It's official: UAW President Rory Gamble is stepping down.
"I said on Day One I would hand over the keys to this treasured institution as a clean union," he said in a statement to the Free Press on Friday. "My original intent as a UAW vice president was to retire at the end of June 2021. And after looking at the progress we have made, and the best interests of UAW members for a stable transfer of power, this is the right time for me to turn over the reins."
Gamble, 65, a former welder repairman who dreamed of becoming a professional football player, said he hopes his retirement will usher in a period of multiple-term presidents for the UAW.
"You need time to settle in and look at the long range focus and priorities of our membership," he said. "Especially in this time of vast technological change."
The well-respected labor leader has planned for this day for years — long before a massive corruption scandal that put him in charge of running one of the nation's most powerful unions.
Once he turned 65, he really just wanted to retire and spend time with his family.
"I've got 34 grandbabies," Gamble told the Free Press on May 20, just before the Ford F-150 Lightning reveal in Dearborn.
Also Friday, he planned to inform his staff and the International Executive Board that he did not want to serve out a term that ends in June 2022. Gamble is hoping to leave on June 30 and turn over the presidency to someone elected by the board, which was scheduled to meet late Friday. The board must choose a successor by July 1.
It is not known whether a decision will be made Friday.
Gamble never sought the leadership position for which he was recruited in fall 2019 after then-President Gary Jones abruptly quit. Jones' home had been raided by the FBI as part of the corruption investigation.
Gamble officially was named the first Black president of the union in December 2019.
He has said he just wanted to provide stability to the operation that represents an estimated 400,000 members and some 600,000 retirees.
Gamble has spent 47 years with the UAW that included serving as vice president of UAW-Ford just before being recruited to navigate a time of uncertainty and crisis.
He will leave with one year left on the four-year term begun by Jones — who was sentenced in early June to 28 months in prison. Past President Dennis Williams was sentenced in May to 21 months in prison. Fifteen people, including former top UAW leaders and FCA executives, have been convicted.
A federal judge approved an independent monitor in May who will oversee upcoming union election activity.
Matthew Schneider, former U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan who prosecuted the years-long corruption case against the UAW, has told the Free Press that trust in Gamble helped save the union.
"I gave him the benefit of the doubt and that ended up working well," Schneider told the Free Press in April.
"We could've gone in and taken over the union for 25 years like the Teamsters case, but that wasn't needed," he said, referring to a government takeover of the other union some 30 years ago. "It would've branded all the union members, the workers themselves, as corrupt. But the workers were not corrupt."
Enough safeguards have been put in place that Gamble's departure shouldn't hurt the union, Schneider, who now works at the Honigman law firm in Detroit, said Friday.
"I don't think it's going to affect the work of the monitor and the reform efforts. It was critical that he was in place at the time in order to get that deal in place. Now that the monitor is installed, it should not cause any harm for the federal efforts," he told the Free Press on Friday.
"I hope the future of the union is that they have a leadership that is as interested in moving forward as Rory was," Schneider said. "Because Rory set a high bar, and if we're going to continue to reform and help the union, we need that high level of assistance."
Gamble has said again and again that his only goal was to turn over a clean union upon departure, and he feels like he's at that point. His plan to leave never changed. But he has been sensitive to timing, and making sure no one misunderstood his intent. He didn't want people to assume his departure was connected in any way to the scandal.
"He just wants to retire and hang out with his grandkids and enjoy his life," UAW spokesman Brian Rothenberg, who has worked with Gamble for six years, said Friday.
Union tradition has been that officers do not seek re-election after turning 65.
The industry is also seeing other high-profile departures within management and union leadership.
Gerald Kariem, 65, vice president of UAW-Ford announced in May he would retire at the end of June instead of when his term ends in June 2022. And Gary Johnson, Ford's chief manufacturing and labor affairs officer, announced in December at age 56 his retirement.
But the resignation of Gamble is viewed as especially significant at this time.
"Rory Gamble has spent a lifetime in the UAW. He passionately believes in the ideals of the union and what it has meant for working people. He stepped in as president during a traumatic and decisive moment and helped steer the union to calmer waters with integrity and skill," said Harley Shaiken, a professor at the University of California at Berkeley who has closely monitored the UAW for decades.
"I think he is leaving now because he feels a core task has been completed — new reforms are in place and the union has stabilized — and the future belongs to a new generation," Shaiken told the Free Press on Friday.
Industry observers said Gamble played a crucial role at a time, said Marick Masters, a business professor at the Mike Ilitch School of Business at Wayne State University in Detroit.
"Rory Gamble has served the UAW with passion and integrity," Masters said. "He has steadfastly fought for workers and sought to give them the tools needed to succeed. Rory Gamble deserves credit for leading the UAW out of its recent legal difficulties and restoring faith in the institution."
In April, Gamble said in a wide-ranging interview with the Free Press that he is influenced by his father, a former union leader.
"My dad moved out the way so younger progressive leadership could move up," Gamble said. "I'm really assessing my role now. I believe in that concept. We're facing things now where we need to have someone who's going to have a footprint in the office for a long term, so everyone knows this person is going to be there."
One thing matters, he said: "All we have to do is the right thing and we'll be OK."
