A lot has changed since UAW officials from plants and offices around the country last gathered in Detroit for a constitutional convention four years ago.
The president they elected almost unanimously at that convention, Gary Jones — who had promised a "clean slate" to move the union past a federal corruption scandal — wound up in prison, as did his predecessor, Dennis Williams.
The UAW narrowly avoided being taken over by the federal government by making a deal that puts it under the oversight of a court-appointed monitor for six years.
And rank-and-file members approved a referendum that gives them the power to vote for the union's next leaders directly. That means the decision of whether to keep current President Ray Curry in office for four more years won't be up to those attending this week's constitutional convention; the members they'll report back to next weekend get to make that choice.
But one …