SHELBY TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP) — Walter Usakowski was mowing his lawn in a northern Detroit suburb when three United Auto Workers canvassers approached.
“I don’t even need to talk to you,” Usakowski said. As a retired member, he already supported the union’s slate of Democratic candidates in the legislative elections. November 3, midterm exams.
But he’s not sure how many other “guys in the store” will vote for Democrats. He worked at Ford Motor Co.’s Sterling Axle plant for more than 45 years and knows many members who supported Republican President Donald Trump.
The election year campaign was part of the UAW’s effort to reassert its political power in Michigan, a prominent political battleground. Although the union generally supports Democrats, its members are more divided over which party best represents the interests of the working class. It is also taking into account the past corruption scandalsa decline in membership and a lack of transparency which have eroded trust within its ranks.
“It’s not going to happen overnight,” said JJ Jewell, who serves on the UAW Community Action Program executive committee. “Even if these elections are going wonderfully, it’s not mission accomplished. That means we’re 1% of the way there.”
Internal divisions and distrust pose challenges
Jewell and others toured Macomb County on a sunny Saturday, where Trump won by nearly 14 percentage points in 2024. Most of the union members they met in a neighborhood of well-kept suburban homes were retirees, and although most said the cost of living was their major concernthey disagreed on whether Democrats or Republicans it’s better to fix it.
One resident, who said she blames the country’s problems on billionaires, plans to vote for Democrats. On another street, a couple said they both supported Trump and refused to take a flyer from UAW-backed candidates.
In a microcosm of wider political divisionsunion voters remain politically divided. Union voters are traditionally considered a Democratic-leaning group, but Trump has made a direct appeal to them with his anti-elite rhetoric and his promise to overhaul international trade deals that have undermined factory jobs. In 2024, voters who are unionized or live in a household with a union member divided between Trump and Democratic candidate Kamala Harriswith more than half voting for the then-vice president and 44% for Trump.
UAW member Betty Anderson thinks the organization is on the right track, but she’s not sure it can heal internal political divisions. She said she was angry at members who voted for Trump, whom she saw as a betrayal of the working class.
“I don’t think these people will ever be on our side,” Anderson said. “They think they have the opportunity to be part of an elite class.”
Leaders hope to restore trust with transparency
Since 2017, more than 10 UAW officials have pleaded guilty in a corruption investigation that found millions of dollars in union dues were stolen. Members also blamed leaders for closed-door contract negotiations that they say destroyed trust in the UAW.
Shawn Fain was elected president of the UAW in 2023 on a platform of transparency, and victories in labor disputes with Detroit’s three major automakers, support from their members has been strengthened. Leaders hope this will translate into votes for its candidates.
“I think the UAW members are now starting to align a little more,” said Usakowski, a retired axle factory worker.
On Friday, Fain said he had been re-elected to lead the union for four more years. The results have not yet been certified.
Mark DePaoli, director of one of the UAW’s southeast Michigan regions, said the union holds candidate forums where any member can ask questions. The UAW supported the Progressive Democratic Party Abdoul El-Sayed in the US Senate primaries even if his rival Haley Stevensfour-term congresswoman, worked as chief of staff on a task force on bailing out the auto industry during the Great Recession, a position she cited frequently during her campaign.
“I don’t think anyone expected us to support him,” DePaoli said. In its statement, the union referenced El-Sayed’s support for a universal health care system and his criticism of corporate money in politics. El-Sayed wore a UAW pin during the first Senate debate with his Republican opponent, former U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers.
“The UAW’s support for Abdul was crucial to winning a historic primary despite spending tens of millions of dollars, and will be just as crucial to winning” next month, El-Sayed spokesman Cole Wozniak said in a statement.
Rogers highlights his opposition to Democratic President Joe Biden’s controversial federal regulations that would have required automakers to speed up production electric vehicles, which some feared would lead to factory closures.
“Mike knows the challenges our autoworkers face and he will be their champion in the U.S. Senate,” Rogers spokeswoman Alyssa Brouillet said in a statement. “The same cannot be said of Abdul and the national leadership of the UAW.”
The union must make the vote politically relevant
Robert Bruno, a professor at the School of Labor and Employment Relations at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, said the UAW’s strength lies in its ability to mobilize voters.
“You don’t win campaigns because of your endorsements,” Bruno said. “You win campaigns at the door, at the bar or at the union hall. »
By the 1980s, according to the union, the UAW had more than 600,000 active and retired members in Michigan. Today, that number hovers around 350,000. The UAW remains the largest union in the state.
UAW leaders are optimistic after a primary election campaign and what they see as better, more transparent leadership. The union said about 113,000 of its members voted early in Michigan’s August primary, and it had volunteers canvassing and calling voters before Election Day.
In September, the UAW hosted a conference of its Michigan political branch for the first time since 2018. Fain told reporters at the Lansing event that the organization wants members to provide direction for the union, focusing on issues such as affordability.
“We are as active as possible right now,” he said.
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GaNun is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to cover under-reported issues.
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