Daraka Larimore-Hall has two jobs. He is currently the President of UAW Local 2865 and is seeking a full three-year term in next week’s elections. He is also the Chair of the Santa Barbara County Democratic Party. I think this is a problem.
As UAW president, Larimore-Hall participates in the disbursement of thousands of dollars of members’ voluntary political action contributions to California candidates. Undoubtedly, most if not all of these candidates are Democrats. I am not accusing Larimore-Hall of any improprieties, but there is a clear conflict of interest here. I think UAW members should be uncomfortable with an elected Democratic leader being in a position to help make contributions directly from our union coffers to Democratic candidates that he helps to choose–especially when the success of those candidates will undoubtedly help his own political career in the Democratic Party.
What makes this even more problematic is the lack of transparency in this process in our union. There is absolutely no mechanism in place to keep members informed of the political contributions that the UAW makes using our voluntary political action contributions (VCAP). Members–including those who contribute to VCAP–do not receive reports on VCAP spending, nor do members of our Local’s ostensible governing body, the Joint Council.
There is a broader question here, of course. While the interests of the ASEs in our union indeed often overlap with the interests of Democratic politicians, there are certainly situations in which this is not the case. In the current California budget debacle, Democratic politicians are well on their way to endorsing cuts to unions and to public education. As a union, we will need to make tough decisions about how to fight back and we will soon need to consider the question of whether, as a union, we can support certain Democratic politicians. If we are going to have that discussion, we need a leader whose political commitments aren’t entirely determined by his other job. As long as Daraka Larimore-Hall holds both his current jobs, there is no way for UAW members to have confidence that his political decisions are in our best interests.
There is an alternative, of course. Instead of a Democratic UAW, we can choose a democratic UAW–a union run by rank-and-file members who do not serve the interests of major political parties. Daraka should keep his job with the Santa Barbara Democratic Party. And we should elect a new president.
Brian Malone
Graduate Student in Literature
Santa Cruz Unit Chair 2009-11
Slug OC 
22 April 2011 at 12:01 PM
Brian,
Let’s ignore for a moment that you substantially revised this posting without acknowledging it (tsk, tsk, that’s bad netiquette, Brian) and deleted my commentary on your factual mistakes. Let’s focus on the politics at play:
You say “While the interests of the ASEs in our union indeed often overlap with the interests of Democratic politicians, there are certainly situations in which this is not the case.” True enough. What is false, however, is your insinuation that Daraka would side with the Democratic party over the interest of the Local in the event of such a conflict.
Don’t take my word for it, look at the record. Daraka let the Local’s effort in 2006 to oppose pro-war Democrat Jane Harman’s reelection to Congress. He took this fight to the California Federation of Labor and all the way to the floor of the Democratic Party. So don’t tell me he’s afraid to stand up to the Democrats.
And, as I noted in the posting you deleted, Daraka was also part of the Local’s decision to withhold an endorsement from DiFi in 2006, for her anti-worker policies.
Your speculation is wildly off-base. As is your knowledge of your own union’s history.
-LGR
20 February 2020 at 4:33 PM
[…] UC student-workers have a rich recent history combatting the UAW International bureaucracy. In 2009, protests and occupations rocked UC campuses across the state in response to the UC administration and California State government austerity policies. Both the UC and the state worked in tandem to exploit the 2008 crisis and sought to implement austerity in higher education, including a 32 percent tuition increase. Students responded with a resounding call to “Occupy Everything.” Graduate student-workers played a key role in building occupations across UC campuses. They began demanding more of the union, which was sitting on a decades-worth of union dues without having embarked on a single strike. It had the funds and resources needed to aid the popular student movement to save public education across the state – funds that could be used for legal support and strike pay. Instead, UAW leadership argued that spending more than half of the membership dues on lobbying the Democratic Party was in the best interest of student-workers. Both International and Local leaders jumped for joy at any opportunity they had to rub elbows with the California Democratic Party establishment, then and now. The Party has rewarded those who did the dance by streamlining them to the Democratic elite. […]
10 March 2020 at 3:46 PM
[…] UC student-workers have a rich recent history combatting the UAW International bureaucracy. In 2009, protests and occupations rocked UC campuses across the state in response to the UC administration and California State government austerity policies. Both the UC and the state worked in tandem to exploit the 2008 crisis and sought to implement austerity in higher education, including a 32 percent tuition increase. Students responded with a resounding call to “Occupy Everything.” Graduate student-workers played a key role in building occupations across UC campuses. They began demanding more of the union, which was sitting on a decades-worth of union dues without having embarked on a single strike. It had the funds and resources needed to aid the popular student movement to save public education across the state – funds that could be used for legal support and strike pay. Instead, UAW leadership argued that spending more than half of the membership dues on lobbying the Democratic Party was in the best interest of student-workers. Both International and Local leaders jumped for joy at any opportunity they had to rub elbows with the California Democratic Party establishment, then and now. The Party has rewarded those who did the dance by streamlining them to the Democratic elite. […]