DETROIT _ United Auto Workers leaders, meeting in Detroit this week, elected a slate of candidates for union offices that that positions accountant Gary Jones of O'Fallon, Mo., to succeed Dennis Williams as president when Williams retires next June.
Members of the largest and most powerful UAW caucus have described Jones as a steady hand who can effectively navigate the organization through times of change and uncertainty.
In addition to Jones, the slate includes Gary Casteel, who is expected to remain as secretary-treasurer, and vice presidents Cindy Estrada, Rory Gamble and Terry Dittes.
Rank and file members will vote at the UAW's Constitutional Convention in June, but victory is traditionally assured for nominees selected by this group. While other members can run for president or vice president, the men and women named Thursday are likely to lead the union for the next several years.
Jones, a regional UAW director who oversees 17 states, including Missouri, Texas and Louisiana, and the West Coast, was considered the front-runner to succeed Williams going into this week's leadership caucus. He would have to move to Detroit if he becomes president.
He started with the UAW at the Ford plant in Broken Arrow, Ala. More recently, Jones was the union's top nonelected finance officer for nearly a decade.
The final election will be held at Cobo Hall in Detroit June 11-14. International Executive Board members or individual candidates will stand for election. While the assignments of vice presidents to negotiate with each of the Detroit Three carmakers are made after the election, Estrada is likely to will continue her relationship with General Motors.
The current head of the Ford department, Jimmy Settles, plans to retire. Norwood Jewell is not seeking re-election as vice president of the Fiat Chrysler department.
The UAW represents more than 415,000 automotive workers, casino workers, college teachers, agricultural equipment manufacturers and aerospace engineers.
While that is less than one-third of its peak of more than 1.5 million members in the late 1970s, the UAW has added members over the past seven years, helped by organizing drives outside the traditional automotive industry.
The Detroit-based UAW is known for its auto industry ties. It represents about 59,000 Ford workers, 49,500 GM workers and 41,000 Fiat Chrysler workers.
In July, just weeks before a scheduled union vote at the Nissan plant in Mississippi, federal investigators indicted Al Iacobelli, former Fiat Chrysler vice president of labor relations, and Monica Morgan, widow of General Holiefield, former UAW vice president. Millions of dollars earmarked for UAW worker training was spent on unauthorized purchases including a $365,000 Ferrari, two solid gold fountain pens valued at $35,700, a pool and outdoor spa at Iacobelli's mansion.
Iacobelli abruptly retired in 2015 before the start of contract negotiations. Investigators say Holiefield, who died in March 2015 from pancreatic cancer, and Morgan skimmed more than $1 million.
Daniel Lemisch, the acting U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan, has expanded the investigation to look at evidence of similar misuse of joint training funds at the UAW's programs with Ford and General Motors.
The UAW says it is fully cooperating with the FBI in the training money investigation.
