Lansing Sun

With former United Auto Workers (UAW) union president Dennis Williams recently indicted for conspiracy to embezzle, according to The National Law Review, the hits just keep coming for the union.

But U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan Matthew Schneider says that, ultimately, the ongoing investigation and mounting charges are good news for union members because it means their union is finally getting cleaned up.

Schneider appeared on WJR's "The Paul W. Smith Show" to speak about the investigation and Schneider’s goals for the union in the coming months. He told Smith that while he wants to see the union reformed, he has no intention of trying to take over its operations.

Matthew Schneider, U.S. Attorney | U.S. Department of Justice

"I’ve heard some people saying it’s not good news for the UAW, but I take a different approach,” Schneider told Smith. “It’s pretty good to know, if you’re a UAW worker, that if the leadership is corrupt, it’s going to be taken care of.”

Schneider said that the members of any union should be encouraged to know that the Justice Department takes union corruption seriously and will work to ensure that union officials are focusing on the best interests of their members, rather than their own best interests.

“We’re making sure that this union is going to be clean, and restored, and it’s going to serve the men and women of the union,” he told Smith. “That’s the whole point.”

Schneider also told Smith that his office has seen an uptick in tips and calls from union members in response to the successes they have had in rooting out corruption.

"So I don’t want to run the union. I want to have the union run itself, with proper leadership and proper oversight to make sure that the corruption that’s been going on for years and years and years is finally gone,” Schneider said on the radio program.