Detroit Free Press: Marick Masters on changes in UAW leadership
UAW Vice President Gerald Kariem, the key liaison to Ford Motor Co. for the labor union, announced Tuesday that he will end his term early and retire next month. He plans to serve in his role through June 30. An appointment will be made to fulfill the balance of his term, which ends in June 2022. "Vice President Kariem has served with distinction and leaves the UAW at a point when it is emerging from difficult ethical challenges. His departure invites pivoting for the future leadership of the UAW," said Marick Masters, a business professor at Wayne State University. "In picking its next set of leaders, the UAW needs to not only be mindful of these challenges but also the tremendous difficulties and opportunities posed by the technological transformation to electrification," Masters told the Free Press. "As the industrial landscape transforms with profound implications for change in the nature and distribution of work in the supply chain, the UAW will need imaginative and bold leadership to accelerate its organizing program, which is critical to its future strength."
