DETROIT — The UAW last year began to recoup strike funds lost in 2019’s 40-day walkout at General Motors and also recovered tens of thousands of dollars improperly spent by a disgraced ex-president.
The union’s net income rose more than 10 percent to $12.7 million last year, and overall net assets rose slightly to $1.13 billion, according to an annual financial report filed Wednesday with the Department of Labor.
The UAW said its strike fund rose to $790 million in 2020 following the GM strike, which cost it $80 million. The union said the coronavirus pandemic had some financial advantages, with travel expenses down $3 million and meeting expenses off $1.5 million.
Membership dipped slightly to 397,073 in 2020, from 398,829 in 2019.
“The UAW managed a very difficult pandemic year reporting steady membership numbers and weathering pandemic shutdowns,” UAW President Rory L. Gamble said in a statement. “The membership reported on the LM-2 is literally a snapshot of the number of members for whom the UAW received dues during the month of December. We believe actual membership is higher when you account for members who were still sidelined during the pandemic in December and the timing of payroll and dues remitted by our local unions around the holiday shutdown.”
The latest membership figure is encouraging given the union’s years-long corruption scandal that has eroded worker trust.
The UAW last year stopped paying legal fees for former presidents Dennis Williams and Gary Jones, both of whom have pleaded guilty to stealing money from the union and await sentencing. In 2019, the UAW paid $320,912 in legal fees for Williams and $24,599 for Jones.
Williams last year also reimbursed the union $56,116 for improper travel expenses.
The union in 2020 still paid out nearly $30,000 in legal fees for officers: $10,888 for Region 8 Director Mitchell Smith; $10,718 for Region 9A Director Beverley Brakeman; $6,683 for Secretary-Treasurer Ray Curry; and $1,210 for Vice President Cindy Estrada.
UAW President Rory Gamble earned $244,772 in 2020, up from $215,548 in 2019. His compensation included $1,364 for a security officer and daily transportation, and $842 for housing at the UAW’s Family Education Center in Onaway, Mich., for meetings and other union activities.
The union also paid roughly $6.5 million for upgrades to its Solidarity House headquarters in Detroit following a 2019 fire. Union leaders are expected to move back into the building in 2022.
Some of the figures within the LM-2, such as membership numbers and net income, were reported earlier this week by the Detroit Free Press.