2 rivals from factory floors facing off in race to lead UAW

By TOM KRISHER and MIKE HOUSEHOLDER
Associated Press

DETROIT (AP) — Two men who began their careers on factory floors are competing to lead the 373,000 members of the United Auto Workers, a union that helps set standards for wages across the nation’s manufacturing sector. It will be the first-ever direct election of a UAW president in the union’s 88-year history. The race pits the 57-year-old incumbent, Ray Curry, who started his career on the assembly line at a Freightliner truck plant in North Carolina, against Shawn Fain, 54, who began as an electrician at a Chrysler metal casting plant in Kokomo, Indiana. Curry and Fain were the top two finishers in a five-candidate race held in December for a four-year term as UAW president.