections, according to his online biography. He created a grievance investigation class that’s been used to educate other representatives.
“The auto industry is changing rapidly,” Hiestand said in an online statement. “Corporate strategies are shifting. New technologies are transforming our workplaces. Our members are counting on leadership that understands bargaining, knows how to navigate an evolving industry, and has the fortitude to challenge companies on the issues that matter most. That leadership is rooted in experience, and I know I am prepared to provide it.”
Tony Totty
Since 2020, Totty has led Local 14 in Toledo, which represents workers at a major GM transmission and propulsion plant in the city. The facility secured additional work in recent years, first as GM planned to convert to making EV propulsions systems, and more recently as it pivoted back to producing more transmissions for gas-powered pickups. Totty was a prominent voice in national and local media promoting the union’s strategy and demands during the Stand Up Strike in 2023, but has at times also spoken up to criticize union leadership.
“I’m running for UAW vice president, because I’m concerned about our future and the impact of new technologies on our industry,” Totty told The News. “I know the protections we lost in the bankruptcies. We need to negotiate secured employment levels so workers aren’t left behind as our industry changes.”
Eric Fleming
Fleming is the longtime president of Local 7 in Detroit, which represents Stellantis workers at Detroit Assembly Complex-Jefferson, where the Dodge Durango and Jeep Grand Cherokee SUVs are made. He is well-liked by many workers at the plant and at times has been a vocal critic of President Shawn Fain and other current UAW leaders; his local was one of several where a Fain recall campaign took root last year.
Matt Slade
Slade is a current UAW staff member who has a background working in GM’s service parts operations in Michigan, including Ypsilanti. He argues more focus should be placed on improving standards for the union’s independent parts suppliers — a sector of the union that “has been ignored for way too long,” he said in a campaign statement. With an outsized focus on the Big Three, union leaders should do a better job of working “for everyone equally,” he said.
Kisha Richardson
Richardson is an attorney and chief of staff in the UAW’s secretary-treasurer’s office, according to a campaign video she posted ahead of nominations on Wednesday.
“Our membership deserves experienced, accountable leaders that always put members first,” Richardon said in the video, adding she comes from a family of UAW members. “For more than 30 years, I have fought for UAW members, through representation, contract enforcement, grievance handling, arbitration and defending workers’ rights.”
Rachael Dickinson
Dickinson is president of Local 6000 in Lansing, a massive local that represents thousands of state of Michigan employees. She previously was the local’s vice president.
Mike Turner
Turner did not appear to have a campaign site.
Robert Wright
Wright did not appear to have a campaign site.
bnoble@detroitnews.com
@BreanaCNoble
lramseth@detroitnews.com
@lramseth
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Here’s who will take on Shawn Fain for UAW president, run for VP
Reporting by Breana Noble and Luke Ramseth, The Detroit News / The Detroit News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Breana Noble and Luke Ramseth, The Detroit News | USA TODAY Network
