Union Profile

Founded in 1935, the United Auto Workers Union has just under 600,000 members and represents workers from the “Big Three” automotive companies—General Motors, Ford and Chrysler, as well as workers in the aerospace and agricultural industries. 

Over a 50% Decline in Membership

The United Auto Workers Union membership has crashed from its previous high of 1.5 million in the 1970s, to its current total of under 600,000 members.

Some Local branches have suffered an even more dramatic hemorrhaging of members: Local 599 in Flint, Michigan has seen its membership atrophy from a peak of 28,000 to a mere 2,500 members today.

In an effort to bolster their waning membership, the UAW is scrambling to unionize other sectors as well, such as gaming industries.  They have allocated $60 million dollars from their bloated strike fund to aid in collecting new members.

Job Banks: Paid Not to Work

Thousands of UAW members are being paid between $70,000 to $85,000 per year not to work.  (By some accounts, the expense is even larger, costing the “Big Three” up to $130,000 for each job banker).  For 4,200 of these union members, their 8 hour “work day” consists of “filling out crossword puzzles, watching World War II movies and even taking naps.” These job bankers “have drawn nearly full pay and all benefits, often for years, no matter the companies’ health.” As shown by the $4.5 billion the “Big Three” earmarked to fund job banks, this practice is costing the companies billions of dollars at a time that they are losing billions.

Health Insurance: UAW’s unsustainable spending

Negotiating for overly generous health benefits for union members has aided and abetted the decline of the auto industry.  The “Big Three” collectively spent almost $10 billion on health insurance in 2002 and the UAW has heedlessly continued to waste money.

Some numbers for perspective:

• $1,500 of the cost of each car pays for health insurance.
• For each car, more money is spent for health insurance than on steel for its construction.

Toyota has far lower health care costs in comparison to the UAW.  While healthcare costs contributed to a combined loss of $15 billion for the “Big Three,” Toyota posted a profit of $14 billion.

Strike Fund

The United Auto Workers have used $1 billion of their worker’s dues to fill an enormous strike fund.  No other union finds it necessary to funnel money from their workers pockets to fill such a large and unused strike fund.  The next largest strike fund, that of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, is not even half as large.

Thirty percent of each UAW member’s dues go towards filling this rarely used pot of money.  The interest alone from the UAW’s strike fund has been enough to pay workers on strike in the past. Furthermore, the vast majority of unions other than the UAW are able to effectively negotiate for their members without the use of such huge strike funds.

UAW’s Multimillion Dollar Resort

Union dues have subsidized the construction of an extraordinarily expensive resort and golf club retreat.  The Black Lake Resort and Golf club is luxurious, to say the least.  This lakeside resort has 241 guest rooms, 2 full-sized basketball courts, an Olympic size swimming pool, a full gym and exercise room with a sauna, and a golf course designed by Rees Jones, a pricey and well-known golf course architect.

While UAW union members are permitted to visit the resort their dues have paid for, they cannot do so at any significant discount—they only receive $18 off the regular price.

Membership Total Membership:   538,448		Financial Information Total Assets:   $ 1,267,559,922 Total Receipts:   $ 303,824,990
Source: Department of Labor, Office of Labor Management Standards LM filings

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 Disbursement Records

 

 

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Representational Activities ( 37.9%)	$ 119,744,856
Political Activities & Lobbying ( 3.0%)	$ 9,621,882
Contributions, Gifts & Grants ( 0.3%)	$ 818,393
General Overhead ( 4.6%)	$ 14,500,414
Union Administration ( 12.6%)	$ 39,743,652
Strike Benefits ( 5.6%)	$ 17,645,792
Total Compensation ( 18.9%)	$ 59,692,813
Per Capita Tax ( 1.6%)	$ 4,943,506

Local	Members
UAW Council (Detroit, MI)	538,448
UAW Council (Detroit, MI)	196,963
UAW Council (Detroit, MI)	76,977
UAW Council (Detroit, MI)	56,607
UAW Council (Indianapolis, IN)	53,698
UAW Council (Lebanon, TN)	39,955
UAW Council (Detroit, MI)	33,756
UAW Council (Des Plaines, IL)	30,112
UAW Local 600 (Dearborn, MI)	25,418
UAW Local 7902 (New York, NY)	18,651
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