2021 Referendum Overview

The Consent Decree required the UAW to hold a secret ballot Referendum in which the UAW membership voted on whether to keep the then-current method for electing members to the International Executive Board (“IEB”) in which local union delegates to the UAW’s Constitutional Convention voted for IEB members, or whether the method should be changed to a direct election by which each UAW member shall directly elect the members of the IEB.  The Consent Decree directed the Monitor and the UAW together to develop the rules, method, and ballot language to be used in the Referendum, subject to the review and approval of the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Labor-Management Standards (“OLMS”).  In other words, the rules required agreement among OLMS, the UAW, and the Monitor.  After consulting with, and with agreement or approval of, both the UAW and OLMS, on August 13, 2021, the Monitor issued the Interim Rules for the Referendum. Subsequently, on September 17, 2021, the Monitor issued the Second Interim Rules for the Referendum. On November 8, 2021, the Monitor issued the Final Rules for the Referendum.

On December 2, 2021, the Referendum vote count was completed. In total, 140,586 votes were counted; out of those votes, 50,971 members voted for the delegate voting system (36.3%), and 89,615 members voted for the direct voting system (63.7%). As such, the vote count was decisively in favor of the direct voting system.

On January 7, 2022, the Monitor transmitted its “Referendum Report” to OLMS. The Referendum Report, available here, summarizes the steps taken by the Monitor to oversee the vote of the UAW membership on the method for electing the IEB. On January 19, 2022, OLMS endorsed the Monitor’s Referendum Report. On January 31, 2022, the Court granted the Monitor’s Unopposed Motion for Approval of Referendum Results.

Included below are key documents and information regarding the 2021 Referendum.

Court Order Approving Referendum Results: The Court’s January 31, 2022 Order approving the Referendum results is available here.

Monitor’s Referendum Report: The Monitor’s January 7, 2022 Referendum Report is available here.

Referendum Ballot Count and Vote Tabulation: At the conclusion of the Referendum vote, 140,586 votes were counted. A breakdown of the vote tabulation, broken down by Local Union, is included as Exhibit A in the Referendum Report, available here.

Final Rules:  The Monitor issued the Final Rules for the 2021 Referendum on November 8, 2021.  The Final Rules are posted here (English-language version) and here (Spanish-language version).

Referendum FAQs: Members used the Monitor’s phone and e-mail elections hotline to ask thoughtful questions about the 2021 Referendum. In an effort to broadly disseminate answers to some of the more frequently asked questions, the Monitor created an FAQ page document which is available here.

Referendum Forum Webcast: On October 7, 2021, the Monitor hosted a Referendum Forum Webcast about the 2021 Referendum.  As described in the Referendum Rules, individuals and groups who had previously registered with the Monitor were permitted to participate in the Referendum Forum.  The Referendum Forum Webcast was recorded, and may be viewed here.

Sample Referendum Ballot: Click here for a sample ballot.