They’re on the front lines for the UAW and often are liaisons to the community. From membership meetings to community service, UAW local unions do a lot.
As vice president of UAW Local 1588 and unit chair, Lisa Young knows firsthand what locals do. “Our regional and international leadership is key to this UAW’s responsibility for ensuring that workers’ rights are defended, contracts enforced and political candidates endorsed,” said Young, employed at PPG Industries in Delaware, Ohio, since 1989.
“But we’re the soldiers, the individual union members who carry the movement forward.”
For 70 years, the UAW has been organizing all kinds of workers. And even though most of our membership still works in auto assembly or parts and supplier facilities, we are proudly a union of all workers – from ice cream makers to zookeepers to health care professionals.
Jennifer John
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When the right of public sector workers in Puerto Rico to bargain collectively was made law in 1998, UAW representation on the island nation grew from 1,200 members in the mid-1990s to about 20,000 today. (David Bacon photo) |
| The “A” in UAW also stands for aerospace. UAW members build helicopters,
turbine engines, light aircraft engines, satellite technology, military transport
planes and commercial passenger planes. A UAW Local 788 member applies paint
to a missile component. |
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Retired workers remain a vital part of the UAW through local and regional retiree chapters. UAW retirees are particularly involved in political action and community services. |
| More than 10,000 academic student employees from the University of California system voted for UAW representation in 2000. The UAW represents more student workers than any other |  |
| State of Michigan workers voted for UAW representation in 1985, and Local
6000 – with more than 15,000 members – is now the largest local in
the union. |
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The UAW is truly an international union. Besides about 20,000 members in Puerto Rico, we have two local unions in Canada – Locals 251 and 2381. Together, they represent about 2,500 workers in 26 units in Wallaceburg and Chatham, Ontario. And they don’t just make hockey sticks (pictured). UAW Canadian members also make (among other things) train castings, weather stripping, auto headrests for the Big Three and wire harnesses for Thomas Built Bus. (Ron Cooper photo) |
| 'Support the Troops' is more than a bumper sticker or campaign slogan. UAW Local 723 members process clothing for a Stand Down at the Southeast Michigan for Veterans in UAW Region 1. (Maurice Harris photo) |  |
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Whether it is giving up a day off at a weeklong conference to support striking nurses, pictured, counseling a member or lending a hand on an organizing drive, UAW chaplains are about caring in the workplace and wherever people are in need. |
| Nurses, therapists, technicians and maintenance workers at St. Vincent Mercy Medical Center in Toledo, Ohio, negotiated important health and safety language in their first contract. (Rebecca Cook photo) |  |
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The UAW represents about 100,000 skilled-trades workers and apprentices, such as the member pictured. The UAW also strives to ensure that women and minorities have equal opportunities to enter the skilled trades. (Rebecca Cook photo) |
