Lehman’s complaint includes evidence showing the UAW deliberately failed to update its mailing list—called the Local Union Information System (LUIS)—in order to disenfranchise masses of rank-and-file workers. The complaint reads: On March 19, 2023, the very last day of the three-month period for responding, the court-appointed monitor’s office denied my protest. The response fails to dispute the key facts of my protest and evinces total contempt for the democratic rights of rank-and-file workers. The response relies almost entirely on an unsigned and self-serving document submitted by the union leadership, but the credibility of that document is fatally undermined by the admission by outgoing UAW president Ray Curry that there was “rampant disenfranchisement of UAW voters” in the election.
The complaint further demands that the two law firms that make up the monitor—Crowell & Moring and Jenner & Block—be immediately removed from the case due to conflicts of interest. Both firms have longstanding, revolving-door relationships with the auto corporations, including General Motors and other auto corporations with UAW contracts expiring this year. The complaint explains: “It is a scandal that the denial of my union protest arrived on the letterhead of management’s attorneys who have been paid millions in our dues money. These conflicts of interest constitute an independent ground to re-run the election.” The Department of Labor complaint is the latest in a series of efforts by Lehman to defend the voting rights of rank-and-file UAW members. In November, Lehman filed a lawsuit in federal court against the UAW and monitor demanding the UAW leadership be made to provide actual notice to members of the election, but the lawsuit was dismissed. The leadership that has emerged from the UAW is illegitimate and does not reflect the will of the rank-and-file. ** To contact Will Lehman about the UAW elections and get involved in the fight for rank-and-file power, email WillforUAWpresident@gmail.com or text 248-602-0936. | 
