Detroit — The United Auto Workers’ 39th quadrennial constitutional convention kicked off Monday, though business proceedings were completely closed to members of media — unlike four years ago.
The convention is a pivotal time for the Detroit-based union. Delegates from each union local debate and vote whether to make amendments to the governing document of the organization that had more than 392,000 active members at the end of 2025. That can include matters like compensation for International Executive Board members, rules for oversight of the union and its locals, and powers of officers. Delegates also will nominate candidates for the IEB election this fall.
That vote will be especially telling for the members’ view of UAW President Shawn Fain, a dissident candidate in 2022 who ran on promises of reform and transparency following a years-long corruption scandal that embroiled multiple automotive and union officials, including two former presidents.
Fain’s early leadership was marked by historic contract gains with the Detroit Three automakers and success in organizing Volkswagen AG workers in Chattanooga, Tennessee, the union’s first major automotive win in the South. But that reputation has been marred in the eyes of some workers following reports from the union’s court-appointed watchdog that revealed retaliatory schemes within Fain’s office that resulted in the departure of his chief of staff in December. Fain faces a few opponents who have announced their intentions to run, pending nomination this week.
Members of the media are being ushered into the hall during ceremonial proceedings, including on Monday speeches from AFL-CIO President Liz Schuler and Detroit Mayor Mary Sheffield. That kind of access wasn’t made possible to reporters four years ago.
However, for business proceedings that include debate, voting on amendments and International Executive Board nominations, reporters and photographers are being asked to leave the hall. Four years ago, much of the proceedings were livestreamed to a television in a separate media room. That is not being made available this year.
UAW staff say a summary of the days events will be shared on the union’s social media each day. The convention’s rules committee voted not to livestream business proceedings.
Scott Houldieson, delegate for Local 551 representing Ford Motor Co.’s Chicago Assembly Plant and co-chair of UAW Member Action network, raised objection to the new rule prohibiting recording, including livestreaming. Houldieson said he felt the rule limited the ability of delegates to report convention proceedings to members. In 2022, some proceedings were livestreamed for members, and others were recorded and shared later.
“It’s understandable why you would want to limit livestreaming in order to encourage the debate to go forward, but that’s inconsistent with the argument of transparency,” said Marick Masters, a management professor emeritus at Wayne State University. “The union as a democratic entity under law and in accordance with its own constitution must have transparency. They may set the rules however they desire, but it opens a question they will have to be prepared to answer.
“You very much have to open these things to the press if you want transparency. There’s not other way around it. You’re not going into an executive session. You might as well as have everything and allow people to formulate their own conclusions.”
Some delegates throughout the hall on Monday gave Fain a standing ovation when he was first introduced after other members of the IEB. Fain is scheduled to address the convention Tuesday morning, which will be open to media.
Delegates came with varying expectations and concerns, expressing need for union transparency, worker protections in the face of new technologies and ensuring a voice for members outside of the Detroit hub and retirees. Delores Jones Robbins, a delegate and recording secretary for Local 2083 in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, was looking to propose her own amendment to ensure better communication on changes of health care and medication for retirees.
“We paved the way for the young ones,” Robbins said. “Since we’re living longer, we need better information sent to us, so they don’t have to go searching for it. We should be seeing the regional people twice a year. We don’t.”
Echoing a common theme across Fain’s appearances over the past four years, Shuler criticized the country’s current economic system. Both she and Mayor Sheffield bashed Tesla Inc. CEO Elon Musk, who became the world’s first trillionaire last week following the initial public offering of his Space Exploration Technologies Corp., also known as SpaceX.
“Enough of an economy that literally made Elon Musk the first trillionaire last week,” Liz Shuler said, “while families in this country struggle to afford gas and groceries.”
Added Sheffield: “Just the other day, Elon Musk became the world’s first trillionaire, while families can’t afford health care, and we’re in the midst of a housing crisis. We need the UAW now more than ever to continue to fight corporate greed, provide pathways to the middle class and demand dignity for an honest day’s work.”
That was a message that resonated with some delegates. Sheik Gray El, a delegate from Local 12 in Toledo, Ohio, representing technical, office and professional workers, said a quick overview of proposed amendments delegates are expected to consider made him hopeful for change.
“Hopefully we can work on catching up in the near future,” he said. “When you have a trillionaire from South Africa in the country, we need to get this back on track and take care of discrimination.”
The circumstances, Shuler said, underscore the need for greater organizing efforts, for union members to turn out in the mid-term elections and protections for workers from artificial intelligence, greater automation and other technologies.
Shuler called on every worker to be organized in the South, where the UAW has struggled to unionize auto workers. Although Volkswagen employees in Tennessee last year ratified their first contract, workers at the Mercedes-Benz Group in 2024 in Alabama again voted against being represented by the union.
Shuler also emphasized the impact that politics have on the ease of unions to organize, preserving pensions and health-care affordability, and access to elections. She called on 16 million union household members to turn out in the November midterms, up from 14 million in 2022.
“If working people vote together,” she said, “we win.”
Amid the increasing use of AI in workplaces and in manufacturing sites, Shuler also underscored efforts to introduce legislation protecting workers from robot bosses and having an early seat at the table when decisions about technology are being made.
“The EV factories of the future should strengthen the middle class, not eliminate it,” she said. “We aren’t anti-technology. We aren’t anti-innovation. What we are is anti-greed.”
bnoble@detroitnews.com
@BreanaCNoble
Staff Writer Luke Ramseth contributed.
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: UAW constitutional convention opens with closed business proceedings
Reporting by Breana Noble, The Detroit News / The Detroit News
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By Breana Noble, The Detroit News | USA TODAY Network
