By Allan Lengel
ticklethewire.com
DETROIT — So much for above the board negotiations.
Two ex-United Auto Workers officials were sentenced to prison Tuesday in federal court in Detroit for conspiring to extort General Motors during a strike in 1997 at the Pontiac Truck Plant.
Donny Douglas, 70, of Holly, Mich., a former UAW International Servicing Representative was sentenced to 18 months in prison and and Jay Campbell, 70, of Davisburg, Mich., a former UAW Local 594 Chairman, was sentenced to 12 months and one day in prison. They were convicted in 2006.
Authorities said the two were convicted of conspiring to commit extortion by threatening to extend the 1997 strike at the Pontiac Truck Plant by UAW Local 594 unless General Motors hired two unqualified, non-UAW members who were family members or friends of the defendants as skilled tradesmen.
Authorities said that GM, concerned about the continued financial loss of a strike, hired Campbell’s son and a former UAW Local 594 President’s son-in-law as journeymen even though neither man was a member of the UAW, worked for General Motors, or was qualified for the position.
